New rules for Catholic divorce draw attention in Twin Cities

Pope Francis announced Tuesday that the church will make it faster and less complicated for Catholics to obtain marriage annulments, an often-painful process that now can take years and alienate the otherwise faithful.

The sweeping new rules call for fast-tracking certain annulment applications, canceling the requirement for two church tribunals to decide petitions, allowing local bishops to speed up certain cases, and making the process free.

The reforms are of particular interest to the estimated 800,000 Catholics in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which has one of the nation’s highest rates of denying annulments, according to the Canon Law Society of America’s 2012 annual report.

http://www.startribune.com/pope-francis-announces-sweeping-new-rules-on-catholic-divorce/325830081/