4

The Roman Rota is the highest appellate tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church, with respect to both Latin-rite members and the eastern-rite members and is, with respect to judicial trials conducted in the Catholic Church, the highest ecclesiastical court constituted by the Holy See.

The Roman Rota is also the international marriage tribunal for the Catholic Church.

A mere generation ago few American Catholics could identify another Catholic whose marriage had been annulled, but nowadays that is pretty common, and it is even more common in Europe.

I don't want to know whether there is an abuse by Catholic Church in reference to the high frequency with which marriages are annulled nowadays, only I would ask whether a marriage can be annulled because one, the wife or the husband, doesn't believe to Sacred Trinity anymore. Can it be?

Improve this question
2

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
7

An annulment means (or at least should mean) that there was no valid marriage in the first place. The grounds for the annulment must therefore be something from the time of the (alleged) marriage. Later events, including heresy (like denying the doctrine of the Trinity) or even apostasy, cannot legitimately invalidate a marriage.

Improve this answer
2
  • In addition, Paul says "if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her." This is primarily about conversion to Christianity after the marriage, but it seems that the principle still applies if the spouse falls away (by whatever definition one might use) after the marriage.
    – mojo
    Jan 21, 2014 at 6:43
  • Even violating one's vows does not constitute valid grounds for an annulment. Divorce, maybe, but not annulment.
    – mojo
    Jan 21, 2014 at 6:45

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .