Catholic Marriage - Marriage Between Catholics and Non-Catholics

Marriage Between Catholics and Non-Catholics

Marriages between Catholics and non-Catholics (including when the latter have been baptised in another Christian church) were viewed as "mixed marriage". From the very beginning of its existence the Catholic Church has been opposed to such unions, as it was looked upon as degrading the holy character of matrimony, involving as it did a communion in sacred things with those outside the fold. The Catholic Church therefore did all in its power to hinder baptised Catholics from contracting marriage with those outside the church, and who did not recognize the sacramental character of the union on which they were entering. Hence arose the impediments to a marriage with a "heretic" (mixta religio) and with an "infidel" (disparitas cultus).

As regards marriage with an "infidel", the early Church did not consider such unions invalid, especially when a person had been converted to the faith after such marriage. It was hoped that the converted wife or husband would be the means of bringing the other party into the Church, or at least safeguarding the Catholic upbringing of the children of the union. This held even for Jews, though the Church was naturally more opposed to wedlock between them and Christians, even than with pagans. By degrees, however, the objection to a marriage between a Catholic and an "infidel" grew stronger as the necessity for such unions decreased, and so in the course of time, more by custom than by positive enactment, the impediment of disparitas cultus making such marriages null and void began to have force.

When the Decretum of Gratian was published in the twelfth century, this impediment became part of canon law. From that time forward, all marriages contracted between Catholics and infidels were held to be invalid unless a dispensation for such union had been obtained from the ecclesiastical authority. Marriages, however, between Catholics and heretics were not subject to the same impediment. They were held as valid, though illicit if a dispensation had not been obtained. The opposition of the Church to such unions is, however very ancient, and early councils, legislated against marriages of this character. Such enactments are found in the fourth century Council of Elvira and of Laodicea. The General Council of Chalcedon prohibited such unions especially between members of the lower ecclesiastical grades and heretical women.

The advent of Protestantism in the sixteenth century renewed the problem of mixed marriages, and caused more stringent legislation. This was emphasized by the impediment of clandestinity enacted by the Council of Trent. By its decree the Council required the contract to be entered into before the parish priest or some other priest delegated by him, and in the presence of two or three witnesses under penalty of invalidity. Marriages otherwise contracted are called clandestine marriages.

The Church did not find it possible, however, to insist on the rigour of this legislation in all countries owing to strong Protestant opposition. As a consequence Pope Benedict XIV issued a declaration concerning marriages in Holland and Belgium (1741), in which he declared mixed unions to be valid, provided they were according to the civil laws. A similar declaration was made concerning mixed marriages in Ireland by Pope Pius, in 1785, and gradually the "Benedictine dispensation" was extended to various localities. Pius VI allowed mixed marriages in Austria to take place in the presence of a priest, provided no religious solemnity was employed, and with the omission of public banns, as evidence of the unwillingness of the Church to sanction such unions.

In 1869, the Congregation of the Propaganda further permitted such marriages but only under condition of grave necessity fearing the faithful "expose themselves to the grave dangers inherent in these unions". Bishops were to warn Catholics against such marriages and not to grant dispensations for them except for weighty reasons and not at the mere will of the petitioner. Ne temere went into effect in April, 1908. By this decree all marriages everywhere in the Latin Church between Catholics and non-Catholics are invalid unless they take place in the presence of an accredited priest and two witnesses.