Annulment (Catholic Church)

Annulment (Catholic Church)

In the Roman Catholic Church an annulment is the procedure, governed by the Church's canon law and the catechism, whereby an ecclesial tribunal determines that the sacrament of marriage was invalidly entered into. An annulment determines the Catholic marriage to be void at its inception. A "Declaration of Nullity" is not the dissolution of an existing marriage, but rather a determination that the sacrament was never in fact conferred due to a failure to meet the requirements to enter validly into matrimony and thus a marriage never existed.

The Catholic Church affirms that, in a true marriage, a man and a woman become "one flesh" before the eyes of God. The Church views marriage as a sacrament validly contracted and entered into by one man and one woman. Various impediments can render a person unable to contract into a sacramental marriage.

For this reason (or for other reasons that render the marriage null and void) the Church, after an examination of the situation by the competent ecclesiastical tribunal, can declare the nullity of a marriage, i.e., that the marriage never existed. In this case the contracting parties are free to marry, provided the natural obligations of a previous union are discharged. - Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1629)