Mariage et divorce. Problèmes actuels

Abstract

In keeping in mind the required openness of marriage towards procréation, the Vatican II Council and the Code of Canon Law of 1983 have described the conjugal union more by taking as starting point the spouses and the couple. This is the conséquence of a rather récent évolution of thought, which, although still very much western, is more attentive to other cultures. This is requiring that one distinguish better in the description of marriage what is contingent because mainly cultural and what is of its nature more universal. The Code of Canon Law of 1983 maintains that in a marriage between baptised, one has to affirm the absolute identity between the matrimonial «contract» and the sacrament. This is not without causing some problems to those belonging to a Christian faith denying the sacramental nature of marriage or of baptised catholics who, because of a formai act defected from the Church, are dispensed from the canonical form of marriage (canon 1117). Moreover, the question of the faith required to hâve a valid sacrament is not without importance. The increase of divorces, the awareness of this growing phenomenon, the uneasiness in which certain remarried divorcées as well as the pastors they question live in, cause a disarray in front of the repeated affirmation of the absolute indissolubility of the consummated sacramental marriage. Maybe the power of the Church to dispense has not been studied sufficiently ! Or maybe mercy should take its place, following in this the example of the Eastern Church which maintains the principles firmly but takes care of the concrète failures.