Pope Francis has made substantial changes to the process of annulment for divorced Catholics, streamlining the process by granting bishops the power to rule on clear-cut cases and calling for the decrees to be issued free-of-charge.

According to Vatican Radio, the pope issued two Apostolic Letters motu proprio (Latin for “by his own initiative”) today which reform the legal structures of the Church which pertain with the issue of marriage nullity. One of the Letters, Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus (“The Lord Jesus, Clement Judge”) reforms the code of Canon Law for the Latin Church, while the other, Mitis et misericors Iesus (“Clement and Merciful Jesus”) reforms Canon Law for the Oriental Churches.

The reforms are the result of a study by an expert group who were appointed to look into the current state of marriage law in the Church and to find ways to speed up the process of annulment.

Essentially, the new laws will eliminate a previous mandatory review of an annulment decision by a second diocesan tribunal, and will give bishops much more sweeping powers to judge the simplest and most clear-cut cases themselves.

Annulments, known formally as a “decree of nullity”, is a ruling by the Church which finds that a marriage was never valid in the first place because of certain conditions such as lack of free will, psychological maturity or openness to children. At present, most annulments are granted at a local level but some of the more complicated cases are handled by the Rota, a special court at the Vatican.

Francis also said that the procedures, which can cost thousands of dollars in legal fees, should be free.

The hope is that streamlining the annulment process will make it easier for divorced and remarried Catholics to return to the sacraments.

Monsignor Pio Vito Pinto, dean of the Vatican court that rules on annulments, told a news conference today that the new rules were the most substantive changes to annulment laws since the papacy of Benedict XIV, who reigned from 1740 to 1758.

As the preface of the documents state, "the single most important principle guiding the Holy Father’s action and the work of reform undertaken, is that of salus animarum – the salvation of souls – which is the suprema Ecclesiae lex – the supreme law of the Church."

More information about the documents can be found here.

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