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Church Lawyer Praises Pope's Marriage Annulment Reforms

WAMC

The announcement today by Pope Francis of a streamlining of the marriage annulment process was welcomed by one longtime adjudicator of annulment requests from western Massachusetts Catholics.

The head of the annulment tribunal for the Diocese of Springfield, Msgr. John Bonzagni said the administrative changes ordered by the pope will eliminate automatic appeals, initiate a hearing within 30 days of application, and end the practice of charging fees to people seeking to annul their marriage.

"Everybody's life is going to be made a lot easier," said Bonzagni.

Bonzagni said an annulment now can take up to a year to be finalized, but the new process should cut the time to 6-8 months.  The Springfield Diocese will stop charging a $480 fee to apply for an annulment.

The changes outlined by Francis in a pair of letters Tuesday also call for a greater role for local bishops in the annulment process, even if the bishop is not a canon lawyer.

" That just opens a complete Pandora's box and we are waiting for more detail from Rome on how to structure that," Bonzagni said Tuesday.

Bonzagni, who is both a civil and canon lawyer, has been a member of the diocesan tribunal that considers annulment cases since 1999, and head of it since 2004.  He said the Springfield Diocese receives 125-200 marriage annulment applications a year.

"Almost all of them wind up being affirmatives," he said.  " Rome doesn't like that, but we just follow the rules and that is the way it comes out."

The pope’s orders impact only administrative aspects of the annulment process. People seeking to annul a marriage must still prove the union failed to meet certain requirements spelled out in church law, and produce witnesses who must be willing to answer questions from the tribunal.

 Banning dioceses from charging fees to applicants is seen as attacking insinuations that annulments are for sale by the church.

Bonzagni said the changes are in keeping with Francis’ push to make the church more forgiving and welcoming.  And, while the pope is not encouraging divorce, the streamlined process could invite more people to consider annulments.

" Yeah, because the pope is making a big deal out of this, anybody who wants to check out their status in the church , please feel free," said Bonzagni.

The Springfield Diocese had previously taken steps to make the annulment process smoother.  For example, deacons, who are lay church leaders and can be married, were assigned to meet with couples seeking annulments at their local churches to conduct preliminary interviews before the case went to the tribunal.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.
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