The Newly modified processes on the canonical annulment for marriage completed at the 2015 Synod Meeting and announced around September this year (2015), was put into effect on 8th December 2015 during the Official opening day of the Year of Mercy.
This reformations are changes to the old canonical laws that were guiding the ties that must be broken before the church could officially allow divorced/separated couples whose marriages have failed separate. As livelihood and mode of conduct has greatly changed in recent years when the old laws were created, the Synod deemed it fit to touch certain areas of the Annulment Declaration . The main aim of the reformation process is ensuring a justified separation of couples in a failed marriage, the Synod as well maintained firmly the standards that marriage according to the Catholic Church is indissoluble.
The reformation document is in two form of motu proprio – or letters issued by the Pope “on his own initiative.” The documents were entitled:
- Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus “The Lord Jesus, a meek judge” (Click to Read), which deals with modifications in the Latin Rite’s Code of Canon Law, and
- Mitis et misericors Iesus “Jesus, meek and merciful” (Click to Read), which outlines changes for Eastern Churches who, although in full communion with Rome, have historically had a different process.
