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Tuesday, January 29, 2002
Don't take divorce cases, Pope tells lawyers
The Pope has come under fire from lawyers for urging them to boycott divorce cases, which were "spreading like a plague".
Italian divorce lawyers condemned them as unacceptable interference in the laws of a secular state.
"His declarations are incredible," Rita Bernardini, the president of the Radical Party, said. "He is becoming more and more fundamentalist."
Pope John Paul II made his comments at the annual meeting of the 20 prelates of the Roman Rota, the final court of appeal in canon law.
He called on Catholic lawyers not to help non-Catholics to obtain divorces either. Magistrates, too, should try to prevent divorce, although he conceded that they were not free to refuse to hear cases.
"Lawyers, who work freely, should always decline to use their professions for an end that is contrary to justice, like divorce," he said.
"Marriage is indissoluble and it does not make any sense to talk about the 'imposition' of human law, because it should reflect and protect natural and divine law."
The Pope's comments, reported on BBC News Online, caused immediate controversy, given that divorce settlements have to make provision for children of failed marriages.
Cesare Rimini, a family lawyer, said: "Church laws must not interfere with those of the state and a lawyer's first duty is to respect the law."
The Catholic Church teaches that a valid marriage cannot be ended other than by the death of one of the partners. In exceptional cases, it grants annulments, more properly called decrees of nullity. These are not divorces but declarations that the consent to marriage was not validly given.
Cases are considered by tribunals which sit in most Catholic dioceses.
Grounds for annulment include the psychological immaturity of a partner, impotence or entering marriage with the intention of not having children.
A spokesman for the Catholic Church said the Pope's comments were "not surprising".
She said: "It is entirely consistent with the Church's teaching in areas touching on morals and public policy that Catholics responsible for legislating or applying legislation are exhorted to bear witness to the Church's values and beliefs."
She said the Pope was "exhorting lawyers to act in accordance with the principles and justice of Church teaching".
London Telegraph
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