Paul Galea, Qormi
Upholding Church’s teachings on divorce (5)
With the introduction of divorce legislation, are Catholics who obtain a divorce permitted to remarry in the Catholic Church?
There are some who argue that persons who have money to spare may go abroad and obtain a divorce which is subsequently considered legal in Malta, and so this is discriminatory, because it is unfair that only those who can afford it may go abroad and obtain a divorce and then get married in the Catholic Church.
However, only the state grants divorce. This is never done by the Catholic Church. So a Catholic who is granted a divorce will still be considered as married by the Catholic Church.
Notwithstanding that the state grants a divorce, or registers a divorce which has been granted abroad by another state, Catholics who obtain a divorce still cannot remarry in the Catholic Church. In fact, divorced Catholics who remarry are considered by the Catholic Church as living in an adulterous relationship.
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Mr Joe Zammit
May 20th 2011, 10:22
The two characteristics of every marriage are Unity and Indissolubility. All marriages, religious nor not, are indissoluble!
Unity means a marriage between one man and one woman.
Indissolubility makes marriage for ever, i.e., until the death of one of the spouses.
It is possible to get married for life, always by God's grace. That's why the saying goes: Three to get married: the groom, the bridegroom and God.
What we must all remember is that basically marriage is a life-long service.
Remarriage after divorce = Cohabitation
Mr Joe Zammit
May 20th 2011, 10:21
Par.2384 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “Divorce is a grave offence against the natural law…. Contracting a new union, even if it is recognized by civil law, adds to the gravity of the rupture: the remarried spouse is then in a situation of public and permanent adultery: …”.
‘A grave offence against natural law’ means a grave sin against God who is the author of natural law. So, divorce is a grave sin. Adultery is a grave offence against God as well since it transgresses seriously the Sixth Commandment of God. Adultery denotes sexual acts by married persons outside a valid marriage, i.e. outside a marriage that is valid before God.
Christ spoke clearly of the evil of divorce: “What God has joined together let no man put asunder”. ‘Let no man put asunder’ means ‘let no-one resort to divorce’. This is a command not an advice and it is so serious a command that amounts to a grave sin if it is ignored. Moreover, the fact that it is expressed in the negative clearly shows that it admits of no exception. The Catholic Church, as the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ, has never resorted to divorce in her 2000-year-old history.
Christ was clear also on the evil of adultery and said that, if one divorces his spouse and enters another marriage, one lives in adultery. (Mk 10, 2-12; Mt 19, 2-9). In the first letter to the Corinthians, St Paul says: “Do not be deceived; neither … nor adulterers… will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor.6, 9-10).
Divorce is a grave sin. Par. 1789 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church runs: “… One may never do evil so that good may result from it; …”
On July 13, 1917 the Virgin Mary told the three children of Fatima that “many go to hell on account of the sins of the flesh”. Among the sins of the flesh there is adultery. Padre Pio had regular mystical contacts with God, saints, angels and devils, and used to say that "divorce is a passport to hell". He knew what he was saying and no one could belie him. It is not a joke to go to hell … and to hell for ever!
Divorce leads to hell because it transgresses God’s categorical law on marriage, namely indissolubility. Divorce purports to do what it cannot do, namely to dissolve a validly contracted marriage.
Let no one try to deceive God by planning to live in sin and die in grace. Such a plan will be the devil’s snare. You die as you live!