"In fact, the abandonment of the perspective of faith leads inexorably to a false understanding of marriage, which does not lie without consequences for the maturation of the nuptial will." Therefore, "the judge is called to carry out his judicial analysis where there is doubt regarding the validity of marriage, to ascertain whether there was an original shortcoming in consent. [...] This is your difficult mission: do not ensnare salvation in the constrictions of legalism." Pope Francis addressed the word to the judges, officials, lawyers and collaborators of the Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota at the inauguration of the judicial year.
 
The Church, Francis said, "knows the suffering of many families that break up, leaving behind the rubble of emotional relationships, projects, and common expectations. The judge is called to carry out his judicial analysis where there is doubt regarding the validity of marriage, to ascertain whether there was an original shortcoming in consent, either directly in terms of a defect in the validity of intention or a grave deficit in the understanding of marriage itself to the extent of determining will. In fact, the crisis in marriage, indeed, not infrequently has at its root the crisis in knowledge enlightened by faith, or rather by adhesion to God and His plan of love realized in Jesus Christ."
 
Francis called for presence in every ecclesiastical Tribunal of "persons competent in giving solicitous advice on the possibility of introducing a cause of matrimonial nullity; while the presence is also required of stable patrons, remunerated by the same tribunal, who exercise the office of lawyers." The goal, he explained, would be to "encourage real access to the justice of the Church for all the faithful. I would like to underline that a significant number of cases dealt with before the Roman Rota are made possible by legal aid granted to those whose economic situation would not otherwise allow them to engage the services of a lawyer. I want to stress this point: Sacraments are free-of-charge. The sacraments give us grace. And marriage processes touch on the sacrament of marriage. How I would like—he concluded—all marriage processes to be free-of-charge!"
 
Read the entire speech