NOTE:The following canons and definitions are given as a summary. Consult the tribunal as needed for additional explanation or clarification.
A dispensation is the relaxation of a merely ecclesiastical law in a particular case by a competent authority (C. 85).
Canon 1078
§1 The local ordinary can dispense his own subjects residing anywhere and all actually present in his own territory from all impediments of ecclesiastical law except those whose dispensation is reserved to the Apostolic See.
§2 Impediments whose dispensation is reserved to the Apostolic See are:
1° The impediment arising from sacred orders or from a public perpetual vow of chastity in a religious institute of pontifical right.
2° The impediment of crime mentioned in Canon 1090.
§3 A dispensation is never given from the impediment of consanguinity in the direct line or in the second degree of the collateral line.
The dispensation may be given by the ordinary of the place where the marriage is celebrated or the ordinary of the place where either party, or the Catholic party, has domicile or quasi-domicile.
All requests for permissions and dispensations are sent to the Tribunal.
Canon 1079
§1 In urgent danger of death, the local ordinary can dispense his own subjects residing anywhere and all actually present in his territory both from the form to be observed in the celebration of marriage and from each and every impediment of ecclesiastical law, whether public or occult, except the impediment arising from the sacred order of presbyterate.
NOTE: The Impediment of Prior Bond can never be dispensed.
Canon 1080
§1 Whenever an impediment is discovered after everything has already been prepared for the wedding, and the marriage cannot be delayed without the probable danger of grave harm until a dispensation is obtained from the competent authority, the local ordinary, and provided that the case is occult, all those mentioned in Canon 1079 2-3 when the conditions prescribed therein have been observed possess the power to dispense from all impediments except those mentioned in 1078 2, n. 1.
§2 This power is valid even to convalidate a marriage if there is the same danger in delay and there is insufficient time to make recourse to the Apostolic See or to the local ordinary concerning impediments from which he is able to dispense.
NOTE: Even in danger of death, the local ordinary, priest, or deacon cannot witness the exchange of matrimonial consent for a current relationship in which either of the parties was previously married, and the previous spouse(s) is living, and the freedom to marry has not been determined.
That is, the local ordinary, priest, or deacon cannot, under any circumstances, dispense from an impediment which could be proven in the external forum (e.g., age, prior bond, and sacred orders [c. 1074]).
If for some reason, the impediment is not proven in the external forum and the internal forum is invoked, these restrictions apply.
Impediments of marriage are those things which, by their very nature, would invalidate a marriage.
Age
Canon 1083
While Canon 1083 states that the parties of marriage must have completed their sixteenth birthday for males and fourteenth birthday for females, the Diocese of San Angelo recommends that both parties be at least nineteen years of age.
Canon 1072
“Pastors of souls are to take care to dissuade youth from the celebration of marriage before the age at which a person usually enters marriage according to the accepted practices of the region.”
Marriage of Teenagers
Although age is no guarantee of maturity, research and experience indicate that teenagers are generally not prepared emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, or financially to handle the responsibilities of marriage. Special care and concern must be taken with any couple in which one or both parties are under nineteen (19) years of age.
Restrictions
If either of the parties is less than nineteen (19) years of age, parental consultation and completion of the canonical affidavit of free status must occur.
Additional Precautions
In every case involving a marriage of teenagers, a premarital inventory instrument should be used to aid in assessment.
Referral to a professional counselor may also be recommended.
Civil law requirements must be followed (See Appendix VII).
Impotence
Canon 1084
Impotence refers to the antecedent and perpetual inability of either party to have relative or absolute intercourse. This does not apply to sterility.
The local ordinary cannot dispense.
Prior Bond
Canon 1085
A prior marriage bond is a previous valid marriage of one of the parties seeking a new marriage that has not ended in death or dissolution by an ecclesial authority (by a declaration of a Catholic marriage tribunal) at the time the second marriage was contracted. All marriages of any kind are considered valid until proven invalid.
The local ordinary cannot dispense.
Disparity of Worship (Disparity of Cult)
A marriage between a Catholic and a non-baptized individual requires a dispensation form, the appropriate ecclesial authority for validity. A Baptism not using the Trinitarian formula or not intending what the Church intends results in an invalid Baptism.
Canon 1086
§1 A marriage between two persons, one of whom has been baptized in the Catholic Church or received into it, and the other of whom is not baptized, is invalid.
§2 A person is not to be dispensed from this impediment unless the conditions mentioned in Canons 1125 and 1126 have been fulfilled.
§3 If, at the time the marriage was contracted, one party was commonly held to have been baptized or the Baptism was doubtful, the validity of the marriage must be presumed according to the norm of Canon 1060 until it is proven with certainty that one party was baptized, but the other was not.
Sacred Orders
Canon 1087
Those in sacred orders (priests or deacons), who have not been dispensed from the obligation of clerical celibacy, invalidly attempt marriage.
Public Perpetual Vow of Chastity
Canon 1088
Religious who are in a public, perpetual vow of chastity in a religious institute, and who have not been dispensed from their perpetual vow, invalidly attempt marriage. In case of a question, contact the Tribunal Office.
In danger of death, the local ordinary, pastor, other priest or deacon or confessor, in accord with Canon 1079, may dispense from the impediment.
Abduction
Persons detained against their will or under the limitations of force or fear are not capable of freely giving consent. Only after detention and all force have ended and fear has been suitably addressed is a person free to contract marriage with the abductive party (See Canon 1089 and Canon 1103).
Crime
This occurs when a party brings about the death of their own spouse or the spouse of another person to gain the freedom to marry either the murdering party or the spouse of the victim (See Canon 1090).
Consanguinity
Canon 1091
This refers to individuals of common bloodlines (relatives).
Consanguinity in the collateral line is where people are related through a common ancestor. This is normally first cousins. The method of determining degrees is to graph the relationship of the two parties through the common ancestor and count the lines between the parties. The number of lines is the degree in the collateral line.
Consanguinity in the collateral line is invalid up to the fourth degree. Third- and fourth-degree collateral consanguinity can be dispensed by the local ordinary.
Consanguinity in the direct line (parent or child)—both legitimate and natural—is always forbidden.
Although there is a general principle that, when there is a doubt about an impediment, the couple should not be impeded from marriage, a marriage is never permitted if doubt exists whether the partners are related by consanguinity in any degree of the direct line or in the second degree of the collateral line (See c. 1091 §4).
A dispensation is never given from the impediment of consanguinity in the direct line or in the second degree of the collateral line (c. 1078, §3).
The practice of the Holy See in the past has been to dispense third degree consanguinity very rarely and only for extraordinarily grave reasons and fourth degree rarely and only for grave reasons.
Affinity
Canon 1092
Affinity is the relationship through the spouse to the spouse’s relatives. Affinity in the direct line (in the line through the spouse’s parents or children) is always prohibited. The collateral line is not affected.
No dispensation is given by the local ordinary.
Public Propriety
The impediment of public propriety arises when there has been the establishment of common life or notorious or public concubinage. It nullifies marriage in the first degree of the direct line between the man and the blood relatives of the woman, and vice versa (See Canon 1093).
Adoption
Those who are related in the direct line or in the second degree of the collateral line by a legal relationship arising from adoption cannot contract marriage together validly (c.
1094). Step relatives are not included in this impediment.
Spiritual Relationship
This impediment binds only Eastern Catholics and those Latin Catholics who married before the revised Code, which went into effect on November 27, 1983. (See the New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, Beal, et al., p. 1295-1296.)
This impediment addresses marriages between a baptized person and the baptizing minister or godparent.
Guardianship
This impediment exists only in Eastern Canon Law. It is, therefore, binding also for marriage between an Eastern Catholic and a Latin Catholic.