Marriage annulment

The so-called annulment of marriage at the Sacred Rota, or the declaration of nullity of marriage by ecclesiastical courts to determine the validity of one’s marriage and resolve irregular marital situations.

The declaration of nullity of the marriage

Today, the desire, and sometimes even the need, to verify the validity of one’s religious marriage is increasingly relevant. In recent years there have been several interventions of the Magisterium that have invited those who are in a marriage situation irregular, or divorced and civilly remarried, to consider the possibility of declaring a marriage previously concluded null and void. In these cases it is customary to speak of annulment of the marriage.

Terminology and definitions

The expression annulment of marriage to indicate canonical procedures is as widespread as technically incorrect. When speaking of annulment of marriage, reference is made to a declaration of invalidity of a marriage until then valid and effective. By declaring a nullity it is ascertained that the marriage has never been valid, at least for the canonical order. Valid marriages are not annulled, but those marriages that were never legally born because they were invalidated are declared null and void. This entails the consequent freedom of state for spouses who can thus marry in church. If the marriage is null, the fact that a couple lives as husband and wife and has children does not heal the ontological nullity of marriage, which is and remains null.