If A Marriage Is Not Valid

[AccountDeleted]

My question about a Catholic marrying a divorced person was answered below with the respons that the marriage was not valid, and yet a decree of nullity would be required -- why? IT would seem to me that if the marriage was not valid, then it never occurred (in the eyes of the Church) so why would a decree of nullity be required for something that never happened? Sorry, I just don't understand.

[Theoketos]

The Church assumes a marriage is valid until it is proven otherwise.

[Theologian in Training]

To add to what Theotokos said, the marriage is valid until proven otherwise, and the otherwise is that there was a lack of canonical form. It is what must be present in order for a marriage to be valid. I happened to find the reference in Canon Law, which you can find here [url="http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P40.HTM"]http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P40.HTM[/url]

Hope that helps

God Bless

Fr. Brian

[Pio Nono]

JMJ
4/12 - Easter Thursday

nunsense,

To add (probably nothing) to what has already been said...when one needs to go through a whole process to prove the invalid nature of a past marriage, that's one thing. A decree of nullity doesn't address that. What a decree of nullity does is officially recognize that there was something that prevented the marriage from being valid, what is called an impediment (ie. age, previous non-annulled marriages, etc.). It's basically for the sake of the couple in case they want to marry others in the future. Hope this helps.

Yours,
Pio Nono

P.S.: I know canons surrounding marriage are really knotty, and I apologize for that, but it helps keep our system in line. :