Marriage invalid. Would a church annulment require a state annulment or state divorce?
score:2
No, church annulment does not require state annulment or state divorce.
This misunderstanding could be caused by chruch tribunals that require a copy of divorce decree (as stated in the question). The tribunal does so because the couple is obligated to give a document about its civil status by Art. 116 § 2 Dignitatis Conubii (DC) and most often this is a divorce decree.
Art. 116 § 2 There should be attached to the libellus [application] an authentic copy of the marriage certificate and, if need be, a document of the civil status of the parties.
The legislator does not assume a civil clarification of the couple's status, as can be seen by the phrase "if need be" and by the phrase "even civil [obligations]" in Art. 252 DC.
Art. 252 In the sentence the parties are to be warned about the moral obligations or even civil ones by which they may be bound in regard to the other party or offspring concerning support and education to be provided (can. 1689).
So we see, your marriage can be nullified even if you are married in civil law. Though if the intent of nullification is to marry again, it would not make any sense to stay married in civil law. Additionally the church has an interest, that all canonical valid marriages are recogniced by state, because full sense of marriage includes responsibilities in civil law. (This argument of course only applies if it is possible to dissolve the marriage in civil law.)
Upvote:0
In order to request an annulment in the Catholic Church, one must be divorced1 from one's spouse.
- Note that a divorce is a civil procedure; there is no entry for the term divorce in the Code of Canon Law in English:
Can. 1085 §1. A person bound by the bond of a prior marriage, even if it was not consummated, invalidly attempts marriage.
§2. Even if the prior marriage is invalid or dissolved for any reason, it is not on that account permitted to contract another before the nullity or dissolution of the prior marriage is established legitimately and certainly.
A state annulment has nothing to do with a Catholic annulment. The heart is from the USCCB. You can see from Church thinking that a sacramental union was not present in a marriage (what everyone calls 'declared null').
"Annulment" is an unfortunate word that is sometimes used to refer to a Catholic "declaration of nullity." Actually, nothing is made null through the process. Rather, a Church tribunal (a Catholic Church court) declares that a marriage thought to be valid according to Church law actually fell short of at least one of the essential elements required for a binding union.1
1 Under the USCCB guidance "dissolved" is synonymous with divorce; in other jurisdictions, a divorce may not be the only method of dissolution. Check with the council of bishops there for details.
One can read more about it at this link: Annulment.
Upvote:0
No, the Church doesn't need the law to recognize that you were not married by it, it simply has to look into the circumstances before the marriage. The Church doesn't need to put blinkers on until the state has spoken, as if it was subservient to the state or hasn't access to the couple or its own records. What is written in the books about your marriage is only relevant insofar as it portrays the truth, not otherwise (morally speaking).
What the state says about your married state is either lies or it is true. If there is a course of action you can take to make the state acknowledge you are not in fact married at this point in time (more specifically, you never were in the first place), then take it, but it's not necessary in order or the Church to say 'I didn't marry you/you did not marry yourselves.' That's an observation more than it is an action of any sort: and you are morally bound to conform to the truth of whether you were married according to the Church, than you are to any civil authority, all of which are below the Church.
More post
- 📝 Who pays for Protestant seminary education for aspiring ministers?
- 📝 When did Lucifer's fall take place?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for the belief that God likes or feels affection toward us?
- 📝 Is Longinus the name of the Roman centurion who pierced Jesus?
- 📝 According to Reformed churches, is the trinity a finalized doctrine?
- 📝 Do Jehovah's Witnesses object to praying with other Christians?
- 📝 What relationship, if any, does the Feeding of the Multitudes in Mark have to this passage in Goethe's Faust?
- 📝 Were humans once angels?
- 📝 What is the source of Pascal's quotation on staying home peacefully?
- 📝 Why was the Holy Family instructed to flee to Egypt?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for the position that embryonic stem cell research is immoral/sinful?
- 📝 Is there biblical evidence that the New Earth is our final destination?
- 📝 Earliest use of the term triune
- 📝 Is praying the rosary, heard when our attention is difficult to maintain?
- 📝 What happened to the sandals of Jesus?
- 📝 Why do Catholics recite the phrase "Thanks be to God" during Mass?
- 📝 What established Christian theology speaks to the question of whether or not God is contingent on his followers?
- 📝 Did Pope Francis' consecration of Russia and Ukraine fulfill all the demands that Mary requested at Fatima in 1917?
- 📝 What's a list of theological terms to describe how one approaches the bible?
- 📝 Are OT verses in Hebrews 1 actually verses about Jesus?
- 📝 Need help identifying a relic
- 📝 When was it claimed for the first time in Church history that the offices of apostle and prophet have ceased?
- 📝 How diverse or united is Christian history on the imagery of “Father” and “Son”?
- 📝 Did any of the early church fathers believe they had to follow dietary laws?
- 📝 Absent the original golden plates, which translation of the Book of Mormon is considered to be the "official" version?
- 📝 How are the religious usages of mainline and evangelical related to their general nonreligious meanings?
- 📝 Is there a biblical basis for Satanists and/or Pagans giving sacrifice as depicted in pop culture and modern media?
- 📝 What substitutes for prayers for the Pope's intentions during sede vacante?
- 📝 Has a slave served as a priest?
- 📝 According to Reformed Theology, why do unbelievers deserve punishment?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Marriage invalid. Would a church annulment require a state annulment or state divorce?
- 📝 How do Filipino Catholics get a church annulment when their state marriage is valid, considering the Philippines doesn't have divorce?
- 📝 Why is it not that a state divorce is actually an argument AGAINST a church annulment petition rather than a necessary condition for such petition?
- 📝 Would the Catholic Church have problems with gays or lesbians getting married under state law but not having sex?
- 📝 When did the prohibition of marriage for priests in the Catholic church originate?
- 📝 Biblical basis for the separation of church and state
- 📝 How would Reformed Christians deal with h*m*sexual marriage of individuals prior to their conversion to Christianity?
- 📝 What does the LDS Church (Mormon) teach about marriage and polygamy in the afterlife?
- 📝 On the topic of marriage in heaven, how does the LDS church reconcile Matthew 22:23-33?
- 📝 Did adherents of apocatastasis in the early church believe that the devil and his demons would be restored?
- 📝 How does the relationship of the Church of Scotland to the state differ from that of the Church of England?
- 📝 Does the Orthodox Church accept Gay marriage and why?
- 📝 Why does the Catholic Church require miracles for someone to be canonized?
- 📝 When did the Latin Catholic Church begin to generally require fasting only one hour prior to the Eucharist?
- 📝 Did Luther ever acknowledge that his Catechism would require textual changes as language evolves?
- 📝 Is there any connection between minimum age for marriage in Catholic Church and tradition about Mary's age at Annunciation?
- 📝 How would the Catholic Church reconcile 1 Thess 4:13 (which suggests soul sleep) with the doctrine of Intercession of Saints?
- 📝 Is impotence developed AFTER the marriage (and consummation) a ground for annulment in Catholic canon law?
- 📝 What are the necessary circumstances that qualify a marriage for annulment in the Catholic Church?
- 📝 What does the Catholic Church require for a parent's name to appear on the child's baptism certificate?
- 📝 What type of church or Christian would a Rob Bell follower be or attend?
- 📝 Minimum age of marriage in the Catholic Church through the ages
- 📝 How can apologists argue that if Jesus did not rise again then Christianity and the Church would not have lasted, when other religions have?
- 📝 What does a returning Catholic who contracted marriage in a Protestant church need to do when the spouse wants to remain Protestant?
- 📝 Are there any Church traditions or legends that state what species of fish Tobias caught in the Book of Tobit?
- 📝 Was this (allegedly gay) marriage in a Catholic Church valid?
- 📝 Does the Catholic Church prohibit marriage between a woman and her God-father?
- 📝 What should a Christian do when the state permits something the church does not?
- 📝 Why would the baptismal state of a spouse be relevant to whether someone can be confirmed in the Catholic Church?
- 📝 Would a person baptized by a Biblical Unitarian church be considered a Christian by the Catholic Church?