Marriage annulment in the Catholic Church : divorce Catholic style? the Maltese situation

Abstract

It is a conception that declarations of nullity are another form of divorce granted by the Church. Through annulment one is free to 'remarry' while still being in full communion with the Catholic Church. The Ecclesiastical Tribunals have been declaring marriages null for quite some time, while divorce is quite a novel introduction in Maltese law. It is premature to confirm whether the introduction of civil divorce will affect the applications in the Ecclesiastical Tribunals. In case of a decrease in applications for Catholic declarations of nullity it will be an indication that people used to resort to annulments because they couldn't obtain a civil divorce in the Maltese Courts. In this thesis an attempt to analyse the differences between divorce and declarations of nullity shall be made in order to conclude whether the perception that Church declarations of nullity are a form of divorce is true or not. For a declaration of nullity or a divorce, there has to be a marriage, thus this dissertation shall start with an appraisal of marriage, divorce, and annulment through history and how these institutes were perceived by society, with particular attention to Maltese legislation on the subject. To reach the objective of this thesis it is indispensable to evaluate the Maltese divorce legislation and the grounds under which the Ecclesiastical Tribunals grant a declaration of nullity. Furthermore, a brief study of the grounds of declarations of nullity by the Civil Courts should be made, simultaneously with a comparison with the grounds found under Canon Law. Finally, a conclusion shall be drawn about whether it is true that although Church annulments do not dissolve a marriage bond, they are still another means to end a marriage analogous to divorce but being designated with a different name in order to be in line with the Church's teachings.