Vatican City, Feb 7, 2005 / 22:00 pm
The Vatican, this morning announced the presentation of a new instructional document to be used by Diocesan and Interdiocesan tribunals in handling cases of marriage annulment.
Dignitas Connubii, translated as Dignity of Marriage was prepared by the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, with the collaboration of other dicasteries.
The Council’s participants included, Cardinal Julian Herranz, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, Archbishop Angelo Amato S.D.B., secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino, secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments, Bishop Velasio De Paolis C.S., secretary of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura and Bishop Antoni Stankiewicz, dean of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota.
Council President, Cardinal Julian Herranz explained that the Instruction Dignitas Connubii aims to offer judges in ecclesial courts "a practical document, a kind of vademecum to use as a ready guide for carrying out their duties in canonical hearings on the nullity of marriage."
A similar document, the Instruction "Provida Mater," was published in 1936, relating to the Code of Canon Law of 1917.
Cardinal Herranz said that Dignitas Connubii seeks to facilitate the consultation and application of the 1983 edition of the Code of Canon Law, bringing together all norms referring to the canonical process for nullity of marriage (unlike the CIC where these norms are scattered in different places through the text) and includes the juridical developments that have arisen since the publication of the Code.
Such developments include, authentic interpretations of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, answers of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, jurisprudence of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota.