Editor's Note: The following are remarks made at an April 8, 2016, news conference to introduce Amoris Laetitia by Tom Burke, Canon Lawyer and member of the diocesan marriage tribunal.
On August 15, 2015, Pope Francis promulgated an Apostolic Letter
motu proprio entitled
Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus. This document had full effect in the law of the Catholic Church on December 8, 2015.
The changes in the law affected by Pope Francis dealt specifically with the procedures of adjudicating matrimonial cases - commonly referred to as "annulments." Prior to December 8, a matrimonial case was required to be adjudicated twice: in the Tribunal Office of the local diocese and in an Appellate Tribunal. Mitis Iudex kept the same fundamental principles that still apply to all matrimonial cases. What changed is that the appellate process is no longer mandatory. Consequently, the time it took for the required "appeal court trial" has been removed and it is much less likely to delay justice.
In addition to this ordinary process of "annulment," Pope Francis created an extraordinary process. This new process is to be utilized only when the facts of the marriage warrant swift justice. It involves the direct participation of the bishop of a diocese and the case must be so perceivably clear by means of the facts that the bishop deems it worthy of this new and briefer process. Thus far, this briefer process is employed rarely throughout our world. Instead, the pope's removal of the mandatory appeal has been sufficient to bring justice about much more swiftly. So, the ordinary process has been the most practiced process since December 8, 2015.
In Pope Francis' release today of
Amoris Laetitia, we see a consistent movement in the same direction of
Mitis Iudex. Pope Francis is exhorting his bishops, priests and laity to help reintegrate swiftly displaced members of the Church. With this new apostolic exhortation, Pope Francis recognizes God's divine plan that men and women enter marriage for the whole of their lives. If this couple suffers a divorce, they need to be accompanied back into the fold of our Church sooner rather than later. By means of simplifying tribunal processes, Pope Francis gave to bishops throughout the world much more tangible means to reach out to God's people and welcome them home.
Overall, nothing has changed in the process of annulments. The principles have remained the same and the Catholic canonical requirements for divorced men and women who have remarried are the same. What has changed is that justice is upheld because it is meted out more swiftly since December 8. What Mitis Iudex and Amoris Laetitia trumpet is that displaced men and women can and should participate actively in our Church because they belong with us.