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The ending of a marital relationship, in which two people invested so much of their lives, their emotions, and their dreams, can be one of the most painful and difficult experiences a person will ever face.

While The Catholic Church teaches and believes in the permanence of the marriage bond and strive to promote stable and faithful marriage, she also recognized that some unions do not survive because they were lacking from the very beginning some essential ingredients without which there could not be a valid marriage. When such lack of an essential element can be proven through demonstrate evidence in a Church court, the nullity of that marriage can be declared.

- Jaime Cardinal L. Sin, D.D.
Former Archbishop of Manila

The Catholic Church teaches that marriage is an intimate partnership of life and love, arising from the irrevocable consent of husband and wife, geared to the giving and receiving of mutual love. This partnership of “community of life and love” is characterized by unity and indissolubility and is ordained by God to the well-being of the spouses and to the procreation and education of children (Coded of Canon Law, 1055, 1056).

For those validly baptized, Christ raises this “consortium vitae” to the dignity of the sacrament.

The Church believes that every valid marriage which has been consummated is indissoluble. She bases this belief on the law of God as found in the Scriptures and in the millenarian Christian tradition.

In principle, marriage enjoys the favor of the law. Furthermore, the Church presumes that every marriage (Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, non-believers, etc.) to be valid marriage until the opposite is proven (Can. 1060).

When the relationship has ended and the couple has irreparably separated, any one of them may petition a Church’s Tribunal to investigate the circumstances of that union to determine if, in fact and in law, there are grounds for declaring the marriage invalid on the basis of an impediment, a defect in the person’s consent or the non-observance of some formalities prescribed by law for the validity of marriage.

The Tribunal, in turn, has a sacred duty to respond to the petition and to declare, insofar as human wisdom can determine, whether or not a true marriage ever existed, that is, whether the parties fully understood the nature of marriage, freely consented to a permanent and faithful union, and were capable of assuming the essential rights and obligations of such a union.

The Catholic Church teaches that a new marriage cannot be initiated while a previous marriage still exists. This teaching of the Catholic Church is based on the words of Jesus, “What God has joined together, no human being must separate” (Mt. 19:6).

A civil divorce puts a marriage asunder and bestows the right to remarry. The Church does not acknowledge the right of civil authorities to dispense from vows taken in Church. In the same manner, the Catholic Church does not honor the civil annulment granted by the government.

Divorce, separation, and civil annulment have become common in all walks of society, even in marriages where there are children. Apparently, some parents place their own happiness before the good of their children. Others are more conscientious and terminate their marriage precisely to save their children from a dysfunctional family situation. In either case, the children are always the victims, although not the only ones who suffer. The Church tries to minimize this suffering.

Divorce apparently contributes to as many as three of every fourteen suicides and four out of every five psychiatric admissions. The children of separated couples are more likely to drop out of school, have premarital sex and become pregnant outside of marriage than youngsters from sound families. Young adults, from ages 18 to 22 who come from divorced families are twice as likely to have poor relationships with their parents. As young adults, they show higher levels of emotional distress than those from intact families.

This does not mean that all divorced or separated are bad people. Not at all. Many of them are saints-in-the-making who gave more than 100% of their effort to make their marriage work. Unfortunately, that effort was not enough because marriage as a relationship is, as it were, a two-way-traffic. As the saying goes, “It takes two to tango.”

It should be noted that divorced/separated Catholics are not excommunicated from the Church. They are considered Catholics in good standing and they have the right to receive Holy Communion as long as they have not entered an uncanonical marriage or another relationship. The only way a divorced/separated Catholic can remarry lawfully in the Church is by obtaining a Church’s declaration of nullity of his/her previous marriage.

In the Philippines, the Church’s declaration of nullity has no effects whatsoever in civil law. Such matters, as the legitimacy of children, property rights and others, are in no way affected by a declaration of nullity. Canon law declares that the children born of annulled marriage remain legitimate (c. 1137). They do not become illegitimate, for the term “illegitimate” is technically reserved for those born out of wedlock, which is certainly not the case here.

It should be noted that a nullity process must not be initiated until there are clear indications that the marital relationship is in fact over and reconciliation is no longer possible.

First of all, the term “annulment” is a misnomer. The Church does not annul any marriage. The Tribunal judges declare that the marriage in question was null from the very beginning – that something constitutively essential was missing from the moment of consent, which prevented this union from becoming one that is binding for life. (This is different from some special cases where the Church – through the Pope, by virtue of his vicarious power – dissolves the bond of valid marriage on account of some particular circumstances, for instance, privilege of the faith cases.)

Here, instead of the term “annulment”, the proper term to be used should be “declaration of nullity” or “ecclesiastical nullity”.

An ecclesiastical nullity is a formal declaration by a Church Tribunal that a particular contracted marriage was not valid union from the very beginning.

“Nullity” differs from “divorce” since “divorce” purports to break the bond of marriage, while a Church declaration of nullity is an official declaration by the Church Tribunal that a particular marriage, which was thought to be valid , was not canonically binding. When “Church annulment” or nullity is granted, the Church is declaring that there never was a valid marriage.

Why is Nullity Necessary?
How Does the Church Tribunal Operate?
What are the Most Commonly Presented Grounds for Nullity?
What are the Steps of a Nullity Process?
How Long Does It Take to Process the Case?
How to Make a Case History