Vatican City, 22 January 2016 (VIS) –
This morning in the Clementine Hall the Holy Father received in
audience the members of the Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota for
the inauguration of the Judicial Year, and reiterated to them that
their ministry has always been of great help to the Successor of
Peter, "so that the Church, inseparably linked to the family,
continues to proclaim the plan of God the Creator and the Redeemer on
the sacredness and beauty of the family institution. A mission that
is always current, but of special relevance in our time".
Along with the definition of the Roman
Rota as the Tribunal of the Family, the Holy Father emphasised
another of its prerogatives as "the Tribunal of the truth of the
sacred bond. And these two aspects are complementary. Indeed the
Church can show the merciful and indefectible love of God for
families, especially those wounded by sin and by the trials of life,
and at the same time, proclaim the essential truth of marriage
according to God's plan. This service is entrusted principally to the
Pope and the bishops".
He went on toe refer to the synodal
path on the theme of the family that during the last two years has
made possible a "profound and wise discernment, thanks to which
the Church, among other things, has indicated to the world that there
can be no confusion between the family beloved by God and any other
type of union", and highlighted that the activity of the Rota,
"both in judging and in contributing to permanent formation,
assists and promotes the opus veritatis. When the Church, by means of
your service, proposes to declare the truth on marriage in a concrete
case, for the good of the faithful, she keeps in mind at the same
time those who, by their free choice or through unhappy circumstances
live in a state of objective error, continue to receive Christ's
merciful love, and therefore that of the Church herself".
"The family and the Church, at
different levels, contribute to accompanying the human being up to
the end of his or her existence. And they do so certainly with the
teachings that they transmit, but also with their very nature as
communities of love and life. Indeed, if the family can be described
as a 'domestic church', to the Church we might justly apply the title
of the family of God. … Precisely because she is a mother and a
teacher, the Church knows that among Christians some have a strong
faith, formed by charity, strengthened by good catechesis and
nurtured in prayer and sacramental life, whereas others have a weak
and neglected faith, unformed, uneducated or forgotten".
"It should be clearly affirmed
that the quality of faith is not an essential condition for
matrimonial consent, which according to the longstanding doctrine,
can be undermined only at a natural level. Indeed, the habitus fidei
is infused in the moment of Baptism and continues to flow
mysteriously into the soul, even when the faith is not developed or
psychologically appears to be absent. It is not unusual for
newly-weds, drawn to marriage by the instinctus naturae, at the
moment of celebration have a limited awareness of the fullness of
God's plan, and only later, in family life, discover all that God the
Creator and Redeemer has established for them. The lack of formation
in faith and also an error regarding the unity, indissolubility and
sacramental dignity of marriage may vitiate matrimonial consent only
if they determine will. It is precisely for this reason that errors
regarding the sacramental nature of marriage must be evaluated very
carefully".
"The Church, therefore, with a
renewed sense of responsibility, continues to propose marriage in its
essential elements – offspring, the good of spouses, unity,
indissolubility, sacramentality – not as an ideal for the few,
despite modern models centred on the ephemeral and transitory, but as
a reality that, in Christ's grace, can be lived by all baptised
faithful. And therefore this gives greater importance to the pastoral
urgency that involves all structures of the Church in convergence
towards a common intention, an adequate preparation for marriage, as
a sort of new catechumenate, greatly hoped for by some Synod
Fathers".
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