Annulment Is NOT Catholic Divorce: What Jesus, Scripture, and Church Law Actually Teach

Описание: Is a Catholic annulment just “divorce with a religious label”?
Many Christians—especially Protestants—believe so. But this misunderstanding collapses once Scripture, theology, and Church law are examined carefully.

In this video, we explain the Catholic understanding of annulments, how they differ ontologically and legally from civil divorce, and why they are rooted directly in Jesus’ teaching on marriage.

A civil divorce attempts to dissolve a marriage that is acknowledged to have existed.
A Catholic annulment (properly called a declaration of nullity) does the opposite: it is a judicial finding that no valid marriage ever existed from the beginning. The Church does not “end” marriages—it determines whether God ever joined the couple in the first place.

Because marriage between baptized persons is a sacrament, only the Church has authority to judge its validity. Civil courts may regulate property, custody, and legal protections, but they have no authority over sacramental reality.

For a marriage to be valid at the moment of consent, three elements must be present:

Capacity (freedom from impediments such as a prior bond, incest, holy orders, or impotence)

True Consent (free, informed, psychologically capable, and not excluding fidelity, permanence, or openness to children)

Canonical Form (for Catholics, marriage before a proper minister and witnesses unless dispensed)

Scripture itself distinguishes between valid marriages and invalid unions.
In Matthew 19:9, Jesus permits separation only in cases of porneia—not adultery, but unlawful unions forbidden in Leviticus 18. St. Paul condemns such unions explicitly (1 Corinthians 5:1), and Jesus Himself distinguishes true husbands from non-marital relationships in John 4:16–18.

When Jesus appeals to “the beginning” (Genesis), He teaches that only what God has joined is indissoluble (Matthew 19:6). Annulments do not undermine this truth—they protect it. If God never joined the couple due to an impediment or defective consent, no bond exists to dissolve.

Far from being a loophole, annulments:

Uphold indissolubility

Protect truth

Provide justice for those trapped in invalid unions

Preserve the integrity of the sacrament of marriage

This is not “Catholic divorce.”
It is biblical, historical Christianity—faithful to Christ’s words and the reality of human freedom.

Sources & References

Sacred Scripture

Matthew 19:3–9; Mark 10:11–12; Luke 16:18

Genesis 1–2

John 4:16–18

1 Corinthians 5:1

Leviticus 18

Ezra 9–10

Catechism of the Catholic Church

§§ 1601–1666 (Marriage)

§ 1614–1615 (Indissolubility)

§ 1625–1632 (Consent)

§ 2382–2386 (Divorce)

Code of Canon Law

Canons 1055–1061 (Nature of Marriage)

Canons 1083–1094 (Impediments)

Canons 1095–1107 (Consent)

Canon 1108 (Canonical Form)

Church Documents & Scholarship

Council of Trent, Session 24

Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio

Ratzinger (Benedict XVI), Called to Communion

Brant Pitre, Jesus the Bridegroom