Catholic World News — Vatican Update — 01/28/2002

Pope Asks Lawyers: Uphold Marital Bond

VATICAN, January 28, 2002 (CWNews.com) -- In an address at the formal opening session of the Vatican's judicial year, Pope John Paul II emphasized the indissolubility of marriage, and suggested that lawyers might invoke their rights of conscience to avoid becoming involve in divorce cases.

The Holy Father followed the Vatican tradition of receiving the judges, lawyers, and other officials of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, as they opened their sessions for the first time this year. The Roman Rota is the equivalent of an appeals court, handling cases that have already been tried before lower ecclesiastical courts. A heavy proportion of the Tribunal's work involves cases concerning marriages and annulments.

The Pope drew a distinction between ecclesiastical courts-- which seek to determine whether a true marital union was formed-- and secular courts-- which frequently act on the assumption that a marriage can be sundered by a judicial process. Secular lawyers should not give their assent to such an approach, he said. "Lawyers, as members of a liberal profession, should always refuse to use their professional skills for an end that is contrary to justice, such as divorce," he said. The Holy Father said that Catholic lawyers could act to protect the rights of clients in cases of marital separation. But they should not give their assent to a legal system that does not recognize the permanence of marriage.

The same reasoning applies to secular judges, the Pope continued. He recognized, however, that judges may have a more difficult task, "because the legal systems do not recognize a conscientious objection that could exempt them" from divorce cases. He urged judges, when facing this predicament, to "find effective means to favor the marital union."

Church courts, the Pope said, perform a great service to the cause of marriage by insisting that a valid marriage is indissoluble. He insisted that the Church's teaching on the permanence of marriage is not a discipline imposed on Catholics, but an "objective fact" regarding the very nature of marriage. Those who do not recognize the permanence of marriage cannot understand the true nature of the union, he argued.

When a Church court issues an annulment-- a declaration of nullity, or finding that no true marriage ever took place-- the decision allows "peace to the consciences" of those involved, the Pope went on. He added that this decision must always be reached by courts "profoundly in favor of indissoluble marriage and family."