Pope says failure of marriage does not always mean it was invalid

Published: 2004-01-29

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The fact that a marriage has failed can never be adequate proof that the marriage was invalid from the beginning, Pope John Paul II said. In a Jan. 29 speech to the Roman Rota, a Vatican court dealing mostly with marriage cases, the pope defended the Catholic Church's practice of presuming a marriage is valid unless serious proof is offered for its annulment. The pope said the church is sometimes criticized for that presumption because the critics believe it is "tied to social and cultural situations from the past." The critics, he said, claim the presumption is a relic of a time when those who requested a church wedding understood and accepted that the sacrament included a lifelong pledge of fidelity and openness to having children and educating them in the faith.

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