Each January, the Holy Father addresses the Roman Rota - the “supreme court” of Church tribunals. Reviewing his quarter century of addresses, it appears that John Paul II had growing concern about the possible misuse of marriage tribunal processes (cf., <www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/index_spe-roman-rota.htm>). Last year, Benedict XVI seemed to continue in that vane, when he reminded the Rota that “pastoral sensitivity must be directed to avoiding matrimonial nullity when the couple seeks to marry and to striving to help the spouses solve their possible problems and find the path to reconciliation” <www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/january/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060128_roman-rota_en.html>.
On January 27th of this year, Benedict XVI discussed certain grave confusions: “the conviction that the pastoral good of the person in an irregular marital situation requires a sort of canonical regularization, independently of the validity or nullity of his/her marriage, independently, that is, of the ‘truth’ of his/her personal status, has also spread in certain ecclesiastical milieus….the relativistic mindset, in more or less open or subtle ways, can also insinuate itself into the ecclesial community” www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2007/january/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20070127_roman-rota_en.html.
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