VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXV - # 222   
   DATE 11-12-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - Pope Francis' Rescriptum ex audientia on the implementation of the new law on   
   marriage annulment proceedings   
   - Implementation and compliance: the dean of the Roman Rota explains the Holy   
   Father's Rescriptum ex audientia   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
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    Pope Francis' Rescriptum ex audientia on the implementation of the new law on   
   marriage annulment proceedings   
    Vatican City, 11 December 2015 (VIS) - In the afternoon of 7 December the Holy   
   Father signed the following Rescriptum ex audientia on the implementation of   
   and   
   compliance with the new law on procedures for the declaration of nullity of   
   marriage.   
    "The entry into force - which happily coincides with the Jubilee of Mercy - of   
   the Apostolic Letters in the form of Motu proprio 'Mitis Iudex Dominus' and   
   'Mitis et Misericors Iesus' of 15 August 2015, given to bring justice and mercy   
   on the truth of the bond to those who have experienced the failure of their   
   marriage, necessitates among other things the need to harmonise the renewed   
   procedures for marriage annulment with the regulations of the Roman Rota,   
   awaiting their reform.   
    The recently concluded Synod of Bishops strongly exhorted the Church to stoop   
   to the 'most fragile sons and daughters, marked by wounded and lost love',   
   restoring trust and hope.   
    The laws that now come into effect are intended precisely to show the Church's   
   closeness to wounded families, desiring that the many who experience   
   matrimonial   
   failure are reached by Christ's healing work through ecclesiastical structures,   
   in the hope that they may again discover themselves to be God's missionaries to   
   their brethren, for the good of the institution of the family.   
    Acknowledging the jurisdiction of the Roman Rota as the ordinary court of   
   appeal of the Apostolic See, and also its office in safeguarding the unity of   
   the jurisprudence (art. 126 para. 1 Pastor bonus) and contributing to the   
   continuing formation of pastoral workers in the Tribunals of the local   
   Churches,   
   I decree the following:   
    I.   
    The aforementioned laws for the reform of marriage annulment procedures repeal   
   or waive any contrary law or regulation currently in force - general,   
   particular   
   or special - eventually also approved in a specific form (such as, for example,   
   the Motu proprio 'Qua cura' given by my predecessor Pius IX in times very   
   different from the present).   
    II.   
    1. In marriage annulment cases before the Roman Rota, doubt must be cast   
   according to the long-standing formula: An constet de matrimonii nullitate, in   
   casu.   
    2. There shall be no appeal against the decisions of the Rota in matters of   
   the   
   nullity of sentences or decrees.   
    3 Appeal for the N.C.P. (nova causae propositio) is not permitted before the   
   Roman Rota after one of the parties has contracted a new canonical marriage,   
   unless the decision can be demonstrated to be manifestly unjust.   
    4. The Dean of the Roman Rota has the authority to dispense with the Normae   
   Romanae Rotae Tribunalis in procedural matters for a serious cause.   
    5. As wished by the Patriarchs of the Oriental Churches, the territorial   
   tribunals shall have jurisdiction over the iurium cases connected with marriage   
   annulment cases submitted to the judgement of the Roman Rota at appeal.   
    6. The Roman Rota shall decide cases according to the principle of evangelical   
   gratuity, that is by ex officio patronage, notwithstanding the moral obligation   
   of the more affluent faithful to offer a just contribution towards the causes   
   of   
   the poor.   
    May the faithful, especially the wounded and unhappy, look to the new   
   Jerusalem   
   that is the Church as 'the peace of justice, the glory of God's worship' and   
   may   
   it be granted to them, finding again the open arms of the Body of Christ, to   
   sing the Psalm of the Exiles: 'When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we   
   were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our   
   tongue with shouts of joy'".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Implementation and compliance: the dean of the Roman Rota explains the Holy   
   Father's Rescriptum ex audientia   
    Vatican City, 11 December 2015 (VIS) - Msgr. Pio Vito Pinto, dean of the   
   Tribunal of the Roman Rota, explained the Holy Father's Rescriptum ex audientia   
   on the new law for marriage annulment procedures in an article published this   
   afternoon in "L'Osservatore Romano".   
    "In the introductory report at the opening of the Ordinary Synod, Cardinal   
   Erdo   
   outlined one of the chief aims of the synodal meeting. Indeed, the general   
   rapporteur stated that by virtue of the sacrament of marriage, the Christian   
   family becomes an asset for the Church, but its inclusion in the context of the   
   Church is also beneficial to the family, which is helped spiritually and   
   community even in difficulties, and it helps to protect the marriage union and   
   discern the respective obligations or eventual shortcomings.   
    The reality and the mission of the Church as defined by her divine founder,   
   Jesus, therefore become clear to the Synod Fathers. The Church in via is not   
   the   
   Church of the perfect, but the community of the faithful who acknowledge   
   themselves daily as sinners and therefore in need of conversion, which is the   
   strength of Pope Francis' ecclesiology.   
    The Synod thus showed that the large number of faithful who are wounded or in   
   an uneasy relationship in terms of their adherence - in the practice of the   
   faith - with the truth of the Gospel, are not a burden, but an opportunity,   
   that   
   may drive many of these 'wounded' to become, once reconciled and healed, true   
   missionaries of the beauty of the sacrament of marriage and the Christian   
   family. Again, with reference to Cardinal Erdo's report, the organic   
   integration   
   of the marriage and the family of Christians in the reality of the Church also   
   requires that the ecclesial community pay merciful and realistic attention to   
   the faithful who live together or live in civil marriage only since they do not   
   feel prepared to celebrate the sacrament, given the difficulties that such a   
   choice may result in today. If the community can prove itself to be welcoming   
   to   
   these people, in various situations of life, and clearly present the truth   
   about   
   marriage, it will help these faithful to come to a decision in favour of   
   sacramental marriage.   
    The Rescriptum signed by Pope Francis on the reform process, introduced by the   
   two Apostolic Letters issued Motu Proprio on 15 August 2015, clearly shows that   
   legal reform is perfectly consistent with the ecclesiological vision   
   characteristic of his papacy as gradually outlined in his teaching from the   
   beginning, and which he himself has clearly confirmed in the acts of these   
   recent weeks.   
    In the homily of Mass for the opening of the Jubilee year on 8 December, the   
   Pontiff described the fulfilment of Vatican Council II: 'A genuine encounter   
   between the Church and the men and women of our time. An encounter marked by   
   the   
   power of the Spirit, who impelled the Church to emerge from the shoals which   
   for   
   years had kept her self-enclosed so as to set out once again, with enthusiasm,   
   on her missionary journey. It was the resumption of a journey of encountering   
   people where they live: in their cities and homes, in their workplaces.   
   Wherever   
   there are people, the Church is called to reach out to them and to bring the   
   joy   
   of the Gospel'.   
    Earlier still, in his important discourse commemorating the fiftieth   
   anniversary of the institution of the Synod of Bishops, Pope Francis offered a   
   summary of conciliar ecclesiology, showing how the hierarchical role of the   
   Roman Pontiff is dedicated to service, presenting him as the supreme witness of   
   the fides totius Ecclesiae, guarantor of the obedience to and compliance of the   
   Church with the will of God, Christ's Gospel and the Tradition of the Church.   
    The papal Rescript published today rests on these ecclesiological bases. It is   
   divided into two parts, for the interpretation and integration of the two Motu   
   Proprio.   
    In the first, because every epoch-making law, such as the law to reform the   
   procedures for marriage annulment, meets understandable resistance, the Pope   
   wished to emphasise, as St. John Paul II did with the promulgation of the Code   
   of Canon Law of 1983, that the law has been promulgated and must be complied   
   with (see the apostolic constitution 'Sacrae disciplinae leges'). The rescript   
   of Pope Francis today, like the promulgation of the Code of St. John Paul II,   
   obeys the lex suprema, the salus animarum, of which the successor of Peter is   
   the first teacher and servant.   
    The second part of the Rescript specifically relates to the Roman Rota as the   
   apostolic Tribunal, which has always been distinguished by wisdom in its legal   
   decisions, of which it is an expression of the generic doubt (whereas in the   
   lower courts there remains the obligation of the specific doubt, such as for   
   example the exclusion of offspring); expressing, from the perspective of   
   ecclesial diakonia, the concern for justice in its dual sacredness: on the one   
   hand, the defence of the truth itself of the marriage bond, and on the other   
   the   
   right of the baptised to receive from the Church the prompt and free   
   declaration   
   of this truth of the bond itself".   
      
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    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 11 December 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:   
    - accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of the diocese of San   
   Bernardino, U.S.A., presented by Bishop Rutilio Juan Del Riego Janez upon   
   reaching the age limit.   
    - appointed Msgr. Rolf Steinhauser as auxiliary of the archdiocese of Cologne,   
   (area 6,181, population 5,400,000, Catholics 2,056,173, priests 1,095,   
   permanent   
   deacons 310, religious 1,841), Germany. The bishop-elect was born in Cologne,   
   Germany in 1952 and was ordained a priest in 1977. He has served in a number of   
   pastoral roles, including head of youth pastoral ministry in Bonn, director of   
   the office for youth pastoral ministry of the archdiocesan curia of Cologne,   
   parish priest and dean of the city of Dusseldorf. He is currently resident   
   canon   
   of the Metropolitan chapter of Cologne and director of the Edith Stein House   
   for   
   Spiritual Exercises.   
    - given his assent to the decision of the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian   
   Greek-Catholic Church to erect the eparchy of Kamyanets-Podilskyi of the   
   Ukrainians at Khmelnitskyi with territory taken from the archieparchy of   
   Ternopil-Zboriv, making it a suffragan of the same metropolitan Church.   
      
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