DIVORCE
What is the teaching of the Holy Roman Catholic
Church?
INDEX
DIVORCE
What is the teaching of the Holy Roman Catholic Church?
INDISSOLUBILITY OF MARRIAGE
A.
THE CATHOLIC DOGMA.
I.
What is the true origin of Marriage?
"The true origin
of marriage (...) is well known to all. Though the revilers
of Christian faith refuse to acknowledge the never-interrupted
doctrine of the church on this subject and have long striven to
destroy the testimony of all nations and of all times, they have
nevertheless not only failed to quench the powerful light of truth
but even to lessen it. We record what is known to all and
cannot be doubted by any, that God, on the sixth day of creation,
having made man from the slime of the earth and having breathed
into his face the breath of life, gave him a companion whom he
miraculously took from the side of Adam while he was asleep (Gen.
II. 18-24). God thus, in His most far-reaching foresight,
decreed that this husband and wife should be the natural beginning
of the human race, from whom it might be propagated and preserved
by an unfailing fruitfulness through all futurity of time."
(Leo XIII: Encyclical Arcanum Divinae Sapientiae, February
10, 1880, M. 147.)
II.
What is the importance of Family in Society?
"The family
is the basis of society. As the human body is composed of
living cells, which are not placed only one beside the other but
by their intimate and constant relationship constitute an organic
whole, so society is formed not by a conglomeration of individuals,
sporadic beings, who appear for an instant and disappear the next,
but by the economic community and by the moral solidarity of families
which, transmitting from generation to generation the precious
inheritance of a common ideal, civilisation and religious faith,
guarantee the cohesion and continuity of social ties. St.
Augustine noted it fifteen centuries ago, when he wrote that the
family ought to be the initial element and like a cell (particula)
of the city. Since each part is ordained to the purpose
and integrity of the whole, he concluded that peace in the family
between who commands and who obeys helps to maintain harmony between
the citizens (St. Augustine: Invitate Dei; L. 70, c 16).
Well they know it who, in order to expel God from society and
throw it all into disorder, use every means to deprive the family
of respect and take away even the remembrance of the divine laws,
by exalting divorce and free union, by obstructing the providential
duty given to parents towards their children, by instilling in
married couples the fear of the material efforts and moral responsibilities
which accompany the glorious burden of numerous children."
(Pius XII: Allocution to the Newlyweds, June 26, 1940, M. 430.)
III.
What was the role of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Restoration
of Marriage?
"Jesus Christ,
who restored our human dignity and who perfected the Mosaic law,
applied early in His ministry no little solicitude to the question
of marriage. He ennobled the marriage in Cana of Galilee
by His Presence and made it memorable by the first of the miracles
which He wrought (John II): and for this reason, even from that
day forth, it seemed as if the beginning of new holiness had been
conferred on human marriages. Later on He brought back matrimony
to the nobility of its primeval origin by condemning the customs
of the Jews in their abuse of the plurality of wives and of the
power of giving bills of divorce and still more by commanding
most strictly that no-one should dare to dissolve that union which
God Himself had sanctioned by a perpetual bond.
Hence, having set aside the
difficulties which were adduced from the law of Moses, He, in
the character of Supreme Law-giver, decreed as follows concerning
husbands and wives: 'I say to you, that whosoever shall put away
his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another,
committeth adultery; and he that shall marry her that is put away
committeth adultery.' (Matth. XIX. 9.)" (Leo XIII: Encyclical
Arcanum Divinae Sapientiae, 10 February, 1880, M. 152.)
IV.
What have the Apostles taught us about Christ's intentions on
Marriage?
"In like manner
from the teaching of the Apostles we learn that the unity of marriage
and its perpetual indissolubility, the indispensable conditions
of its very origin, must, according to the command of Christ,
be holy and inviolable without exception. Paul says again:
'To them that are married, not I, but the Lord commandeth that
the wife depart not from her husband; and if she depart, that
she remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband' (1 Cor.
VII. 10-11), and again 'a woman is bound by the law as long as
her husband liveth; but if her husband die, she is at liberty'
(1 Cor. VII. 39). It is for these reasons that marriage
is a 'great Sacrament' (Eph. V. 32), 'honourable in all' (Heb.
XIII. 4); holy, pure and to be reverenced as a type and symbol
of most high mysteries." (Leo XIII: Encyclical Arcanum
Divinae Sapientiae, 10 Feb. 1860, M. 154.)
V.
As regards Marriage, what is the infallible teaching of the Council
of Trent and its consequences in Natural Law?
"This is the
doctrine of the Council of Trent (Council of Trent, Sess. XXIV;
can. 1): 'The first parent of the human race, moved by the Divine
Spirit, declared that marriage is a perpetual and indissoluble
bond when he stated 'This now is bone of my bones and flesh of
my flesh' (Gen. 2, 23). Christ confirmed the same stability
of the bond which had been proclaimed by Adam so long ago when
he declared: 'what God hath joined together, let no man put asunder''
(Matth. 19, 6). Thus marriage in the very state of nature,
and certainly long before it was raised to the dignity of a sacrament
in the true sense of the word, was divinely instituted in such
a manner that its bond was perpetual and indissoluble, so that
it cannot be dissolved by any civil law." (Pius VI: Letter
Litteris Tuis, 11 July 1789, M. 48.)
VI.
What about the objection saying that the Perpetuity and Indissolubility
of the Matrimonial Bond originated in Church Discipline?
"The perpetual
and indissoluble strength of the marriage bond does not have its
origin in ecclesiastical discipline. For the consummated
marriage is solidly based on divine and natural law: such a marriage
can never be dissolved for any reason - not even by the Pope himself
- and not even in the case where one of the parties may have violated
conjugal fidelity by committing adultery." (Pius IX:
Letter Verbis Exprimere, 15 Aug. 1859, M. 103.)
VII.
What is the Foundation and what are the Consequences of the Divine
Institution of Marriage?
"Matrimony was
not instituted or re-established by men but by God; not men, but
God, the Author of nature and Christ our Lord, the restorer of
nature, provided marriage with its laws, confirmed it and elevated
it; and consequently those laws can in no way be subject to human
wills or to any contrary pact made even by the contracting parties
themselves. This is the teaching of Sacred Scripture (Gen.
I, 27-28); it is the solemnly defined doctrine of the Council
of Trent, which uses the words of Holy Scripture to proclaim and
establish that the perpetual indissolubility of the marriage bond,
its unity and its stability, derive from God Himself (Council
of Trent, Sess. XXIV)." (Pius XI: Encycl. Casti Connubii,
31 Dec. 1930, M. 267.)
VIII.
More precisely, what is the Catholic Doctrine on the Indissolubility
of Marriage?
"The indissolubility
of the marriage contract is emphatically declared by Christ Himself
when He says, 'What God hath joined together let no man put asunder'
(Matth. XIX. 6) and 'Every man that putteth away his wife and
marrieth another committeth adultery; and he that marrieth her
that is put away committeth adultery' (Luke XVI. 18).
And this attribute of marriage
is assigned by St. Augustine to the blessing called Sacrament
in the following passage: 'Sacrament signifies that the
bond of wedlock shall never be broken, and that neither party,
if separated, shall form a union with another, even for the sake
of offspring' (St. Augustine: De Gen. ad Litt., L IX; ch VII;
n 12.). But this inviolable stability, though not always
in equal measure nor always with the same degree of perfection,
is the attribute of every true matrimonial bond; for the words
of the Lord, 'What God hath joined together let no man put
asunder', were spoken concerning the nuptial union of our
first parents, the prototype of all future marriages, and are
consequently applicable to every true marriage. It is true
that before the coming of Christ, the perfection and strictness
of the original law were modified to the extent that Moses, because
of the hardness of their hearts, allowed even the members of God's
people to give a bill of divorce for certain reasons. But
Christ, in virtue of His power as supreme Lawgiver, revoked this
concession and restored the law to its original perfection by
those words which must never be forgotten: 'What God hath joined
together let no man put asunder' (Matth. XIX. 6.)."
(Pius XI: Encyclical Casti Connubii, 31 December, 1930, M.
294-295.)
IX.
What are the Fruits of this Indissolubility?
"The many precious
benefits which flow from the indissolubility of matrimony will
be understood if we consider, even superficially, the welfare
of husband and wife, of their children and of society as a whole.
In the first place, husband and wife find in it a guarantee of
that enduring stability which their reciprocal and generous surrender
of their persons and of the deepest love of their hearts naturally
requires; for true charity 'never falleth away' (I Cor. XIII.
8). To chastity it affords a bulwark against temptations
to infidelity, whether from within or from without. It banishes
the fear of being deserted in adversity or old age and establishes
instead a quiet feeling of security. It provides an effective
safeguard to the dignity of each party and ensures that they will
always be at hand to help each other, the indissoluble bond which
unites them serving as a constant reminder that it is not for
the sake of transitory goods, nor for the mere satisfaction of
desire, but in order to obtain for each other higher and everlasting
goods, that they have contracted this matrimonial union which
can be dissolved only by death. Excellent provision is also
made for the instruction and education of the offspring, which
has to be prolonged over many years: a task involving weighty
and enduring responsibilities which the united efforts of both
parents will make easier to bear.
Equal advantages are afforded
to the whole of society, for experience shows that the inviolable
indissolubility of marriage is a most fruitful source of upright
living and of moral integrity. If this is observed, the
happiness and prosperity of the State are secured; for the State
is what it is made to be by the individuals and families which
compose it, as a body is composed of its members. Consequently
those who strenuously defend the permanent stability of matrimony
render a great service to the individual welfare of married persons
and their children and to the public welfare of society."
(Pius XI: Encyclical Casti Connubii, 31 Dec. 1930, M. 299-300.)
X.
What is the Dignity of Marriage and what are its Consequences
for Social Life?
"After Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, the Redeemer and Restorer of human nature,
elevated Matrimony to the dignity of a Sacrament, every marriage
between Christians is by that very fact, a Sacrament, nor can
the contract be in any way separated from the Sacrament.
It follows that - having excepted the rights which the State has
over what are called the civil effects - Matrimony falls under
the authority of the Church. Besides, it is certain that
Jesus, the Redeemer of all peoples, abolished the bill of divorce
and gave back to Matrimony, which was strengthened by a new sanctity,
its indissolubility which it had received in the beginning through
the will of God Himself.
It follows that the marriage
of Christians in the same moment that it is completed acquires
its sanctity, unity and perfection. It cannot be dissolved
for any reason whatsoever, save the death of one of the partners,
in conformity to the words of Sacred Scripture: 'What God hath
joined together, let no man put asunder' (Matth. XIX. 6).
Jesus Christ had in mind the numerous interests of mankind: in
practice nothing better assures the preservation and restoration
of good morality and nothing could be thought to be more useful
and efficacious to nourish the reciprocal love between husband
and wife, and to procure for the family the stability of divine
power, to give back to the children the blessing of the protection
and the education of former times, to safeguard woman's dignity
and to assure the honour and prosperity of the family and the
State." (Leo XIII: Letter Dum Multa, 24 Dec. 1902, M.
247-248.)
XI.
What is the Competence of the Catholic Church in relation to Marriage?
"It is a dogma
of Faith that Matrimony, which was only an indissoluble contract
before the coming of Christ, became, after the Incarnation, one
of the seven Sacraments of the Evangelical Law. This was
defined, under pain of excommunication, by the Holy Council of
Trent against the heretics and the impious of those times (Council
of Trent: Sess. XXIV. can. 1.). It follows that to the Church
alone, the guardian of everything that refers to the Sacraments,
belongs every right and power to determine the validity of this
contract which was elevated to the high dignity of a Sacrament;
and in consequence, it belongs to the Church alone to judge the
validity or invalidity of marriages. That is so obvious
that - wishing to oppose those who recklessly affirmed, either
in writing or in speech, as is again so widely done in our days,
that this is a practice foreign to the church's spirit and unheard
of at the time of the Apostles - the Council was induced to add
a special canon of condemnation and to put under pain of excommunication
whoever dared to say that matrimonial cases are not within the
competence of ecclesiastical judges (Council of Trent, Sess. XXIV,
can. 12.)." (Pius VI: Letter Deessemus Nos, 16 Sept.
1788, M. 43.)
XII.
As a Consequence, how is Marriage to be considered in Christian
Jurisprudence?
"Therefore,
insofar as the substance and sanctity of the bond are concerned,
marriage for Christian jurisprudence is an essentially sacred
and religious act, the regulation of which naturally belongs to
the religious power, not by a delegation of the State, nor by
consent of the Princes, but by mandate of the Divine Founder of
Christianity and Author of the Sacraments." (Leo XIII:
Letter Ci Siamo, 1 June 1879, M. 130.)
XIII.
What has been the role of the Catholic Church in relation to Marriage
and to the Family?
"Christ, therefore, having
renewed marriage to such and so great excellence, commended and
entrusted all the discipline bearing upon these matters to His
Church. The Church, always and everywhere, has so used her
power with reference to the marriages of Christians that men have
seen clearly that it belongs to her as of native right; not being
made hers by any human grant but given divinely to her by the
will of her Founder. Her constant and watchful care in guarding
marriage, by the preservation of its sanctity, is so well understood,
as not to need proof. That the judgment of the Council of
Jerusalem reprobated licentious and free love (Acts XV. 29), we
all know, as also that the incestuous Corinthian was condemned
by the authority of blessed Paul (1 Cor. V. 5). Again, in
the very beginning of the Christian Church were repulsed and defeated,
with the like unremitting determination, the efforts of many who
aimed at the destruction of Christian marriage such as the Gnostics,
Manicheans and Montanists; and in our own time Mormons, St Simonians,
Phalansterians and Communists.
In like manner, moreover, a
law of marriage just to all and the same for all, was enacted
by the abolition of the old distinction between slaves and free-born
men and women (cf. c I de coniug. serv.); and thus the rights
of husbands and wives were made equal; for as St. Jerome says,
'with us that which is unlawful for women is unlawful for men
also, and the same restraint is imposed on equal conditions' (Lett.
77 ad oceano; PL XXII col. 691). The self-same rights also
were firmly established for reciprocal affection and for the inter-change
of duties; the dignity of the woman was asserted and assured and
it was forbidden to man to inflict capital punishment for adultery
(cf. Can. Interfectores et can. Admonere, q. 2), or lustfully
and shamelessly to violate his plighted faith.
It is also a great blessing
that the Church has limited, so far as it is needful, the power
of fathers of families, so that sons and daughters wishing to
marry are not in any way deprived of their rightful freedom (c.
30, q. 3; c. III de cognat. spirit.); that, for the purpose of
spreading more widely the supernatural love of husbands and wives,
she has decreed marriages within certain degrees of consanguinity
or affinity to be null and void (c. 8 de consang. et affin.; c.
1 de cognat.; legali.) that she has taken the greatest pains to
safeguard marriage, as much as is possible, from error and violence
and deceit (c. 26, de sponsal.; c. 13, 15, 29, de sponsal. et
matrim.); that she has always wished to preserve the holy chastity
of the marriage bed, personal rights (c. 1, de convers. infid.;
cc 5, 6, de co. qui duxit in matrim.), the honour of husband and
wife (c. 3, 5, 8, de sponsal. et matrim. Council of Trent. Sess.
XXIV c. de reform. matrim.), and the security of religion (c.
7, de divort.).
Lastly, with such power and
with such foresight of legislation has the Church guarded this
divine institution that no-one who thinks rightfully of these
matters can fail to see how, with regard to marriage, she is the
best guardian and defender of the human race; and how her wisdom
has come forth victorious from the lapse of years, from the assaults
of men and from the countless changes of public events."
(Leo XIII: Encycl. Arcanum Divinae Sapientiae, 10 Feb. 1880,
M. 158-159.)
XIV.
How should one feel after examining the role of the Catholic Church
in favour of the Indissolubility of Marriage?
"If the Church,
fulfilling the mission received from the Divine Founder, with
powerful and fearless use of holy and invincible energy, has always
affirmed and spread abroad in the world inseparable marriage,
give praise and glory to her who so doing has greatly contributed
in safeguarding the right of the spirit before the impulse of
sense in matrimonial life, saving the dignity of the marriage
no less of the woman than of the human person." (Pius
XII: Alloc. to Newlyweds, 29 April 1942, M. 496.)
XV.
What difference is there, on the question of Marriage, between
the Ecclesiastical Judicial Order and the Civil Judicial Order?
"An (...) object,
which clearly manifests the difference between the ecclesiastical
and civil judicial order, is Matrimony. This is, according
to the Creator's will, a res sacra. Therefore, when
it is a matter of the union between baptised persons, it remains
of its very nature outside the competence of civil authority.
But even marriages legitimately contracted between non-baptised
persons are a holy matter, so much so that civil courts have no
power to dissolve them, nor has the Church in similar cases ever
recognised the validity of their sentences of divorce. This
does not alter the fact that simple declarations of the nullity
of marriages themselves - relatively few in comparison to divorce
judgments - can in determined circumstances be justly pronounced
by civil courts and therefore be recognised by the Church."
(Pius XII: Alloc. to the Tribunal of the Holy Roman Rota, 6
Oct. 1946, M. 531.)
XVI.
What is the Competence of the State on Marriage?
"It goes without
saying, as all know, that the purely civil effects of matrimony
even between baptised persons are within the judicial competence
of the civil authority, but much wider and deeper is the Church's
competence in matrimonial questions, because on her depends, by
divine institution, what concerns the guardianship of the nuptial
bond and the sanctity of marriage." (Pius XII: Allocution
to the Tribunal of the Holy Roman Rota, October 6, 1946, M. 532.)
XVII.
What authority has the Political Power on True Marriages?
"'Wherefore,
it is evident (...) that even in the state of nature and at all
events long before it was raised to the dignity of a Sacrament
properly so-called, marriage was divinely constituted in such
a way as to involve a perpetual and indissoluble bond, which consequently
cannot be dissolved by any civil law. Therefore, although
a marriage may exist without a Sacrament, as in the case of marriage
between infidels, even so, being a true marriage, it must and
does retain the character of a perpetual bond, which from the
very beginning has been by divine law inseparable from marriage
and over which no civil power has any authority. Therefore,
if a marriage is said to be contracted, either it is so contracted
as to be a true marriage, in which case it carries with it that
perpetual bond which by divine law is inherent in every true marriage
or else it is deemed to be contracted without this perpetual bond,
in which case it is not a true marriage at all but an illicit
union objectively contrary to the divine law, which consequently
may not be entered upon or maintained.' (Pius VI: Rescript.
ad Episc. Agriens., July 11 1789.)
If the stability of marriage
appears in some rare cases to be subject to exception - as in
certain natural marriages contracted between infidels (can. 1120,
Code of Canon Law of 1917), or between Christians, in the category
of marriages ratified but not consummated (can. 1119, Code of
Canon Law of 1917) - such exception does not depend upon the will
of man or of any merely human power but upon the divine law, of
which the Church of Christ is the sole guardian and interpreter.
But no such dissolving power can ever, or for any cause, be exercised
upon a Christian marriage ratified and consummated. In such
a marriage, the matrimonial contract has attained its final perfection,
and therefore by God's will exhibits the highest degree of stability
and indissolubility, which no human authority can put asunder
(can. 1118, Code of Canon Law of 1917)." (Pius XI: Encyclical
Casti Connubii, December 31, 1930, M. 296-297.)
B.
CIVIL DIVORCE.
I.
What must Catholics know about Marriage?
"No Catholic
is ignorant of, or can be ignorant of, the fact that Matrimony
is truly and properly one of the seven Sacraments of the evangelical
law, instituted by Jesus Christ Our Lord. It necessarily
follows that: 1) among the faithful, there cannot be a marriage
which is not at the same time a Sacrament; every other union between
Christians outside of the Sacrament, made in virtue of any civil
law, is none other than disgraceful and base concubinage, repeatedly
condemned by the Church; 2) the Sacrament can never be separated
from the marriage contract and only the Church has the power to
regulate those matters which pertain to matrimony." (Pius
IX: Consistorial All., September 27, 1852, M. 101.)
II.
Some People extol the Union of Men and Women outside Marriage.
Who are they?
(a) FREEMASONS:
"As regards
domestic society, here in brief is the Naturalists' doctrine.
Matrimony is only a civil contract. It can be rescinded
legitimately by the free will of the partners. To the State
belongs the power over the matrimonial bond.
(...) Now the Freemasons accept
these principles without reserve. Not only do they accept
them but for a long time now, they have studied a method which
will make these principles part of custom and the way of life.
In many countries, which do not hesitate to declare themselves
Catholic, marriages which are not celebrated according to the
civil law are declared null; in other places, divorce is allowed;
again in other countries, everything is under way to obtain this
permission as soon as possible. Everything is done in haste
with the intention of altering the nature of matrimony, to reduce
it to a mutable and fleeting union which can be formed and broken
at will." (Leo XIII: Encycl. Humanum genus, April 20,
1886, M. 200.)
(b) COMMUNISTS:
"In a system
which denies to human life all that is of a sacred and spiritual
nature, it follows as a matter of course that matrimony and the
family are considered to be a purely civil and artificial institution,
originating in a particular set of economic conditions; and as
the theory refuses to recognise any matrimonial bond of the juridical
and moral order not completely dependent on the will of the individual
or the community, it likewise as a necessary consequence denies
the indissolubility of matrimony. The complete emancipation
of women from any ties with home or family is a special characteristic
of the communist theory. Held to be totally free from the
protective authority of her husband, the wife is withdrawn from
the home and the care of her children and, equally with her husband,
thrust into the turmoil of public life and communal industry,
her home and her children being handed over to the custody of
the State. Parents, finally, are denied the right to educate
the children; this right is claimed exclusively for the community
and is therefore allowed to be exercised only in its name and
by its mandate." (Pius XI: Encycl. Divini Redemptoris,
March 19, 1937, M. 409.)
(c) THE
SECULAR STATE:
"When the secular
State, overstepping its boundaries and the essential scope of
its power, extended its hand to desecrate the conjugal bond, depriving
it of its religious character, it (...) weakened in various places
the stability of matrimony by sanctioning the law of divorce.
Everyone can see what are its
fruits. An innumerable number of marriages are made on the
basis only of ignoble passions and in a short time they break
up or degenerate with tragic consequences or scandalous infidelities.
What then of the innocent children, neglected and perverted by
the parents' bad example, or by the poison abundantly administered
by a State officially secular? (Pope Leo XIII: Encycl.
Annum Ingressi Sumus, March 19, 1902, M. 245.)
III.
How do the Enemies of Marriage proceed to Destroy its Indissolubility?
"They begin
by representing matrimony as an absolutely profane and purely
civil affair, to be in no way entrusted to the care of a religious
society, the Church of Christ, but only to that of the State.
They go on to say that the nuptial contract should be freed from
any indissoluble bond and that the separation of husband and wife
by divorce ought to be not only tolerated but legally sanctioned.
The final consequence is that wedlock is entirely stripped of
its sacred character and reduced to the level of profane and civil
affairs.
They establish their first
point on the ground that the civil act itself is to be regarded
as the real matrimonial contract (civil marriage, as it is called);
the religious act being a mere accessory, or, at the most, a concession
to be made to a common and superstitious folk. Moreover,
they say, no blame ought to attach to Catholics for marrying non-Catholics
without any regard to religion and without asking the consent
of religious authority. Their second point, which is really
a consequence of the first, consists in vindicating complete divorce
and in praising and promoting legislation which favours the dissolution
of the marriage bond." (Pius XI: Encycl. Casti Connubii,
Dec. 31, 1930, M. 340-341.)
IV.
What are the Evils of Divorce?
(a) FIRST TEXT:
"Truly, it is
hardly possible to describe how great are the evils that flow
from divorce. Matrimonial contracts are by it made variable;
mutual kindness is weakened; deplorable inducements to unfaithfulness
are supplied; harm is done to the education and training of children;
occasion is afforded for the breaking up of homes; the seeds of
dissension are sown among families; the dignity of womanhood is
lessened and brought low and women run the risk of being deserted
after having ministered to the pleasures of men. Since,
then, nothing has such power to lay waste families and destroy
the mainstay of kingdoms as the corruption of morals, it is easily
seen that divorces are in the highest degree hostile to the prosperity
of families and States, springing as they do from the depraved
morals of the people and, as experience shows us, opening out
a way to every kind of evil-doing alike in public and in private
life.
Further still, if the matter
be duly pondered, we shall clearly see these evils to be the more
especially dangerous because, divorce once being tolerated, there
will be no restraint powerful enough to keep it within the bounds
marked out or pre-established. Great indeed is the force
of example and even greater still the might of passion.
With such incitements, it must need follow that the eagerness
for divorce, daily spreading by devious ways, will seize upon
the minds of many like a virulent contagious disease or like a
flood of water bursting through every barrier." (Leo
XIII: Encycl. Arcanum Divinae Sapientiae, Feb, 10, 1880, M. 179-180.)
(b) SECOND TEXT:
"Among these
very men who do not fully accept Catholic institutions, or who
do not recognise any of them, there are many, nevertheless, who,
moved by a desire for public welfare, fight courageously and wisely
in favour of the indissolubility of matrimony.
The lawfulness of breaking
the matrimonial bond having in fact been established, the constant
and stable nature of matrimony is upset by law. For this
reason, those consequences which We Ourselves have at another
time deplored, came on in swift succession: the weakening of mutual
affection on both sides; the opportunity for pernicious incitement
towards infidelity; the endangering of the upbringing and education
of children; the fostering of the germs of discord between families;
the radical disturbing of all things; the reducing of the status
of women to the Lowest degradation.
Since both the prosperity of
family life and the well-being of the State are increased by good
morals and ruined by corrupt ones, it is easy to understand how
ruinous are divorces for both public and private order, proceeding
as they do from the degradation of morals and leading in turn
to ultimate licence." (Leo XIII: Consistorial All., Dec.
16, 1901, M. 244.)
(c) THIRD TEXT:
"When there
is not fixed in the will, the intention to guard perpetually and
inviolably the marriage bond, there also grows enfeebled and decreases
the consciousness of tranquility and future safety for the father,
mother and children, that sustaining feeling of unconditional
reciprocal faith, that bond of strict and unchangeable union (no
matter what happens), in which one great and essential element
of domestic happiness is rooted and nourished. Why, perhaps
you will ask, do We extend such consequences to the children?
Because they receive from their parents three great gifts: being,
nourishment and upbringing (5 Thomas Aquinas; Summa Theologica,
Suppl. 947. a7), and they need a happy atmosphere for their healthy
development; and it is certain a serene youth, a harmonious formation
and education, are inconceivable without the undoubted fidelity
of the parents. Do not the children nourish the bond of
this married love? The rupture of this bond is cruelty towards
them and contempt for their blood, a humiliating of their name,
a division of their heart and a separation of brothers and home,
a bitterness for their youthful happiness and, what is worse still,
moral scandal. How many are the wounds to the souls of millions
of youths? In many cases, what sad and lamentable ruin!
What implacable remorse is planted in souls! The Church
and civil society place their hopes in spiritually upright, morally
pure, happy and joyful men, who for the most part do not come
from homes torn with discord and uncertain affection but from
those families wherein all is based on the fear of God and inviolate
married fidelity.
Whoever wishes to know the
reasons for the decay of contemporary morality and the poison
which infects a great part of the human family will not be long
in finding out that one of the most ill-omened and responsible
sources is the legislation and practice of divorce. God's
creations and laws always have a beneficial and powerful action;
but when human neglect or malice intervenes and causes disorder
and upheaval, an incalculable process of damage sets in, almost
to the point where it seems that exasperated nature itself turns
against man's work. Who can ever doubt or deny that the
indissolubility of marriage is both a creation and law of God,
most valid support for the family, for the greatness of the Nation,
for the defense of the fatherland, which in the breast of its
courageous youth will always find the protection and strength
of its fortunes?" (Pius XII: All. to Newlyweds, Apr.
29, 1942, M. 497-498.)
V.
Compared with the Evils caused by Divorce, what are the Blessings
resulting from Conjugal Indissolubility?
"Leo XIII clearly
showed how divorce is as pregnant a source of evils as the indissolubility
of marriage is fertile in blessings. If the bond is inviolate,
we see husband and wife living in peace and security; if it is
not, the prospect of an early separation or, still more, the danger
of an eventual divorce, renders the conjugal union precarious;
at the very least these must give cause for anxiety and suspicion.
In the one case there is mutual good will and the complete assurance
of possessions shared in common; in the other both of there suffer
considerably from even the possibility of separation. In
the one case, there are appropriate safeguards of chaste marital
fidelity; in the other, harmful temptations to a breach of conjugal
faith. The willing acceptance of children, their care and
education, are in the one case effectively secured; in the other,
they are subject to the gravest detriment. In the one case,
many possibilities of discord between families and relatives are
precluded; in the other, there are manifold occasions of it.
The seeds of dissension in the one case are easily stifled; in
the other, sown more widely and abundantly. Finally, the
dignity and the function of womankind are in the one case happily
restored and rehabilitated; in the other, humbled and degraded,
wives being confronted with the prospect that 'having served their
purpose of satisfying the desires of their husbands, they will
be cast aside and abandoned.' (Leo XIII: Encycl. Arcanum,
Feb. 10, 1880, M. 143-198.)" (Pius XI: Casti Connubii,
Dec. 31, 1930, M. 356.)
VI.
What does History teach us on the Legalisation of Divorce?
"As soon as
the road to divorce began to be made smooth by law, at once quarrels,
jealousies and judicial separations largely increased; and such
shamelessness of life followed that men, who had been in favour
of these divorces, repented of what they had done and feared that
if they did not carefully seek a remedy by repealing the law,
the State itself might come to ruin.
The Romans of old are said
to have shrunk with horror from the first examples of divorce;
but ere long, all sense of decency was blunted in their soul,
the meagre restraint of passion died out and the marriage vow
was so often broken that what some writers affirmed would seem
to be true - namely, women used to reckon years not by the change
of consuls but of their husbands.
In like manner, at the beginning,
Protestants allowed legalised divorce in certain restricted cases;
and yet, from the affinity of the circumstances of like kind,
the cases for divorce increased to such extent in Germany, America
and elsewhere, that all wise thinkers deplored the boundless corruption
of morals and judged the recklessness of the laws to be simply
intolerable.
Even in Catholic States, the
same evil existed. For whenever at any time, divorce was
introduced, the abundance of misery that followed exceeded all
that the framers of the law could have foreseen. In fact,
many set about to contrive all kinds of fraud and device and by
accusations of cruelty, violence and adultery, to feign grounds
for the dissolution of the matrimonial bond of which they had
grown weary; and all this with so great havoc to morals that an
amendment of the laws was deemed to be urgently needed.
Can any one, therefore, doubt
that laws in favour of divorce would have a result equally baneful
and calamitous were they to be passed in these, our days?
There exists not, indeed, in the projects and enactments of men,
any power to change the character and tendency which things have
received from nature. Those men, therefore, show but little
wisdom in the idea they have formed of the well-being of the commonwealth,
who think that the inherent character of marriage can be perverted
with impunity and who, disregarding the sanctity of religion and
of the Sacrament, seem to wish to degrade and dishonour marriage
more basely than was done even by heathen laws. Indeed,
if they do not change their views, not only private families but
all public society will have unceasing cause to fear lest they
should be miserably driven into that general confusion and overthrow
of order which is even now the wicked aim of Socialists and Communists.
Thus we most clearly see how
foolish and senseless it is to expect any public good from divorce
when, on the contrary, it tends to the certain destruction of
Society." (Leo XIII: Encycl. Arcanum Divinae Sapientiae,
Feb. 10, 1880, M. 181-183.)
VII.
What Considerations can we make at the Study of Modern Societies
where Divorce is Legal?
"Glance at modern
society in the countries where divorce is rife and ask yourself:
Has the world the clear knowledge and vision of how many times
in those countries, woman's dignity, outraged and offended, spurned
and corrupted, is cast aside and almost buried in degradation
and abandonment? How many secret tears have bathed certain
thresholds, certain rooms; how many have resounded in certain
meetings, along certain streets and byways, in certain corners
and deserted haunts?" (Pius XII: All. to Newlyweds, April
29, 1942, M. 494.)
VIII.
What about the modern habit of Marrying and Divorcing repeatedly?
"It is very
true that in our times, in which contempt of and carelessness
about religion have again given birth to the spirit of a new paganism,
pleasure-seeking and proud, there is manifested in not a few countries
almost a mania for divorce, aiming at contracting and dissolving
marriages with more facility and levity than is usual with contracts
of leasing and hiring.
But such a mania, thoughtless
and inconsiderate, cannot be counted as a reason why ecclesiastical
courts should desist from the norms and practice dictated and
approved sane judgment and a delicate conscience. In the
Church, no other norm and practice can have any value in the matter
of the indissolubility or dissolubility of marriage except that
established by God, the Author of nature and grace." (Pius
XII: All. to the Tribunal of the Sacred Roman Rota, Oct 3, 1941,
M. 475.)
IX.
Objection: Weren't the Jews of the Old Testament allowed to Repudiate
their Wives?
"It is certain
that Our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, when questioned
as to his opinion about the bill of divorce that Moses had permitted,
replied, as can be seen from the Gospel of St. Matthew, chapter
19 and in St. Mark, chapter 10: "Because Moses, by reason of the
hardness of your heart, permitted you to put away your wives;
but it was not so from the beginning. And I say to you,
that whoever puts away his wife, except for immorality, and marries
another, commits adultery; and he who marries a woman who has
been put away commits adultery"; and Jesus concluded thus: "What
therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder" (Mark
X, 5-9; Matth. XIX, 5-9). Theologians deduce from these
words, the legitimate conclusion that it is no longer permissible
for the Jews to repudiate their legitimate spouse and that the
bill of divorce no longer dissolves the marriage bond; for Jesus
Christ has returned it to its primitive state, in other words,
to indissolubility. He did this, not by promulgating a new
law but rather by abolishing the ancient concessions or dispensation
made against the aforesaid indissolubility. As the matter
stands, even if the repudiation is tolerated among the Jewish
couples who persist in Jewish beliefs, it certainly must not be
permitted at all nor tolerated that a Jew converted to the Faith
and purified by sacred Baptism, should grant, according to the
Jewish rite and custom, a bill of divorce to the wife who obstinately
retains her Jewish belief." (Benedict XIV: Apost. Const.
Apostolici Ministerii, Sept. 16, 1747, M. 23.)
X.
Objection: Many Countries have accepted Divorce, therefore it
should he allowed?
"It is vain,
(...) to draw support from foreign examples in a matter undoubtedly
criminal. Can the multitude of those who sin ever diminish
sin itself or even excuse it?" (Leo XIII: Consistorial
Allocution, December 16, 1901, M. 243.)
XI.
Can we not expect a Change from the Catholic Church as regards
the Legal Freedom of Divorce?
"It is all the
more obvious when one considers that divorce was never given legal
sanction without the Church having ever opposed it whenever possible
with all its authority as guardian and defender of divine law.
Let no one dare to hope that today she is less mindful than in
the past of her duties never to connive in such evil. She
will not pass over in silence nor tolerate submissively, the injury
done to God and to herself." (Leo XIII: Consistorial Allocution,
December 16, 1901, M. 243.)
C.
SOME PARTICULAR CASES.
I.
Where does the Catholic Church stand on the issue of Declarations
of Marriage Annulments?
"As regards
declarations of nullity of marriages, no one is unaware
that the Church is hesitant and averse to granting them.
Indeed, if the tranquility, stability and safety of human commerce
in general demands that contracts should not be declared null
for every fickle reason, then all the more so must it be demanded
of a contract of such importance as matrimony, whose firmness
and stability are required by the common welfare of human society
and by the private welfare of the wedded couples and of the children;
while the dignity of the Sacrament forbids that what is sacred
and sacramental be easily exposed to the danger of profanation.
Who is unaware then, that human hearts are frequently unfortunately
inclined - for reasons of hardship of different kinds, or through
disagreement and weariness with the other party, or to open the
way to a union with another person sinfully loved - to study means
to free themselves from the marriage union already contracted?
For these reasons, the ecclesiastical judge must not too easily
be inclined to declare a marriage null but rather to devote himself
above all, to see that what has been invalidly contracted be convalidated,
especially when the circumstances of the case particularly suggest
this course." (Pius XII: Allocution to the Tribunal of the
Sacred Roman Rota, October 3, 1941, M. 471.)
II.
What if the Convalidation of an Invalid Marriage is impossible?
"If convalidation
is impossible, either because there exists a diriment impediment
from which the Church cannot or is not accustomed to dispense,
or because the parties refuse to give or renew their consent,
then the sentence of nullity cannot be denied him who, according
to canonical prescriptions, justly and legitimately asks for it,
provided there be ascertained the asserted invalidity with a certainty
which in human things goes under the name of moral certainty
- that is, it excludes every prudent doubt and, moreover, is based
on positive reasons. The absolute certainty of nullity
cannot be demanded, that is, that certainty which not only excludes
every positive probability but even the mere possibility of the
contrary. The norm of canon law, according to which 'matrimonium
gaudet favore iuris; quare in dubio standum est pro valore matrimonii,
donec contrarium probetur' (Can. 1014, Code of Canon Law of
1917) must be understood as referring to the moral certainty of
the contrary; but this certainly must be well established.
No ecclesiastical court has the right and the power to exact anything
more. By requiring more, the very right of the plaintiffs
to marriage could be easily injured; since, not being in reality
bound by any matrimonial bond, they enjoy the natural right to
contract it." (Pius XII: Allocution to the Tribunal of
the Sacred Roman Rota, Oct. 3, 1941, M. 472.)
III.
What about Invalid Marriages?
"Indeed, in such a case, there
belongs to the married couple iure naturae the right to
accuse such a marriage - provided they have not been guilty of
causing the impediment or the nullity. To this their right,
there corresponds on the judge's part, who shall have reached
the conclusion with moral certainty ex actis et probatis
of the invalidity of the marriage, the obligation to declare it
null when passing his sentence." (Pius XII: All. to the
Tribunal of the Holy Roman Rota, Oct. l, 1940, M. 435.)
IV.
Which passages of Sacred Scripture give the Guide-lines for Ecclesiastical
Tribunals dealing with Marriage Cases?
"There are two
passages in Holy Scriptures which in a certain sense, indicate
the limits between the dissolution of the bond must remain and
which exclude both the current laxity and the rigorism contrary
to the divine will and mandate. The first is: 'Quod Deus
coniunxit, homo non separet' (Matth. XIX. 6); that is to say,
not man but God may separate the parties; hence there is no separation
where God does not loose the bond. The other is: 'Non
servituti subiectus est frater aut soror...; in pace autem vocavit
nos Deus' (1 Cor. VII. 15); which means that there is no longer
servitude or bond where God has dissolved it and so permitted
the parties to engage legitimately in a new marriage. In
every case, the supreme norm according to which the Roman Pontiff
makes use of his vicarial power to dissolve matrimony is (...)
the rule of the exercise of judicial power in the Church, namely
the salus animarum, in the attainment of which both the
common welfare of religious society and of human kind in general
and the well-being of individuals will receive due and proportionate
consideration." (Pius XII: All. to the Tribunal of the
Sacred Roman Rota, Oct. 3, 1941, M. 476.)
V.
What did Pope Benedict XIV have to say to Ecclesiastical Judges
declaring Marriage Annulments too easily?
"Since the matrimonial
contract was instituted by God, inasmuch as it is a natural institution
whose aim is the education of the offspring and the conservation
of the other benefits of marriage, it is suitable that it be perpetual
and indissoluble (Matth. XIX. 6). Inasmuch as it is a Sacrament
of the Catholic Church, it can never be dissolved by human presumption:
Our Lord so ordained it Himself with these words: "What God hath
joined together, let no man put asunder." Now We have been
informed that in some ecclesiastical chanceries, this bond has
been broken through the excessive compliance of the judges; sentences
of nullity of matrimony have been issued rashly and without due
consideration and liberty has been given to married couples to
contract other marriages. It would have been fitting for
these imprudent judges to have heeded the warning that came to
them from the very qualities of human nature and, in a certain
sense, even from its very voice not to violate with such precipitate
audacity the bond of holy matrimony; a bond that the first parent
of the human race declared perpetual and indissoluble when he
declared: 'This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh,'
and when he added: 'Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother
and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh'
(Gen. II. 23-24)." (Benedict XIV: Apost. Const. Dei Miseratione,
Nov. 3, 1741, M. 3.)
VI.
What is the Value of Divorces made by Human Laws?
Opposed to all
the errors promoting divorce "there stands one irrefragable law
of God, amply endorsed by Christ, a law against whose force no
human decree, nor ordinance of peoples, nor lawgiver's will can
prevail: 'what God hath joined together, let no man put asunder'
(Matth. XIX. 6). If anyone, in spite of that law, makes
such a separation, his act is null and void, with the consequence
which Christ Himself has clearly proclaimed: 'He that putteth
away his wife and marrieth another committeth adultery; and he
that marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth
adultery' (2 Luke XVI. 18). And these words of Christ apply
to any marriage whatsoever, even to a legitimate marriage of the
natural order. Indissolubility is the attribute of every
true marriage, and therefore so far as the dissolution of the
bond is concerned, it is independent of the will of the parties
themselves and of every secular power." (Pius XI: Encycl.
Casti Connubii, Dec. 31, 1930, M. 351.)
VII.
Can a Man remarry if his Wife has left him?
If the wife of one of the faithful seeks
refuge with another man and dares to contract with him "a sinful
union, it is not lawful for the man (that is to say, her husband),
to take another wife in the place of the one who fled; for matrimony
by divine law is indissoluble while both parties are living and
it is not dissolved by a crime such as that perpetrated by the
wife. Whoever in such a case weds another woman commits
adultery and, if he does not separate himself definitively from
her, he is to be excluded from the Sacraments." (Benedict
XIV: Encycl. Inter Omnigenas, Feb. 2, 1743, M. 14.)
D.
EVERYONE'S DUTY.
I.
Can Catholics accept Civil Marriage?
"No matter what
non-Catholic jurists or adherents of the autocracy of the state
may say, it is certain that those who are sincere Catholics cannot
in conscience accept this doctrine as a foundation for a Christian
law of matrimony. The reason is that this doctrine is founded
on a dogmatic error which has been condemned several times by
the Church, that is, the reduction of the Sacrament to an extrinsic
ceremony and to the condition of a simple rite. This is
a doctrine which overthrows the essential concept of Christian
marriage, in which the bond, sanctified by religion, is identified
with the Sacrament and constitutes inseparably with it but one
object and one reality. In truth, to divest marriage of
its sacred character in the midst of Christian society is the
same as to degrade it, to scorn the religious faith of the subjects
and to devise a harmful deceit, since the bare legal formality
of the civil act without the Sacrament is of no value and can
give no virtue to such unions, nor happiness to their families."
(Leo XIII: Letter, Ci Siamo, June 1, 1879, M. 132.)
II.
What should a Catholic Hierarchy do when Divorce is about to be
Legalised?
"Christian matrimony,
the character and dignity of which is held in such high honour
by this nation, together with the natural and proper right of
the church over Christian marriages, which she surrounds with
respect, are now the objects of iniquitous attempts aimed at tearing
away from the church this, her exclusive right, to make way for
and impose the so-called civil marriage.
Certainly, you and your people
can easily see that these laws are injurious to the church, an
obstacle to good morals and virtues; a step backwards on the road
of true and salutary progress for nations and peoples. We
are sure that you have done everything possible to avoid this
scourge for your country and for your religion and that at present,
individually or collectively, you will protest against these laws
and projects." (St. Pius X: Letter, Afflictum Propioribus,
Nov. 24, 1906, M. 250.)
III.
What should a Catholic Hierarchy do when Divorce has been Legalised?
"In fact, in your country a new law has
been promulgated which places the sanctity and indissolubility
of marriage in grave danger. In conformity with the duties
of your office, you have done everything possible to preserve
intact the family - the foundation of all human society and nursery
of the state - the family which naturally and by itself constitutes
the place where the human being grows and is formed as is fitting
to his state. Your plea, nevertheless, went unheeded.
Devote yourselves, therefore, as your pastoral zeal demands, to
warning your faithful that the perverse decrees enacted by men
have neither abolished the divine laws nor weakened them.
The faithful must not, even if the law permits it, invoke provisions
contrary to God's commandments to dissolve the marriage bond."
(Pius XII: Letter, Czestochoviensis Beatae Mariae, Jan. 17,
1946, M. 524.)
IV.
What are the Duties of Rulers in relation to the Unity and the
Perpetuity of Marriage?
"Let those who
are principally interested in this affair consider how dangerous
and contrary to justice it is to impose on a Catholic nation,
a form of marriage condemned a thousand times by the Church.
The Heads of State have the competence and the right to regulate
the civil effects that result from marriage; but to the Church
belongs legislation about the conjugal bond, because Our Lord
Jesus Christ conferred this power on His church, elevating Matrimony
from a natural institution to the dignity of a Sacrament.
Here it is sufficient to recall the Christian dogma of the unity
and the perpetuity of marriage. When these qualities disappear,
the principal foundation on which Jesus Christ ordained the family
and the State to be established disappears. No man can hinder
the divine will of Him who came to restore and perfect both civil
and domestic society." (Leo XIII: Consistorial All.,
March 18, 1895, M. 237.)
V.
What about those on whose Deliberations depends the Law on Divorce?
"...We do not
admonish but beg all those on whose deliberation depends the present
law of divorce, that they desist from the enterprise for
the sake of all that they hold dear and sacred. Let them
not refuse to note and consider seriously, how holy, indivisible
and perpetual by divine law is the matrimonial bond of Christians;
and how such a law can never, by any human law, be abrogated or
derogated. It is a great and dangerous error to wish to
reduce Christian marriage to a matter that can be contracted and
resolved by civil law.
For the Redeemer and Restorer
of human nature, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, having abolished
the use of divorce, brought Matrimony back to the primitive state
in which it had been authoritatively constituted by God Himself.
Elevating it to the dignity and virtue of a Sacrament, He placed
it above the type of ordinary contract and above the jurisdiction
of civil power, even above ecclesiastical power itself.
The civil powers may regulate the civil effects which flow from
the bond of matrimony: but to go further is forbidden by God's
will.
Every law then, that ratifies
divorce, is iniquitous and openly unjust before God, the Creator
and Supreme Legislator: therefore it can only give rise to adulterous
unions, not to legitimate marriage." (Leo XIII: Consistorial
All., Dec. 16, 1901, M. 242.)
VI.
What Fundamental Norms should Catholic Jurists keep in mind in
Countries where Iniquitous Laws have been passed, especially Civil
Divorce?
"1) The principle
that the judge cannot purely and simply dismiss the responsibility
of his decision by making it fall back totally on the law and
on its authors holds valid for every sentence. Certainly,
these are principally responsible for the effects of the law itself.
But the judge, who with his sentence applies it to the particular
case, is the joint cause and therefore shares the responsibility
for those effects.
2) The judge may never, with
his decision, oblige anyone to commit an act intrinsically immoral,
that is to say, of its very nature contrary to the law of God
or of the Church.
3) In no case may he expressly
recognise or approve an unjust law (which indeed would never constitute
the basis of a valid judgment in conscience and before God.)
Therefore he may never pronounce a penal sentence which would
be equivalent to such an approval. His responsibility would
be all the more grave were such a sentence to cause a public scandal.
4) Nevertheless, not every
application of an unjust law is equivalent to its recognition
or its approbation. In this case, the judge can - sometimes
perhaps he must - let the unjust law run its course, whenever
it is the only means to hinder a much greater evil. He can
inflict a penalty for the transgression of an iniquitous law if
it is of such a kind that he who is blameworthy is reasonably
disposed to undergo it to avoid that damage or to assure a benefit
of much greater importance and if the judge knows or can prudently
suppose that such a sanction will be accepted by the transgressor
for higher motives. In times of persecution, Priests and
lay people have often let themselves be condemned, without opposing
resistance, even by Catholic magistrates, have paid fines or been
deprived of personal liberty for an infraction of unjust laws,
when in such a way it was possible to preserve an honest magistracy
for the people and avoid greater calamities for the Church and
the faithful.
Naturally, the graver the consequences
of the judicial sentence, so much the more important and general
ought also to be the good to be achieved or the evil to be avoided.
There are cases, however, in which the concept of a compensation
bringing greater benefits or removing greater evils cannot apply,
as in the case of the death sentence. In particular, the
Catholic judge may never pronounce, except for greatly important
reasons, a civil divorce sentence (where it exists) for a marriage
which is valid before God and the Church. He must never
forget that such a sentence, in practice, does not refer to the
civil effects only but in reality gives rise to an erroneous belief
that the present bond is dissolved and the new one is valid and
binding." (Pius XII: All. to Catholic Jurists, Nov. 6,
1949, M. 560-563.)
VII.
What should be said to those Spouses who feel the weight of the
Law of the Indissolubility of Marriage?
"This law of
indissolubility will appear and will be understood as a manifestation
of vigilant maternal love, especially if it is regarded in that
supernatural light in which Christ has placed it. In the
midst of difficulties, trials and inordinate desires which will
perhaps be strewn along your life's path, your two souls inseparably
joined will not find themselves alone or helpless. God's
omnipotent grace, an essential fruit of the Sacrament, will constantly
be with these souls, to sustain them in the moments of weakness,
to sweeten their sacrifice, to comfort and console them even in
the hardest and longest trials. For if obedience to the
divine law necessitates shaking off the allurements of prospective
earthly joys in the hour of temptation, renouncing them to "begin
life again," grace will still be there to recall the teachings
of the faith in all their aspects: that is, that the only true
life, that which must never be exposed to danger, is that heavenly
life, precisely that life which such renunciations assure, no
matter how difficult they be; renunciations which are, as all
events of this present life, transitory things, designed merely
to prepare the ultimate state of the future life, which will be
all the more happy and glorious as the inevitable afflictions
in life's pilgrimage here below have been boldly and generously
accepted." (Pius XII: All. to Newlyweds, April 22, 1942,
M. 488.)
VIII.
What is allowed by the Church when Life in Common becomes Intolerable
for Two Spouses?
(a) FIRST TEXT:
"When indeed,
matters have come to such a pitch that it seems impossible for
them to live together any longer, then the Church allows them
to live apart and strives, at the same time, to soften the evils
of this separation by such remedies and helps as are suited to
their condition; yet she never ceases to endeavour to bring about
a reconciliation, nor despairs of doing so.
But these are extreme cases;
and they would seldom exist if men and women entered into the
married state with proper dispositions, not influenced by passion
but entertaining ideas of the duties of marriage and of its noble
purpose; neither would they anticipate their marriage by a series
of sins drawing down upon them the wrath of God." (Leo XIII:
Encycl. Arcanum Divinae Sapientiae, Feb. 10, 1880, M. 194.)
(b) SECOND TEXT:
If life in common is unbearable,
the separation between husband and wife is allowed which leaves
the bond of marriage intact; and this is authorised in clear terms
by the Church in the canons which deal with separation from bed,
board and dwelling. (Can. 1128-1132, Code of Canon Law of 1917.)
Touching the grounds, conditions and manner of this separation;
the precautions to be taken in regard to the education of the
children and the security of the family; remedies to forestall
evils arising out of such a separation for the married parties,
for the children and for the civil community itself - it will
be for the laws of the church to make provision for all this as
far as possible. To a limited extent this will rest also
with the state, in regard to the civil aspects and effects of
such separation." (Pius XI: Encycl. Casti Connubii, 31
Dec. 1930, M. 354.)
E.
CONCLUSION:
What practical advice can be
given to Families from all this Teaching?
"The family
has primarily a need of a certain economic security. As
long, indeed, as man is compelled to lead a desolate and miserable
life and to live in repulsive and unhealthy dwellings; while he
is not assured of a certain tranquility of work, of the possibility
to marry at a young age and a salary that will permit him to save
and to acquire a small piece of property; in such conditions,
family life will always become disorganised and evermore open
to the germs of social and moral corruption. On this point
it is worth calling to mind the words of the Holy Father regarding
housing problems, which are certainly among the most affecting:
'How painful it is to see young people in those years in which
nature inclines them strongly towards matrimony, forced to wait
years and years owing to the shortage of houses, with the danger
that in this unnerving expectation they wither morally in the
end!' (Pius XII: Allocution to Women of Catholic Action,
July 24, 1949, M.543.)
It is necessary, moreover,
to give back to the family its moral sanity; for in fact it is
an ethical organism no less than a social one, because it is destined
to promote the perfection of the moral qualities of its members.
The indispensable condition for this is its stability. On
this matter, His Holiness believes that the time has come to exhort
Italian Catholics to greater vigilance before the advocates of
divorce, who are preparing new attacks and advancing always more
impudent pretexts and, what is worse still, finding less resistance
than in the past in the eyes of public opinion. True Catholics
know - and when the time arises, they must concentrate on such
matters to the full - that the bond of matrimony is of its very
nature indissoluble. To give way to these pressures in the
name of a liberty which is open rebellion to divine laws, would
be, for those responsible for public life, a launching of the
country into a fearful decadence. On the other hand, there
is strictly connected with family life, the problem of education,
the hinge on which the moral sanity of the family itself depends,
and which today demands a revision of methods, in order to be
able to confront the possibilities, difficulties and risks of
the new conditions of life. How is it possible not to take
into consideration the greater autonomy which youth today claim
from their parents, their tendency to seek outside of the family,
satisfaction for those needs which were one time entrusted to
family life and, finally the increased responsibilities in the
field of education which the State nowadays attributes to itself?
This becomes more evident if woman's social position is considered,
which lately, according to the expression of the Holy Father,
'has undergone an evolution no less rapid than profound.
She has seen herself moved from the recollected sanctuary of the
family to the vastness and excitement of public life. She
has part today in the same professions, bears the same responsibilities,
even enjoys in the field of politics an equal footing with man'
(Pius XII: Allocution, 12 May, 1946). If therein
there are undoubted perils, on the other hand it would be unjust,
even injurious, not to value the advantages that could at times
arise from these new relations.
As regards the increasing invasion
of civil society in the field of education, one can never sufficiently
call to mind that 'parents have a primary right by natural law
to the education of their children ... inviolable and antecedent
to that of society and of the State' (Pius XII: Allocution,
8 Sept. 1946). The State must, therefore safeguard the
free exercise of this right and supply any occasional insufficiency
of the family but it must never unduly replace the family itself.
Where there is a need to intervene, instead of creating new organisations
- which could encourage in the parents a tendency to rid themselves
of the work of education originally belonging to them - the State
should rather promote such conditions of life, work and assistance
as are suitable for encouraging the family to exercise better
its function of bringing up children. This could be done
by repression of evil habits, by elevating to the level of family
morality, the means used for propagating ideas and particularly
by promoting the more frequent presence of husband and wife in
the home, both by diminishing the necessity for the woman to stay
out of the house and 'by providing a place of work not distant
from the home; otherwise the head of the family and educator of
the children will become almost a stranger in the home'.
This would also allow a deeper collaboration between husband and
wife which, if good in all fields, would be particularly so in
that of education.
The revival of the family should
be begun on the religious plane in the first place, because
it is precisely from the weakening of religious sentiment itself
that there derive, as from a main source, all the evils which
afflict modern families. Born from a contract 'essentially
sacred' (Leo XIII: Encyclical Arcanum Divinae Sapientiae, 10
February, 1880, M. 148-198) which the Redeemer has elevated
to the dignity of a Sacrament, symbolising His union with the
Church, the family finds, in the goal assigned to it by the New
Law, its highest perfection and the most secure safeguard of its
unity, dignity and stability. In this light, the life of
husband and wife led in a Christian family is not only an exchange
of human rights and the performance of natural functions but the
participation in heavenly realities; a means of spiritual elevation
and sanctification, since the Sacrament has provided so great
a source of divine energies to which the married couple can have
access during their whole matrimonial life, to draw help and comfort
for the fulfilment of their duties. This reveals the pre-eminent
function that belongs to the family in the vast reality of the
Mystical Body and at the same time opens horizons of limitless
perfection to the family organisms whenever they become more intimately
united in the life of the Church.
From all this appears the need
for married couples to recognise more and more the spiritual bond
that unites them to the parish, where their union has been blessed,
in order to draw the light of faith and heavenly strength to complete
the supernatural education of their children and to give themselves
consciously to the various forms of religious and social apostolate
that form part of parish life. Thus sanctified, the family
will find once again the peace, serenity and joy which modern
materialistic and secularistic ideas extinguish when they deprive
the family of its sacred character. Family life will develop
love towards the home that will preserve its members from dangerous
accidents on the roads of life and through the family, the Church
will spread over all social life, the beneficial gifts of the
higher world of grace." (Letter of Monsignor Montini
to Cardinal Siri, Family Problems XXVII, Social Week at Pisa,
September 19, 1954, M. 726-730.)
In all these texts, 'M' relates to the book
titled "Matrimony - Papal Teachings" by the Monks of Solesmes,
The Daughters of St. Paul Edition, 1963.