Church welcomes pope’s changes on annulment process

The Cebu Archdiocese welcomed Pope Francis’s decision to revise the process for annulment of marriages among Catholics.

Msgr. Joseph Tan, media liaison officer of the archdiocese, admitted that steps for annulment of marriage in the Catholic Church are too cumbersome and usually takes time.

“Before, it would take about 5 to 10 years before matrimonial tribunals could resolve petitions for annulment. The Holy Father understand the predicaments of well-meaning Catholics whose marriage suffer defects,” he said.

But he said people should not misconstrue the pope’s decision as changing the Catholic Church’s stand on  divorce.

“We are not talking about divorce but a marriage which is defective from the start and it just needs to be declared that there is no marriage at all,” Tan said.

Among the grounds for annulment of marriage include psychological incapacity to assume marital obligations, denying the other’s right to sexual acts open to procreation, and forced marriage, among others.

“The grounds for annulment have not changed. What has been modified is only the process. The Church’s stand on the binding character of marriage is still there,” Tan said.