[sitetest]

My own personal guess as to the number of invalid marriages contracted by Catholics with valid form before a priest (in other words, following the external canonical norms): 20%.

That means 80% of them are valid.

But, sheesh, 1 out of 5.

[Alex Murphy]

Canon 1066 (it seems out of fashion to quote canon law these days, but indulge me) states: “Before a marriage is celebrated, it must be evident that nothing stands in the way of its valid and licit celebration”. Cdl Kasper’s shocking assertion, which he claims is the pope’s view, that half of all marriages are invalid, would, if true, indicate that Canon 1066 is being disregarded on an unprecedented scale.

PFL

[Bayard]

Hyperbole however useful it is as a rhetorical tool, is not a sound or honest foundation for discerning pastoral applications of moral theology.

[ConstantSkeptic]

I’m a Protestant and a geek. When I saw the title for this article, my first thought was that the poster was trying to decide between models of a product - such as a camera or printer or scanner - from the Canon technology company.

Oops.

[jesskidding]

What constitutes an invalid marriage according to Canon law?

[AnalogReigns]

Given that, with the right amount of money...to hire the right canon-lawyers....most actually can get a marriage annulled by Rome, I suspect Cardinal Kasper and the pope are correct.

The question which seems obvious to me is, are the grounds for nullification too broad?