Pope Francis on
Wednesday told participants in a course on canon law that the
Vatican justice system must "beware" of letting marriage
annulments "stray into the realm of business", as some "public
scandals" have shown.
Francis went on to recount that he sacked a Church official
for selling marriage annulments.
"I had to dismiss a person...who some time ago said:
'$10,000 and I'll do both the civil and ecclesiastical
procedure'," the pope told participants at the Apostolic
Tribunal of the Roman Rota, which is the Catholic Church's
highest appeals court.
"Please, this must not happen!" the pope entreated his
audience.
"There are always those in the Synod that propose we should
charge a gratuity...but when spiritual interests go hand in hand
with economic ones, that does not belong to God. Mother Church
has the generosity to mete out justice free of charge. This
point is important: detach the two".
The pope went on to recall one of the themes under debate
at the bishops' Synod on Family held October 5-19.
"There was concern about streamlining marriage annulment
procedures" while following a policy of "justice as well as
charity" towards those who have been awaiting a ruling for
years, the pope said.
"Even before the Synod, I set up a commission to come up
with a policy that would be just but also charitable, because
there are so many people that need to hear from the Church on
their matrimonial status," Francis said.
"Some procedures are so lengthy or so difficult that people
just give up," he said. "They say 'God understands me and I will
go on as before, with this burden on my soul'. But the Mother
Church must mete out justice...so that they can live their lives
without this doubt, this darkness in their souls".
The pontiff ended his speech by thanking participants for
taking the course.
"We must always study and move forward and always seek out
the soul's salvation, which is not necessarily found outside the
realm of justice, but rather, along with justice," Francis said.
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