Canonical Impediment - Impediments To Marriage

Impediments To Marriage

Roman Catholic sacramental theology teaches that the ministers of the sacrament of holy matrimony are the man and woman, and therefore any marriage contracted voluntarily between two baptized and unmarried adults is valid, though under ordinary circumstances the marriage must be blessed by a priest to be licit. However, various provisions in current canon law lay down additional requirements for validity, in apparent contradiction of this principle.

Impediments to marriage are classified according to many different criteria.

In regard to their effect on the sacrament, impediments are either diriment, which invalidate an attempted marriage, or prohibitive (or impedient), which make a marriage illicit but valid. The 1983 Code of Canon Law does not list prohibitive impediments as such, and thus the distinction between validity and licitness is less clear than in previous formularies.

In regard to their origin, impediments are either from divine law, and so cannot be dispensed, or from ecclesiastical law, and so can be dispensed by the competent Church authority. Under the 1983 Code of Canon Law, ecclesiastical impediments only apply to marriages where one or both of the parties is Catholic. Under the prior 1917 Code, ecclesiastical impediments applied to the marriages of non-Catholic Christians as well, unless specifically exempted. Note that, as clarified by articles 2 and 4 of Dignitas Connubii, the Catholic Church now recognizes the diriment impediments of other (i.e., non-Catholic) Churches and ecclesial communities when their members are parties to a marriage.

Impediments are also classified as follows:

• public, which can be proved in the external forum, or occult, which cannot be so proved;
• absolute, which apply to one party regardless of the other party, or relative, which apply only in relation to certain other parties;
• permanent or temporary, according to the duration of the impediment; and
• (for ecclesiastical impediments) whether they can be dispensed by the local ordinary under ordinary circumstances, or whether their dispensation is reserved to the Pope