1,862 marriage annulments in 20 years

Mr Joe Zammit

May 17th 2011, 16:29

We must remember that the Catholic Church did not invent marriage, God did. He made marriage between a man and woman and for life.

So, the Catholic Church is just faithful to the Lord’s will. The Catholic Church is practically the only Church that still obeys Christ on the indissolubility of marriage by a human person. The Pauline and Petrine privileges are not divorces because no human person is dissolving the marriage. The Church does not issue any decree of divorce!

On the other hand, almost all Christian denominations, as well as other religions, permit divorce, against God’s will and to clearly show that they are not the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ. The Catholic Church also recognises that there are people who enter marriage with the wrong intentions, not really intending to marry as God wishes, but just to have regular (sic!) occasions for sex, ending up contracepting for their own egoistic lust, or enter marriage temporarily until they get tired of their spouse.

In such a case, and in a rarer case of mental dysfunction where the person is simply incapable of making a lifelong commitment, the Church determines that no valid marriage occurred and issues a decree of nullity, or annulment.

It is not a divorce that breaks one marriage to allow another, but says there never was marriage at all.

Any other interpretation of the annulments given by the Catholic Church is just deceitful and devilish.

Mr Paul Barrett

May 17th 2011, 14:28

I always thought that for a marriage to be annulled it had to be an illegal marriage - i.e., a marriage between brother and sister, shotgun wedding or a significant fact hidden prior to the marriage (like a sex change for instance). That being the case there seems to be an awful lot of "mistakes" being made or is the claim that annulment is just another hidden word for divorce but without the legal ability to claim spousal support.

Mr Joe Gatt

May 17th 2011, 13:29

1862 couples, this means 3724 individuals. Which equates to HOW MANY OFFSPRINGS affected?

Surely this would ammount to much more thanjust 1862.

Lets say each couple had an average of 2 offsprings, meaning a total of another 3724, so in all 7448 are affected, or an average of 372 each year.

This means 1 individual each and every day.

Renzo Galea

May 17th 2011, 12:48

the number may seem low... what i wanna know is the average duration (and cost) upon completion!! i guess it will be a pretty BIIIIIIG surprise!!!!

Ms Lynn Zahra

May 17th 2011, 12:27

Annulaments both civil and ecclesiatical, subject both spouses to gross indignity and humiliation . The grounds for obtaining an annulment are ALL of them humiliating to the couple. Spouses have to prove that the other spouse is a schizofrenick, or is impotent , or did not want to have children , or that it was only an unplanned pregancy that drove one to get married in the first place. Try to imagine the humiliating of having your wife drag to Court to prove that you are culpable of all or some of these things. Imagine the shame of having to drag relatives /friends as witnesses against your spouse to belittle them in this way, sometimes even to prove your fiance was having an affair before the marriage. Most people BALK at having to expose themselves to such indignity and humiliation and don't go to court where they are forced to expose all their dirty laundry.

A no fault divorce such as is being proposed in the referendum is so more dignified and better for the whole family all round. Yes, it spares the spouses the humiliation of being dragged through all that and also spares the couple's children the pain of learning , at some stage of their lives, that their parents' marriage was annulled because dad is a schizo or mum is a nympho, or even worse, that dad was forced to marry mum becasuse of them. How good is this for the children and ultimately, for society?

Mr Joe Zammit

May 17th 2011, 12:17

“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of fornication, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery” (Mt.5, 31-32).

Christ is not saying 'in case of unfaithfulness' but in case of fornication. Fornication is had between two unmarried persons. Otherwise, what sense do the words of Christ make when he told us "what God has joined together, let no man put asunder?

Otherwise, it would be so easy for all married people to divorce, just be unfaithful! As easy as that!

Christ condemned divorce for all people. There is no possibility of divorce even in the case of unfaithfulness. In St Matthew’s gospel there is no exception accepting divorce. Divorce is always a grave sin.

The Catholic Church, as the one holy Apostolic Church of Christ has NEVER resorted to divorce in her 2000-year history. Only the other churches which are false have introduced in them the evil of divorce to prove they are not the Church of Christ.

Remarriage after divorce = Cohabitation

Francis Attard

May 17th 2011, 11:37

Jiena nahseb li l-poplu ghandu jkun jaf ir-ragunijiet kollha li wasslu ghal dawn l-annullamenti minhajr, naturalment, ma jissemmew ismijiet. Hu fl'interess ta' dak li jkun li ikun jaf jekk hu jistax jiehu annullament jekk, sfortunatament, jigi f'dik is-sitwazzjoni.

Mr Marc Vella Bonnici

May 17th 2011, 11:24

What a joke!!!!!!