Benedict urges restraint on annulments
As if in response to BankStreet's comment to Pattycakers 2K10 earlier Friday, Pope Benedict XVI has urged church tribunals to work harder to encourage couples to stay married and not resort to granting annulments "at all costs."
An annulment is the process by which the church effectively declares that a marriage never took place. Many Catholics seek them so they can remarry in the church and continued to receive Communion.
Benedict told members of the Roman Rota, the Vatican tribunal that decides marriage annulments, that they shouldn't confuse "pastoral charity" in granting annulments with their need to uphold church law, the Associated Press reports.
The Vatican's concern largely is directed at the United States, which in 2006 had more annulment cases launched than the rest of the world combined.
Comments
Well ... if His Holiness had said he was proposing legislation in the US Congress to limit annulments/divorces, I might have thought he was an "In Good Faith" lurker. Since he is, thus far, limiting his sphere of influence to his flock, my question to Pattycakers doesn't exactly apply.
Posted by: BankStreet | January 29, 2010 1:39 PM
BankStreet! We're celebs!
Dare I say I'm blushing as I type... I love the "blog-o-sphere", cheers to you and I!
Posted by: Pattycakers 2K10 | January 29, 2010 7:10 PM
Wow - I'm in the company of greatness with you both! Congrats!
Posted by: Ace | February 1, 2010 12:41 PM
Posted by: BankStreet | February 1, 2010 1:39 PM
Oops. My posting apparently got tripped up in pseudo-HTML. Allow me to repeat myself:
"Pshaw."
Posted by: BankStreet | February 1, 2010 1:45 PM