In preparation for the Jubilee Year of Mercy beginning this December, Pope Francis has yet again announced significant reforms on Tuesday - making it easier for Roman Catholics to annul marriages without a cost, BBC reports.
According to Catholic teachings, the Holy Matrimony is a couple's vow of life-long commitment. Not recognizing divorce, re-marrying divorcees are considered as adulterers thus disallowing them to receive the Holy Communion.
The Church considers annulment, technically called as "declaration of nullity," as an acceptable form of separating estranged couples by proving their marriage was invalid from the beginning.
Annulment procedures have been complicated and expensive, typically taking 12 to 18 months or more in the U.S. Previously for Catholics, getting annulled requires approval from two Church tribunals and need legal experts to get them through. Aside from the expensive cost, this process makes it hard for Catholics to re-marry as well.
According to Pope Francis, leaving spouses "long oppressed by darkness of doubt" on whether they could be annulled is unfair.
After setting up a commission of church lawyers and clerical experts to simplify annulment procedures just last year, the Pope unveiled a new and faster procedure - free of charge.
The annulment process will allow bishops to grant annulments - if requested by both parties - directly and will be effective within 2 months. There will also be no need for an automatic appeal unless one of the parties requests for it.
"Ninety percent of weddings (in our region) are mixed - Catholic/Orthodox. People will not wait years and years for the two processes, they will just leave. We have lost the majority of catholics due to the slowness of these processes," said Italian Msgr. Dimitrios Salachas, Apostolic Exarch at Greek Byzantine Catholic Church.
According to Reuters, Pope Francis also encourages all bishops to welcome separated and divorced Catholics who have long abandoned the Church.
