Pope Francis Urges Fast, Free Justice On Marriage Annulment Cases

"The mother Church has so much generosity it could provide justice free of charge."

The quote comes from no less than Pope Francis who said the process of marriage annulments should not become "some kind of business" for the Church.

Addressing canon lawyers in the Vatican on Wednesday, Nov. 5, the pope revealed that he fired a church official when was still a bishop in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for selling marriage annulment certificates for thousands of dollars, calling it a "public scandal."

"When you attach economic interests to spiritual interests, it is not about God," the pontiff said.

The pope also cited the troubles faced by annulment seekers, including travelling hundreds of kilometers, even losing days of work just to attend church tribunals.

He said the Church's annulment procedures should be made easier and faster.

The annulment of marriage is a major issue in the Roman Catholic Church. The Church views Catholics who get divorced in a civil court and who remarry without a formal church annulment from the previous marriage as committing adultery with their new spouse. They are then barred from taking Communion.

This is because a marriage that is both ratified and consummated "can be dissolved by no human power and by no cause, except death," according to Canon 1141.

But people who seek marriage annulment from the Roman Catholic Church are oftentimes discouraged because of the lengthy and expensive process.

The procedure of annulment is at times "so long and so weighty" that "people give up," the pope acknowledged.

He said this should not be the case, adding that delayed Church approval or disapproval of marriage annulment applications is contrary to justice.

The pope called for "a path of justice, and also of charity, because there are so many people who need a word from the Church about their marital situation, be it a yes or a no, because this is just."

In the face of uncertainty, Pope Francis said, "Mother Church must judge and say, 'Yes, it is true, your marriage is null,' or, 'No, your marriage is valid.' But she must make a judgment, and tell them, so that it is possible to go forward without this doubt, this darkness in the soul."

Pope Francis also told the canon lawyers that the annulment process should not be treated like business. "It's also needed to be very attentive that the procedures are not within the framework of business: and I don't speak of strange things," he said.

"I had to dismiss a person from a tribunal some time ago, who said 'Give me $10,000 and I'll take care of both processes: the civil and the ecclesiastical.'"

"Please, not this!" Pope Francis implored.