What’s Driving The U.S. Marriage Annulment Crisis In The Catholic Church

Catholic teaching holds that marriage is for life. Yet 28 percent of U.S. Catholics divorce. To remarry in the church, and avoid what Catholicism considers adultery, they must secure annulments from tribunals holding their marriages invalid at the time of the wedding. With a success rate of nearly 100 percent, annulments have come to be viewed as entitlements.  

By contrast, Catholic spouses striving to honor their vows find little support from a church that seems to have adopted a U.S. divorce culture mentality. Pope Leo alluded to this crisis during his recent address to the Roman Rota, which hears annulment appeals and regularly overturns decisions by U.S. tribunals.

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