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Against
Divorce & 'Remarriage'
Also See:
Divorce (Topic Page)
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"For
I hate divorce, says the LORD, the God of Israel" (Mal. 2:16)
"It
was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of
divorce.' But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the
marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever
marries a divorced woman commits adultery." (Our Lord Jesus
Christ, Mt. 5:31-32)
"Some
Pharisees approached [Jesus], and tested him, saying, 'Is it
lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?' He
said in reply, 'Have you not read that from the beginning the
Creator 'made them male and female' and said, 'For this reason a
man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two,
but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human
being must separate.' They said to him, 'Then why did Moses
command that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss
(her)?' He said to them, 'Because of the hardness of your hearts
Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it
was not so. I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the
marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.'"
(Mt. 19:3-9)
"The
Pharisees approached [Jesus] and asked, 'Is it lawful for a
husband to divorce his wife?' They were testing him. He said to
them in reply, 'What did Moses command you?' They replied, 'Moses
permitted him to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her.' But
Jesus told them, 'Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote
you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, 'God
made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his
father and mother (and be joined to his wife), and the two shall
become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must
separate.' In the house the disciples again questioned him about
this. He said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife and marries
another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her
husband and marries another, she commits adultery.'" (Mk.
10:2-12)
"Everyone
who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and
the one who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits
adultery." (Our Lord Jesus Christ, Lk. 16:18)
"Can. 1118 A ratified and
consummated valid marriage can be dissolved by no human power and
for no cause, outside of death." (1917 Code of Canon Law)
"Can. 1141 A marriage that is
ratum et consummatum can be dissolved by no human power and by no
cause, except death." (1983 Code of Canon Law)
"To
divorce a wife is contrary to the law of nature" (St. Thomas
Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the
history of the Church")
"Divorce
is born of perverted morals, and leads, as experience shows, to
vicious habits in public and private life." (Pope Leo XIII)
Error CONDEMNED by Pope Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors:
"By natural law the bond of matrimony is not indissoluble,
and in various cases divorce, properly so-called, can be
sanctioned by civil authority." (Bl. Pope Pius IX, This proposition was condemned in the Syllabus of Errors, Dec. 8, 1864 A.D.)
"Truth
Himself says: 'What God has joined together, let man not put
asunder.' He says also: 'It is not permitted to dismiss a wife,
except for reason of fornication.' Who, then, can contradict this
heavenly Legislator?" (Pope St. Gregory I the Great, Doctor
of the Church, c.
601 A.D.)
"So
long as a husband lives, be he adulterer, be he sodomite, be he
addicted to every kind of vice, if she left him on account of his
crimes he is her husband still and she may not take another."
(St. Jerome, Doctor of the Church, c. 397 A.D.)
"To
the doubts proposed to him the Supreme Pontiff, among other
remarks, responds: 'The decision of lay tribunals and of Catholic
assemblies by which the nullity of marriages is chiefly declared,
and the dissolution of their bond attempted, can have no strength
and absolutely no force in the sight of the Church...'" (Pope
Pius VII, 1803 A.D.)
"[N]ot
even [the Church] can ever affect for any cause whatsoever a
Christian marriage which is valid and has been consummated, for as
it is plain that here the marriage contract has its full
completion, so, by the will of God, there is also the greatest
firmness and indissolubility which may not be destroyed by any
human authority." (Pope Pius XI, "Casti Connubii",
1930)
"According
to our teacher, just as they are sinners who contract a second
marriage, even though it be in accord with human law, so also are
they sinners who look with lustful desire at a woman. He
repudiates only one who actually commits adultery, but even one
who wishes to do so; for not only our actions are manifold to God,
but even our thoughts." (St. Justin the Martyr, c. 148-161
A.D.)
"You
dismiss your wife, therefore, as if by right and without being
charged with wrongdoing; and you suppose it is proper for you to
do so because no human law forbids it; but divine law forbids it.
Anyone who obeys men ought to stand in awe of God. Hear the law of
the Lord, which even they who propose our laws must obey: 'What
God has joined together let no man put asunder.'" (St.
Ambrose of Milan, Doctor of the Church, c. 389 A.D.)
"...if
marriage could be dissolved by divorce, married persons would
hardly ever be without causes of disunion, which would be daily
supplied by the old enemy of peace and purity; while, on the
contrary, now that the faithful must remember that even though
separated as to bed and board, they remain nonetheless bound by
the bond of marriage with no hope of marrying another, they are by
this very fact rendered less prone to strife and discord."
(Catechism of the Council of Trent)
"[I]t
is hardly necessary to point out what an amount of good is
involved in the absolute indissolubility of wedlock and what a
train of evils follows upon divorce. Whenever the marriage bond
remains intact, then we find marriages contracted with a sense of
safety and security, while, when separations are considered and
the dangers of divorce are present, the marriage contract itself
becomes insecure, or at least gives ground for anxiety and
surprises. On the one hand we see a wonderful strengthening of
goodwill and cooperation in the daily life of husband and wife,
while, on the other, both of these are miserably weakened by the
presence of a facility for divorce." (Pope Pius XI, "Casti
Connubii", 1930)
"In
the first place Christ Himself lays stress on the indissolubility
and firmness of the marriage bond when He says: 'What God hath
joined together let no man put asunder,' and: 'Everyone that
putteth away his wife and marrieth another committeth adultery,
and he that marrieth her that is put away from her husband
committeth adultery.' ...And this inviolable stability, although
not in the same perfect measure in every case, belongs to every
true marriage, for the word of the Lord: 'What God hath joined
together let no man put asunder,' must of necessity include all
true marriages without exception, since it was spoken of the
marriage of our first parents, the prototype of every future
marriage." (Pope Pius XI, "Casti Connubii", 1930)
"Therefore,
when we say, 'Whoever marries a woman dismissed by her husband for
reason other than fornication commits adultery,' undoubtedly we
speak the truth. But we do not thereby acquit of this crime the
man who marries a woman who was dismissed because of fornication.
We do not doubt in the least that both are adulterers. We do
indeed pronounce him an adulterer who dismisses his wife for cause
other than fornication and marries another, nor do we thereby
defend from the taint of this sin the man who dismisses his wife
because of fornication and marries another. We recognize that both
are adulterers, though the sin of one is more grave than the sin
of the other." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church, c. 419 A.D.)
"'Therefore,
while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress if
she be found with another man. But if her husband shall have died,
she has been set free from the law, so that she is not an
adulteress if she has been with another man.' These words of the
Apostle, so often repeated, so often inculcated, are true, living,
sound, and clear. A woman begins to be the wife of no later
husband unless she has ceased to be the wife of a former one. She
will cease to be the wife of a former one, however, if that
husband should die, not if he commit fornication. A spouse,
therefore, is lawfully dismissed for cause of fornication; but the
bond of chastity remains. That is why a man is guilty of adultery
if he marries a woman who has been dismissed even for this very
reason of fornication." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church, c. 419 A.D.)
"For
difficult it is to imagine a more deadly pest to the community
than the wish to declare dissoluble a bond which the law of God
has made perpetual and inseverable. Divorce 'is the fruitful cause
of mutable marriage contracts; it diminishes mutual affection; it
supplies a pernicious stimulus to unfaithfulness; it is injurious
to the care and education of children; it gives occasion to the
breaking up of domestic society; it scatters the seeds of discord
among families; it lessens and degrades the dignity of women, who
incur the danger of being abandoned when they shall have subserved
the lust of their husbands. And since nothing tends so effectually
as the corruption of morals to ruin families and undermine the
strength of kingdoms, it may easily be perceived that divorce is
especially hostile to the prosperity of families and
States.'" (Pope Leo XIII, "Longinqua", 1895)
"There
exists not, indeed, in the projects and enactments of men any
power to change the character and tendency which things have
received from nature. Those men, therefore, show but little wisdom
in the idea they have formed of the well-being of the commonwealth
who think that the inherent character of marriage can be perverted
with impunity; and who, disregarding the sanctity of religion and
of the sacrament, seem to wish to degrade and dishonor marriage
more basely than was done even by heathen laws. Indeed, if they do
not change their views, not only private families, but all public
society, will have unceasing cause to fear lest they should be
miserably driven into that general confusion and overthrow of
order which is even now the wicked aim of socialists and
communists. Thus we see most clearly how foolish and senseless it
is to expect any public good from divorce, when, on the contrary,
it tends to the certain destruction of society." (Pope Leo
XIII, "Arcanum", 1880)
"It
must consequently be acknowledged that the Church has deserved
exceedingly well of all nations by her ever watchful care in
guarding the sanctity and the indissolubility of marriage. Again,
no small amount of gratitude is owing to her for having, during
the last hundred years, openly denounced the wicked laws which
have grievously offended on this particular subject; as well as
for her having branded with anathema the baneful heresy obtaining
among Protestants touching divorce and separation; also, for
having in many ways condemned the habitual dissolution of marriage
among the Greeks; for having declared invalid all marriages
contracted upon the understanding that they may be at some future
time dissolved; and, lastly, for having, from the earliest times,
repudiated the imperial laws which disastrously favored
divorce." (Pope Leo XIII, "Arcanum", 1880 A.D.)
"To
conclude with the important words of Leo XIII, since the
destruction of family life 'and the loss of national wealth is
brought about more by the corruption of morals than by anything
else, it is easily seen that divorce, which is born of the
perverted morals of a people, and leads, as experiment shows, to
vicious habits in public and private life, is particularly opposed
to the well-being of the family and of the State. The serious
nature of these evils will be the more clearly recognized, when we
remember that, once divorce has been allowed, there will be no
sufficient means of keeping it in check within any definite
bounds. Great is the force of example, greater still that of lust;
and with such incitements it cannot but happen that divorce and
its consequent setting loose of the passions should spread daily
and attack the souls of many like a contagious disease or a river
bursting its banks and flooding the land.'" (Pope Pius XI,
"Casti Connubii", 1930)
"The
self-same testimony of Christ our Lord easily proves that the
marriage-tie cannot be broken by any sort of divorce. For if by a
bill of divorce a woman were freed from the law that binds her to
her husband, she might marry another husband without being in the
least guilty of adultery. Yet our Lord says clearly: Whosoever
shall put away his wife and shall marry another committeth
adultery (Lk. 16:18). Hence it is plain that the bond of marriage
can be dissolved by death alone, as is confirmed by the Apostle
when he says: A woman is bound by the law as long as her husband
liveth; but if her husband die she is at liberty; let her marry
whom she will, only in the Lord (1 Cor. 7:39); and again: To them
that are married, not I but the Lord commandeth, that the wife
depart not from her husband and if she depart that she remain
unmarried or be reconciled to her husband (1 Cor. 7:10). The wife,
then, who for a just cause has left her husband, the Apostle
offers this alternative: Let her either remain unmarried, or be
reconciled to her husband." (Catechism of the Council of
Trent)
"Oh!
If only your country [America] had come to know from the
experience of others rather than from examples at home of the
accumulation of ills which derive from the plague of divorce; let
reverence for religion, let fidelity towards the great American
people counsel energetic action that this disease, alas so
widespread, may be cured by extirpation. The consequences of this
evil have been thus described by Pope Leo XIII, in words whose
truth is incisive: 'Because of divorce, the nuptial contract
becomes subject to fickle whim; affection is weakened; pernicious
incentives are given to conjugal infidelity; the care and
education of offspring are harmed; easy opportunity is afforded
for the breaking up of homes; the seeds of discord are sown among
families; the dignity of woman is lessened and brought down and
she runs the risk of being deserted after she has served her
husband as an instrument of pleasure. And since it is true that
for the ruination of the family and the undermining of the State
nothing is so powerful as the corruption of morals, it is easy to
see that divorce is of the greatest harm to the prosperity of
families and of states'." (Pope Pius XII, "Sertum
Laetitiae", 1939)
"So
manifold being the vices and so great the ignominies with which
marriage was defiled, an alleviation and a remedy were at length
bestowed from on high. Jesus Christ, who restored our human
dignity and who perfected the Mosaic law, applied early in His
ministry no little solicitude to the question of marriage. He
ennobled the marriage in Cana of Galilee by His presence, and made
it memorable by the first of the miracles which he wrought; and
for this reason, even from that day forth, it seemed as if the
beginning of new holiness had been conferred on human marriages.
Later on He brought back matrimony to the nobility of its primeval
origin by condemning the customs of the Jews in their abuse of the
plurality of wives and of the power of giving bills of divorce;
and still more by commanding most strictly that no one should dare
to dissolve that union which God Himself had sanctioned by a bond
perpetual. Hence, having set aside the difficulties which were
adduced from the law of Moses, He, in character of supreme
Lawgiver, decreed as follows concerning husbands and wives, 'I say
to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for
fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery; and he
that shall marry her that is put away committeth adultery.'"
(Pope Leo XIII, "Arcanum", 1880)
"The
following questions were raised by some Bishops of France to the
inquisition S.R. et U.: 'In the letter S.R. et U. 1. of June 25th
1885, to all the ordinaries in the territory of France on the law
of civil divorce it is decreed thus: 'Considering very serious
matters, in addition to times and places, it can be tolerated that
those who hold magistracies, and lawyers who conduct matrimonial
cases in France, without being bound to cede to the office,' and
it added conditions, of which the second is this: 'Provided they
are so prepared in mind not only regarding the dignity and nullity
of marriage, but also regarding the separation of bodies, about
which cases they are obliged to judge, as never to offer an
opinion or to defend one to be offered, or to provoke or to incite
to that opinion which is at odds with divine and ecclesiastical
law.' It is asked: I. Whether the interpretation is right which is
widespread throughout France and even put in print, according to
which the judge satisfies the above mentioned condition, who,
although a certain marriage is valid in the sight of the Church,
ignores that true and unbroken marriage, and applying civil law
pronounces that there is ground for divorce, provided he intends
in his mind to break only the civil effects and only the civil
contract, and provided the terms of the opinion offered consider
these alone? In other words, whether an opinion so offered can be
said not to be at odds with the divine and ecclesiastical law? II.
After the judge has pronounced that there is ground for divorce,
whether the syndic (in French: le maire), intent also upon only
the civil effects and the civil contract, as is explained above,
can pronounce a divorce, although the marriage is valid in the
eyes of the Church. III. After the divorce has been pronounced,
whether the same syndic can again join a spouse who strives to
enter into other nuptials in a civil ceremony, although the
previous marriage is valid in the eyes of the Church and the other
party is living? The answer is: In the negative to the first, the
second, and the third." (Decree of the Holy Office, May 27,
1886 A.D.)
"The
advocates of the neo-paganism of today have learned nothing from
the sad state of affairs, but instead, day by day, more and more
vehemently, they continue by legislation to attack the
indissolubility of the marriage bond, proclaiming that the
lawfulness of divorce must be recognized, and that the antiquated
laws should give place to a new and more humane legislation. Many
and varied are the grounds put forward for divorce, some arising
from the wickedness and the guilt of the persons concerned, others
arising from the circumstances of the case; the former they
describe as subjective, the latter as objective; in a word,
whatever might make married life hard or unpleasant. They strive
to prove their contentions regarding these grounds for the divorce
legislation they would bring about, by various arguments. Thus, in
the first place, they maintain that it is for the good of either
party that the one who is innocent should have the right to
separate from the guilty, or that the guilty should be withdrawn
from a union which is unpleasing to him and against his will. In
the second place, they argue, the good of the child demands this,
for either it will be deprived of a proper education or the
natural fruits of it, and will too easily be affected by the
discords and shortcomings of the parents, and drawn from the path
of virtue. And thirdly the common good of society requires that
these marriages should be completely dissolved, which are now
incapable of producing their natural results, and that legal
reparations should be allowed when crimes are to be feared as the
result of the common habitation and intercourse of the parties.
This last, they say must be admitted to avoid the crimes being
committed purposely with a view to obtaining the desired sentence
of divorce for which the judge can legally loose the marriage
bond, as also to prevent people from coming before the courts when
it is obvious from the state of the case that they are lying and
perjuring themselves, - all of which brings the court and the
lawful authority into contempt. Hence the civil laws, in their
opinion, have to be reformed to meet these new requirements, to
suit the changes of the times and the changes in men's opinions,
civil institutions and customs. Each of these reasons is
considered by them as conclusive, so that all taken together offer
a clear proof of the necessity of granting divorce in certain
cases. Others, taking a step further, simply state that marriage,
being a private contract, is, like other private contracts, to be
left to the consent and good pleasure of both parties, and so can
be dissolved for any reason whatsoever. Opposed to all these
reckless opinions, Venerable Brethren, stands the unalterable law
of God, fully confirmed by Christ, a law that can never be
deprived of its force by the decrees of men, the ideas of a people
or the will of any legislator: 'What God hath joined together, let
no man put asunder.' And if any man, acting contrary to this law,
shall have put asunder, his action is null and void, and the
consequence remains, as Christ Himself has explicitly confirmed: 'Everyone
that putteth away his wife and marrieth another, committeth
adultery: and he that marrieth her that is put away from her
husband committeth adultery.' Moreover, these words refer to every
kind of marriage, even that which is natural and legitimate only;
for, as has already been observed, that indissolubility by which
the loosening of the bond is once and for all removed from the
whim of the parties and from every secular power, is a property of
every true marriage." (Pope Pius XI,
"Casti Connubii", 1930)
"Truly,
it is hardly possible to describe how great are the evils that
flow from divorce. Matrimonial contracts are by it made variable;
mutual kindness is weakened; deplorable inducements to
unfaithfulness are supplied; harm is done to the education and
training of children; occasion is afforded for the breaking up of
homes; the seeds of dissension are sown among families; the
dignity of womanhood is lessened and brought low, and women run
the risk of being deserted after having ministered to the
pleasures of men. Since, then, nothing has such power to lay waste
families and destroy the mainstay of kingdoms as the corruption of
morals, it is easily seen that divorces are in the highest degree
hostile to the prosperity of families and States, springing as
they do from the depraved morals of the people, and, as experience
shows us, opening out a way to every kind of evil-doing in public
and in private life. Further still, if the matter be duly
pondered, we shall clearly see these evils to be the more
especially dangerous, because, divorce once being tolerated, there
will be no restraint powerful enough to keep it within the bounds
marked out or presurmised. Great indeed is the force of example,
and even greater still the might of passion. With such incitements
it must needs follow that the eagerness for divorce, daily
spreading by devious ways, will seize upon the minds of many like
a virulent contagious disease, or like a flood of water bursting
through every barrier. These are truths that doubtlessly are all
clear in themselves, but they will become clearer yet if we call
to mind the teachings of experience. So soon as the road to
divorce began to be made smooth by law, at once quarrels,
jealousies, and judicial separations largely increased; and such
shamelessness of life followed that men who had been in favor of
these divorces repented of what they had done, and feared that, if
they did not carefully seek a remedy by repealing the law, the
State itself might come to ruin... For whenever at any time
divorce was introduced, the abundance of misery that followed far
exceeded all that the framers of the law could have
foreseen." (Pope Leo XIII, "Arcanum", 1880)
Also
See: Marriage
| Marital
Separation | Sacrament
of Matrimony (Topical Scripture)
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