Connected with the Church's mission to care for the salvation of souls, is the matter of annulments. Unfortunately there are many misconceptions connected with an annulment—for example, an annulment is not the "Catholic form of divorce" but rather the declaration of an ecclesiastical tribunal that a marriage never took place.
Because of the state of necessity caused by the post-conciliar crisis, the Society of St. Pius X has been required for the good of souls to establish its own annulment tribunals. This has led to some concerns and these frequent questions:
- Has the SSPX been granting annulments?
- Isn't this a schismatic act?
- Are all annulments granted by the diocesan tribunals invalid?
To provide some clarification about the important topic of annulments, we offer the following texts:
- The annulment crisis in the post-concilar Church
- Questions about our Canonical Commision
- The legitimacy and status of our tribunals
- An approach to declarations of nullity