Divorcees can still go to Church tribunal for annulment

In other countries it is standard procedure for the Catholic Church to insist on a civil divorce before processing applications for an ecclesiastical annulment.

“The reason why these archdioceses ask that a civil divorce is in full effect before an annulment starts is so the civil courts cannot intervene in the Church proceedings,” Mgr Arthur Said Pullicino, the head of the ecclesiastical tribunal, told MaltaToday.

“You don’t need to have started separation proceedings to apply for an ecclesiastical annulment in the first place. So whether a couple is divorced or not will make no difference. Divorce is not a valid dissolution of marriage in the eyes of God,” Said Pullicino said.

A cursory glance at the websites of foreign Catholic dioceses confirms that international practice is that when one applies for an ecclesiastical annulment, after a certain stage it will become necessary to provide proof of divorce for the process to continue.

In ‘Annulments and the Catholic Church’, canon lawyer Edward N. Peters observed that diocesan tribunals require proof of divorce to avoid being sued for “alienation of affection”; furthermore, the civil divorce requirement serves as evidence that the parties will not reconcile.