The Vatican’s Meddling in Marriages
by
Richard Bennett
Marriage is a creation ordinance, belonging to all
mankind. As sovereign Lord over His creation, God instituted that male
and female should at a proper time leave mother and father and be
married, “therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and
shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24)
From the beginning both believers and non-believers married because the
ordinance of marriage is for all mankind.
Mankind cannot put an end to this creation command. God has used
families, clans, tribes, and governments as instruments to facilitate,
enforce and watch over the bonds of marriage. But because of fallen
man’s sinful nature, these institutions in varying degrees have not
followed the command of permanent monogamy as the divine law of
marriage. Even some of God’s people have followed the corrupted norms of
societies rather than the law of God. When governments allow marriage to
fall into disrepute, God’s judgment is on these institutions and their
societies. The Lord Jesus Christ reinforced the creation command and
explained how it was God’s will for His people, “what therefore God hath
joined together, let not man put asunder.” (Matthew 19:6) Those who are
in Christ Jesus should, as a light to a fallen world, reflect their
union with their Lord in their marriages. The true people of God should
be the preeminent instrument that God uses to uphold marriage because
they have the revelation of Scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible does not prescribe anything in respect to the mode of
performing the marriage ceremony. Ceremonies differ in various nations
but should never be regarded as anything more than a public recognition
of a relationship entered into by a man and woman before God their
creator. Yet, as marriage is a matter of important consequence involving
public as well as private obligations, it is appropriate and necessary
that some ceremony should be performed, and that it should be public so
as to leave no doubt as to its reality.
Alleged absolute power over marriage
Defining marriage
for its own purposes, breaking in pieces some vows of marriage, while
putting together stipulations never intended by the Creator is all part
and parcel of the Papacy’s meddling in marriages. While the Catholic
Church gives lip service to marriage as fashioned by God in its basic
meaning and structure, in its law and practice it is totally different.
The Catholic Church claims to have absolute authority over marriage and
therefore exercises total legislation over marriage, even its validity
and unmaking. For example, Pope Leo XIII tried to vindicate the Catholic
Church’s usurped authority over the institution of marriage when he
declared, “When Christ, therefore, renewed matrimony and raised it to
such a great [i.e., sacramental] excellence, He gave and confided to the
Church, the entire legislation in the matter.” (The Christian Faith in
the Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church, Para. 1821) In Rome’s
Code of Canon Law # 1671, she states, “Marriage cases of the baptized
belong to the ecclesiastical judge by the proper right.” She is quite
definite in giving the basis for her wholesale claim that marriage
belongs to her.
The Roman Catholic laws on marriages are a shock to anyone who knows the
nature of marriage as coming from the Creator Himself. In Scripture it
is declared to be respectable in all its components, “Marriage is
honorable in all, and the bed undefiled.” (Hebrews 13:4) This is God’s
ordinance and not that of any church. It ought to be so esteemed by all
and not denied to any of those for whom God has made it. It is honorable
because God instituted it for man from the beginning and has called it
so. He married and blessed the first couple, the first parents of
mankind, to direct all to look to God in this great institution. This is
so abundantly clear that one would think that all humankind would be in
agreement. But the Church of Rome does not agree. All of the secular
features of marriage expressed above are strongly opposed by the Roman
Catholic Church. This first happened in the twelfth century when Papal
Rome gained control over marriage and began legislating on the validity
or invalidity of all marriages, whether kings or peasants. This takeover
of marriage by Rome in her drive for power is one of the most
influential tools that she has in her control of Catholics worldwide. In
her 1983 Code of Canon Law, the Vatican moved to consolidate her power
over marriage. For example, the Vatican sets the age that a person may
enter marriage when it legislates that “a man before he has completed
his sixteenth year of age and a woman before she has completed her
fourteenth year of age cannot enter into a valid marriage.” (Canon 1083,
§1) Further, according to Catholic law, the marriage of a Catholic with
an unbaptized person is legally invalid, “A marriage between two
persons, one of whom has been baptized in the Catholic Church or
received into it and has not defected from it by a formal act and the
other of whom is not baptized, is invalid.” (Canon 1086 §1)
The same Vatican also legislates that sexual impotence on the part of a
man and wife make a marriage legally invalid. “Antecedent and perpetual
impotence to have intercourse, whether on the part of the man or the
woman, whether absolute or relative, nullifies marriage by its very
nature.” (Canon 1084 §1) The Pope further reserves the right to dissolve
a non-consummated marriage, even if a person is unwilling. Thus the
Vatican in Canon 1142 legislates, “For a just cause, the Roman Pontiff
can dissolve a non-consummated marriage between baptized persons or
between a baptized party and a non-baptized party at the request of both
parties or of one of them, even if the other party is unwilling.” While
public recognition of a relationship is essential to marriage, the
Vatican in Canon 1130 legislates even for secret marriages, “For a grave
and urgent cause, the local ordinary [the bishop] can permit a marriage
to be celebrated secretly.” This “secret marriage” is so covert and
surreptitious that the Vatican solemnly declares, “A marriage celebrated
secretly is to be noted only in a special register to be kept in the
secret archive of the curia.” (Canon 1133) This is only a small portion
of the more than one hundred ten laws that the cardinals and bishops of
the Church of Rome legislate for Catholic people around the world.
Mixed marriages
The Vatican’s control over marriages and
the marriage bed becomes especially manipulative in what they call
“mixed marriages”. Mixed marriages have been and continue to be one of
the more successful ways of increasing the numbers of those who submit
to Catholic ways. All priests involved in pastoral work are obliged to
uphold these Catholic laws. No marriage between a baptized Bible
believer and a Catholic is permitted without written resolution that all
children born of the union will be brought up in the Catholic Church.
This is the Catholic law. Canon 1124 states, “Without express permission
of the competent authority, a marriage is prohibited between two
baptized persons of whom one is baptized in the Catholic Church or
received into it after baptism…” The clinching law is Canon 1125, “The
local ordinary, that is the bishop, can a grant permission of this kind
if there is a just and reasonable cause. He is not to grant it unless
the following conditions have been fulfilled. 1. The Catholic party is
to declare that he or she is prepared to remove dangers of defecting
from the faith and to make a sincere promise to do all in his or her
power so that all offspring are baptized and brought up in the Catholic
Church. 2. The other party is to be informed at an appropriate time
about the promises which the Catholic party is to make in such a way
that it is certain that he or she is truly aware of the promise and
obligation of the Catholic party.”
Thus a “dispensation” (the removal of the impediment imposed by Canon
1124) is given by a formal action of bishop according to the
stipulations of Canon 1125. Rome makes laws so that in removing them by
her decrees of permission with conditions, she gains control over lives
and families.
When Rome first set about winning Protestants to Catholicism in United
States of America, one strategy of its documented plan was to entice
them by mixed marriages. In 1810, Roman Catholic Bishop Brute sent a
report to be sent back to Rome highlighting “mixed marriages” as one of
the ways of bringing Protestants into the Church of Rome. ” (Documentary
Reports on Early American Catholicism (New York: Arno Press, 1978) p.
229) Regrettably these tactics are still successful in the 21st century.
Divorce
Biblically, when it comes to divorce,
there are four main statements by the Lord Jesus Christ. Two of these
reflect total opposition to divorce whereas two others indicate
acceptance of divorce on the grounds of sexual unfaithfulness, and the
right of remarriage for the innocent party. The fundamental divine law
of marriage is that a man shall leave father and mother, and shall
cleave to his wife. The nature of the marriage contract is that the two
persons joined in such a union become one flesh, “therefore they are no
more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let
not man put asunder.” (Matthew 19:6) Husband and wife, being joined
together by the ordinance of God, are not to be put asunder by any
decree of man. God says that He hates divorce. God’s perfect will is the
safeguarding of societal order by the preservation of marriages. There
are only two grounds for divorce and remarriage. When either sexual
infidelity or desertion of a believer by an unbelieving spouse has taken
place, a divorce can be obtained. (Matthew 19:9 & I Corinthians 7:12-15)
In such cases, the marriage relationship has already been severed and
divorce is a formal acknowledgment of what has already taken place.
Divorce—Catholic annulment style
The Catholic Church declares that all
marriages between baptized people are in fact a sacrament. This is
conditioned into the minds of Catholics from childhood. It is reiterated
in canon law, “…a valid matrimonial contract cannot exist between the
baptized without it being by that fact a Sacrament.” (Canon 1055, §2)
The Catholic Church teaches that sacraments are means of grace. (It is
inconsistent, therefore that, within Papal teaching, such a means of
grace as the sacrament of marriage would, by another Catholic law, be
unavailable to those in the priesthood.) In declaring marriage to be a
sacrament, the Catholic Church means that it is a sacrament by which God
gives grace and over which she has control. On this basis Rome sets up a
hierarchy of marriages whereby the Catholic marriage as a sacrament
takes precedence over other marriages. Thus in the law of papal Rome,
marriages that are civilly valid before God can be considered null and
void from the point of view of Catholic law. A marriage of a Catholic to
a non-Catholic that did not take place before a Catholic priest is
considered null and void, and it is only a matter of time before the
parties can be released from their marriage vows. It is by making laws
and then retaining the power to remove them through her decrees that
papal Rome gains domination over lives and families.
The Catholic Church continually enunciates that there is no divorce for
a marriage that is lawfully performed between a consenting, baptized man
and woman. However, study of the Roman laws regarding an annulment shows
that great technical skill and ingenuity is used in dispensing papal
annulments.
An annulment in actual fact amounts to exactly the same thing as a
divorce in practice. In law it goes beyond the concept of a divorce. The
Catholic Church, in granting an annulment, declares legally that a
marriage never was. This means that one can end up in the absurd
situation of having been legitimately married and having had children
from that marriage, a tangible fact of the marriage, and yet the
marriage is declared to never have been!
Further, without an annulment, civil divorce is not recognized by the
Catholic Church as valid. This in turn keeps Catholics from taking the
Eucharist, which, after baptism, is the central means of obtaining
ongoing grace that purportedly flows through the sacrament. This in turn
has extreme consequences when Catholics think of dying without the
necessary sacramental grace in which they have been taught to believe.
Dispensing Annulments
One of the chief implements used in
gaining an annulment is what is called a “diriment impediment”. A
“diriment impediment” is an obstacle that is so detrimental as to
nullify a marriage automatically. An example would be a lack of consent
of either party or a deficiency in the actual procedure of the ceremony,
which is called “the form of marriage”. The required “form of marriage”
according to Rome is that a marriage is performed before a priest and
two witnesses. This is another example of making laws and then removing
them so as to maintain control over lives and families. Many marriages
are declared null because of the laws of the Catholic Church regarding
“diriment impediments”. An example of this is a “radical sanation.” A
“radical sanation” is a decree that is retroactive and that can
stabilize and validate a marriage, which began as an invalid marriage.
Thus present day canon law states, “The radical sanation of an invalid
marriage is its convalidation without the renewal of consent, which is
granted by the competent authority and entails the dispensation from an
impediment, if there is one, and from canonical form, if it was not
observed, and the retroactivity of canonical effects.” (Canon 1161) This
“radical sanation” sounds very much like the “open sesame” of Ali Baba
and the Forty Thieves. At the command of Ali Baba the cave was opened by
the magical words. So also the intricate command structure of the
Vatican is purportedly able to retroactively validate a marriage that
had been null and void. The same canon continues, “Convalidation occurs
at the moment of the granting of the favor. Retroactivity, however, is
understood to extend to the moment of the celebration of the marriage
unless other provision is expressly made.” (Canon 1161 Para 2) Such
making and unmaking of marriages contravenes Divine law of marriage in
Scripture. Marriage is an ordinance for the preservation of mankind. It
was God Himself who said, “therefore shall a man leave his father and
his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one
flesh,” laying down the law for all Adam’s posterity.
God’s law cannot be manipulated and stage-managed by the decrees of any
system. Nonetheless to do so is attempted with amazing shrewdness by the
same papal Rome that outlaws marriage for her priests.
Vatican making and unmaking of marriage
The making and the unmaking of marriage
is claimed to be all within the apostolic power of the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church exercises such power even if both parties know
nothing of what is being done. Thus Rome proclaims in her law, “A
sanation can be granted validly even when one or both of the parties are
unaware of it; but it is not to be granted except for serious reason.”
(Canon 1164) This mysterious power to command a healing to a marriage
that never existed is purportedly held in the heart of Rome herself,
“The Apostolic See can grant a radical sanation.” (Canon 1165) Marriage
is not made valid at the command of Rome; in Scripture marriage is
regulated according to the will and counsel of God. The Lord Christ
Jesus said “a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his
wife.” (Matthew 19:5) This alone is how a marriage becomes valid before
God. To decree that celibate prelates in Rome, even though the parties
themselves do not know of it, can make a marriage is pharisaic
totalitarianism gone wild! This bizarre power is claimed because Rome
claims that marriage is a sacrament. It is therefore within her power
to make or break marriages according to her own will and purposes.
The unmaking of marriages is sometimes
done by what is called “interior consent”, the consent that either the
man or woman had or did not have from the beginning. On different
ecclesiastical investigations, this can come out in an ecclesiastical
court, either to make or to break a marriage.
Catholic annulments are a big business inside the Catholic Church, and
in the United States it is known for the down-to-earth facility that is
given for the procuring of annulments.
“The statistics are interesting. In 1968 there were in the US a total of
338 annulments. In 1992 there were no less than 59,030, that is one
hundred and seventy-five times as many. Another interesting figure is
that the total number of annulments in the Catholic Church world wide in
1992 was 76,286, which means that no less than 75% of all annulments
were from the US, that is from a little over 5% of the world’s Catholic
population.
Moreover, not only do one in two Catholic marriages here in the States
end up with a divorce, but one in five is officially annulled, 90% of
the demands for annulment being successful.”
(http://www.sspx.org/Canonical_Commission/august_1995_ltr.htm 5/30/05)
“During 1984 and 1986-1994, U.S. Second Instance tribunals ratified
342,218 ordinary process decrees of nullity, retried and ruled for
nullity in 13,303, and decided against nullity in 1,412. Second Instance
tribunals in the rest of the world, despite adjudicating 250,000 fewer
cases, ruled against nullity in 5,890 cases. Putting this another way,
an American ordinary process annulment had four chances in a thousand of
being overturned at Second Instance, as opposed to 56 chances in a
thousand for ordinary process annulments granted elsewhere.”
(http://www.familylifecenter.net/txt/annulments-in-america.html 5/30/05)
The casual and arrogant manner of
dealing with marriage and the dissolution of marriage is not surprising,
given the bishops and priests who make papal judgments on marriages. In
contrast a pastor in Scripture is to be “one that ruleth well his own
house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man
know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church
of God?” Even these qualifications exclude the celibate judges who grant
annulments. Like Indulgences, the whole annulment industry of the Roman
Catholic Church, from the propounding of the laws to the sale of the
contraband article, is in total violation of Scripture.
Marriage and the Catholic travesty against it The Lord Jesus Christ, the
Incarnate Son of God, clearly spoke of the dignity and sanctity of
marriage. When questioned about marriage, He went back to the narrative
in Genesis, “Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning
made them male and female and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave
his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become
one flesh.’?” (Matthew 19:4-5) Christ Jesus’ endorsement of the sanctity
of marriage was simply a re-endorsement of the original revelation given
by God. Marriage is a creation ordinance. It is not like baptism and the
Lord’s Supper, which are ordinances of the New Testament directly from
Christ Himself and for believers only. Marriage is from the beginning
and it comes under the jurisdiction of the civil state as instituted by
God. For Christians, the laws regarding marriage are clearly laid out in
the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments. A Christian pastor can
counsel a couple regarding their marriage according to these biblical
norms. He is never to take jurisdiction over their marriage to make or
break it. The Lord Jesus Christ is abundantly clear when He states that
what God has joined together, no man should put asunder. The only
biblical grounds for divorce are what the Lord Himself allows in the
case of sexual unfaithfulness and what the Apostle Paul allows in the
case of desertion of a believer by an unbelieving spouse.
Nevertheless, the Catholic Church has
manufactured a whole set of rules and regulations that requires a Roman
Catholic canon lawyer to fully understand.
Since cases of the validity of marriage abound with many different
technical terms, Rome says she upholds the sanctity of marriage, but she
allows marriages to be declared null and void based upon a terminology
of her own making. For example, “nullity” (the decree that a marriage is
null and
void) when granted by Rome’s ecclesial courts is not just a simple
statement. It allows for different interpretations. Thus Canon 1684
states, “After the sentence which first declared the nullity of the
marriage has been confirmed at the appellate grade either by a decree or
by a second sentence, the persons whose marriage has been declared null
can contract a new marriage as soon as the decree or second sentence has
been communicated to them unless a prohibition attached to the sentence
or decree or established by the local ordinary [the bishop] has
forbidden this.”
Thus the very decree that a marriage is null and void is muddied by
Catholic terminology that requires trained Catholic lawyers to lead one
through the labyrinth of canon law. Papal Rome has granted hundreds of
thousands of annulments and allowed remarriage. Many of such unions,
called marriages, are in fact, before the Lord and His Word, nothing
more than officially blessed whoredoms. Such sinful unions take away the
hearts and souls of men and women. These are living situations, blessed
by the priest and the Church of Rome, but they are like a deep ditch and
a narrow pit, out of which it is almost impossible to escape.
Conclusion
The extravagant demands of Roman
Catholic law impinge on the freedom of any nation. If Christian people
are truly informed, they must become aware that marriage, the very basis
of society, is being controlled and manipulated for millions of
Catholics. It applies to not only the millions of Catholics in the
United States, in different Western nations, and across the world, but
it also applies to the millions of Christians and others who are also
deeply ensnared by canon law as they enter into marriage with Catholics.
Vatican canon law on marriage involves also millions of people across
the globe in the nations where the Vatican is accepted as a civil power,
and especially in those nations the Vatican has legally entered into a
“concordat”. If Catholicism is to be addressed seriously, this violation
of marriage must be dealt with scripturally, as it stands at the very
heart and structure of civil society as given by God.
There is no way to maintain a biblical and evangelical testimony for the
Gospel of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone while granting
legitimacy to Roman Catholic laws on marriage. It is impossible to hold
that one is a Bible-believing Evangelical Christian who accepts both the
inspiration and authority of the Bible and still give legality to Roman
Catholicism, which forthrightly rejects that principle, as their laws on
marriage show. Such behavior is an affront to Christ in His work of
redemption and likewise to the Holy Spirit in His ministry of convincing
the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Romans 1:18 clearly
states that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in
unrighteousness.” Who can bear the devouring fire of God’s everlasting
wrath? The good news is that personal faith and salvation are also from
His hand, “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a
Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.”
(Acts 5:31) Christ Jesus has power to pardon the greatest lawbreaker and
the greatest religious fanatic, as He is exalted for this very purpose.
No sinner need fear Him who is ‘a Prince and a Savior’
at the right hand of God. To Him we may come with confidence. When
pressed with the consciousness sin, and when we recognize that we
deserve eternal death, we may confidently look to His power and grace.
The Scripture proclaims, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved.” The Lord Himself declared, “He that believeth, and is
baptized, shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned.” The
Lord will always be merciful to those who turn to Him in faith for the
remission of sins. “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.” Compare the oppressive and expensive laws of
the Vatican with the requirements of Christ Jesus the Lord, and see how
true it is that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Jesus Christ
will give assured rest all weary souls that come to Him. Rest from the
terror of sin, rest from the power of sin, and most of all, rest in the
Lord God. This is that rest which remains for the people of God. It
begins in grace, and will one day be perfected in glory, thus the
Scripture declares, “Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
supper of the Lamb.” (Revelation 19:9) ?
Richard Bennett of “Berean Beacon” WebPage:
http://www.bereanbeacon.org.
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