In response to Pope Francis’s call for greater openness and accountability on the part of those involved in the administration of justice within the Church, the Ecclesiastical Tribunals of the Maltese province (Malta and Gozo) held their first ever solemn inauguration of the Judicial Year on Wednesday, January 17, 2018.
Such openness and accountability are particularly essential in the Church, where structures are frequently viewed with suspicion or disdain. Canon lawyers are accustomed to the tribunals being caricatured as the big bad wolf of any diocese, and Canon Law is jokingly defined as ‘the dark side of the Good News’. The tribunals have been unjustly accused of dishing out stereotypes of marriage that are surely not the type of family willed by God for His chosen race.
Yet, far from being a stereotype, the marriage we present, defend and serve in our tribunals is none other than that which Pope Francis described as “a precious sign, for when a man and a woman celebrate the sacrament of marriage, God is, as it were, ‘mirrored’ in them; He impresses in them His own features and the indelible character of His love. Marriage is the icon of God’s love for us.” (Amoris Laetitia 121)
In our tribunals we serve this scriptural vision of marriage and family by sitting down for long hours every working day with those who come to us at their most vulnerable and fragile, entrusting us with their heart-wrenching stories of marital breakdown. If a reconciliation is clearly impossible, assisted by our capable staff and by experts in psychology and allied fields, we examine each case minutely, seeking that kernel of truth that only God knows fully. It is only then that we reach a decision concerning the alleged nullity of the marriage under examination.
Even in those cases which do not qualify for this expedited treatment, the tribunals still seek to offer an efficient and compassionate service
We do not take this duty lightly, despite those who would have us declare such nullities at the drop of a hat (thereby effectively canonising divorce). In the words that our esteemed colleague, the Judicial Vicar for Gozo, Mgr Edward Xuereb, delivered at the inauguration: “This is what our Tribunal strives to do, while at the same time seeking the objective truth, unlike those who in cases of family trouble ‘wean compassion from truth, and give up certain fundamental values under the pretext of mercy’”. Significantly, the latter quote is from Bishop Mario Grech’s pastoral letter of 2012, Insaħħu l-Familja.
This point was confirmed and amply illustrated by Archbishop Charles Scicluna in the Lectio Magistralis he delivered during the inauguration, in which he explained how the Church in Malta and Gozo has made good use of the Briefer Process for the Declaration of Marriage Nullity, as promulgated by Pope Francis in his 2015 apostolic letter Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus. This new procedure is applied in those cases (about 10 per cent of those introduced in 2017) where the alleged nullity of marriage is supported by particularly clear arguments and requested by both parties. In such cases, the diocesan bishop himself is established as the judge in this process. Archbishop Scicluna was at pains to emphasise that the brevity of such cases does not compromise the rigour of their instruction or the certainty of the conclusion reached by the bishop-judge.
Yet even in those cases that do not qualify for this expedited treatment, the tribunals still seek to offer an efficient and compassionate service. It was with some satisfaction that all three tribunals (represented by their respective judicial vicars) noted the relative swiftness with which cases are being concluded – while always safeguarding truth and justice – and the steps taken to ensure that such a service remains the norm. By way of example, of the 102 cases concluded by the Maltese Metropolitan Tribunal of First Instance last year, 38 had been introduced in 2015, 32 in 2016, and 19 in 2017.
Similarly, since the tribunals carry an unjustified negative reputation concerning costs, we are at pains to observe that while we strive to keep expenses to a minimum (and a full account of the fees incurred is given to the parties in a case), the Archdiocese annually subsidises the Maltese tribunals to the tune of hundreds of thousands of euro on behalf of those who are genuinely not in a position to pay (around 20 per cent of cases). The Church is willing to make this sacrifice in order to ensure that nobody is deprived of justice due to financial limitations.
Such efforts, for us, are not merely cosmetic, but belong to the heart of our mission. Despite the hostility we often face, as tribunals we are convinced that in a Church that has so aptly been described by Pope Francis as a battlefield hospital, we (along with many other fellow workers in the Lord’s vineyard) are the surgeons, medics and nurses who – with limited resources yet with great dedication – get our hands dirty serving our injured brothers and sisters: staunching blood, binding wounds and healing infection.
Mgr Joseph Bajada is Judicial Vicar, Regional Tribunal of Appeals, and Fr Brendan M. Gatt is Judicial Vicar, Metropolitan Tribunal of First Instance.