In the 10 years since Pope Francis reformed the marriage annulment process, many divorced Catholics have found the pathway to remarrying in church easier, quicker and more affordable; for others, however, the process remains lengthy and distressing

It was Carla’s sister who urged her to face up to her unhappiness. Carla had been married for 14 years and she and her husband had been getting on “very badly for years”. She had married a man in church in Spain when she was 26 and, she admits, “idealistic, very much in love and a little bit blind”. Within a few years he became “aggressive – not just verbally”, she recalls. As their two children’s First Communion approached, tension increased.

Carla began divorce proceedings, which she found “so painful with kids”. After the divorce came through, she petitioned for an annulment. It took “four months maximum”, even though her diocese, Westminster, had to liaise with the Spanish diocese where they had married. Carla was “surprised and impressed” by how quick the process was. She remarried in 2018, in a Catholic church, to an Anglican who sometimes attends Mass with her. She says her children, now adults, are happy for her.
Divorce and annulment are not synonymous. While divorce is a declaration by the state that a marriage has ended, in the eyes of the Catholic Church marriage is indissoluble. The annulment of Carla’s marriage was a declaration that in the eyes of the Church her marriage had never taken place.

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