On Saturday Pope Francis told a group of parish priests training on
the new marriage annulment process to place strong emphasis on good
preparation that isn’t limited to just a few courses, but extends even
to the first few years after marriage.
“I ask myself how many of these youth who come to marriage
preparation courses understand what ‘marriage,’ the sign of the union of
Christ and the Church, means,” the Pope said Feb. 25.
“They say yes, but do they understand this? Do they have faith in
this?” he asked, and voiced his conviction that “a true catechumenate is
needed for the sacrament of marriage.”
Part of this formation process he said, means being thorough, not “to
make preparation with two or three meetings and then go forward.”
During marriage prep, couples must be helped to understand “the
profound meaning of the step that they are about to take.” This support
must also continue through the celebration of marriage itself and even
through the first years after, he said.
Marriage, he said, “is the icon of God, created for us by him, who is
the perfect communion of the three persons of the Father, the Son and
the Holy Spirit.” The love of the Trinity and Christ’s love for his
bride, the Church, must therefore be “the center of marriage catechesis
and evangelization.”
Whether it’s through personal or communitarian encounters, and
whether they are planned or spontaneous, “never tire of showing to all,
especially to spouses, (the) great mystery” of God’s love, he said.
The Pope spoke to priests participating a formation course for the
Tribunal of the Roman Rota, the Holy’s See’s main court, dedicated to
the new marriage annulment process, which went into effect Dec. 10,
2016. Held in Rome, the course ran from Feb. 22-25, and was closed by an
audience with the Pope.
The course follows a similar one held in March 2016, but which was directed specifically toward bishops.
In his speech, Francis said priests have a twofold responsibility
when it comes to marital ministry: to always bear witness to the beauty
of marriage, and to be a consistent support to couples, regardless of
their marital status.
He noted that priests are often “the first interlocutors” of young
couples who want to get married, and are also the first ones these
couples go to when problems or crisis come up, including the request for
an annulment of their marriage.
Faced with so many “complex situations” affecting families today, “no
one knows better than you and is in contact with the reality of the
social fabric in the area,” experiencing firsthand the complexity of
various situations they encounter, including valid sacramental
marriages; domestic partnerships; civil unions; failed marriages and
families and youth, both happy and unhappy.
“For each person and each situation,” he said, “you are called to be travel companions in order to bear witness and to support.”
The Pope stressed that a priest’s first concern is that of “bearing
witness to the grace of the sacrament of marriage and the primordial
good of the family” by proclaiming that “marriage between a man and a
woman is a sign of the spousal union between Christ and the Church.”
This witness is also shown when accompanying young couples on their
journey “with care,” showing them how to live in times of “light and
darkness, in moments of joy and those in fatigue,” always showing the
beauty of marriage.
Francis told the priests that while bearing witness to the beauty of
marriage, they must also care for and support “those who realize the
fact that their marriage is not a true sacramental marriage and want to
leave this situation.”
Because of the “delicate” nature of this type work, the Pope said
priests must do it “in such a way that your faithful recognize you not
so much as experts in bureaucratic actions or judicial norms, but as
brothers who place themselves in an attitude of listening and
understanding.”
He told them to imitate “the style” of the Gospel by meeting with and
listening not only to engaged or married couples, but also youth who
prefer to cohabitate rather than getting married.
People in these situations “are among the poor and little ones toward
whom the Church, in the footsteps of her master and Lord, wants to be a
mother who never abandons but who draws near and cares for them,”
Francis said.
“Even these people are loved by the heart of Christ,” he said,
telling priests to “have a gaze of tenderness and compassion toward
them.”
This type of care and attention “is an essential part of your work in
promoting and defending the sacrament of marriage,” the Pope said,
adding that the parish is the place “par excellence” for the “salus
animarum (salvation of souls).”
Pope Francis then pointed to a recent speech he gave to the Rota in
which he told them to implement “a true catechumenate” of future spouses
which covers all stages of the sacramental path, from the time of
marriage preparation, the celebration of the sacrament and the first
years immediately after.
“To you pastors, indispensable collaborators of the bishops, is
primarily entrusted this catechumenate,” he said, and encouraged them to
implement it “regardless of the difficulties you could encounter.”
Francis closed his speech by thanking the priests for their commitment to announcing “the Gospel of the family.”
He prayed that the Holy Spirit would help them “to be ministers of
peace and consolation in the midst of the holy faithful people of God,
especially the most fragile and those in need of your pastoral support.”