Administrative Procedures in Canonical Marriage Cases

History, Legislation, and Praxis

In three parts this book by Rotal lawyer Rev. Msgr. Piero Amenta, a professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University and an official of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, presents many issues fundamental to Christian marriage and its dissolution:

• the biblical and Patristic evidence for the indissolubility of marriage and the importance of consummation;
• the norms of marriage from Sacred Scripture and canon law;
• the relation between the quality of indissolubility and the dissolution of the marriage bond;
• the significance of the sacramental as well as the natural marriage bond;
• the norms related to dissolution of the marriage bond in favorem fidei;
• the norms related to dissolution of the marriage bond when consummation has not occurred;
• the personal separation of the spouses without the dissolution of the marriage bond; and
• the process for the presumed death of a spouse.

In the Presentation of this book, Velasio Cardinal de Paolis writes, “The author’s intention is not only to present currect legislation, but also to review the historical development of the subject so that the contemporary context may be better understood.”