c. 2008 Religion News Service

Pope calls for consistency in annulments

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI called for greater consistency in the granting of annulments, suggesting that Catholic church authorities in some countries have been too lax in declaring marriages void.

Benedict made his remarks on Saturday (Jan. 26) to members of the Roman Rota, the highest church panel with authority in marriage cases, at a ceremony marking the start of the judicial year.

Warning against “subjective and arbitrary interpretations” of church law governing marriage, the pope insisted that the “same general principles and norms of justice must be applied” in all cases.

“There is always a risk of the formation of `local forms of jurisprudence,’ ever more distant from the common interpretation of positive laws and even from church doctrine on matrimony,” Benedict said.

Under canon law, a marriage can be declared null and void for a variety of reasons, including impotence, a previous marriage, or a lack of psychological maturity at the time of the union. A Catholic who divorces and remarries must obtain an annulment of the first marriage in order to continue receiving Communion.

Most decisions on annulments are made at the diocesan level, and degrees of strictness vary.

In 2002, according to a study by the Italian Catholic magazine “30 Giorni,” church courts in Europe granted annulments in 85 percent of cases, compared with 97 percent in the United States. The U.S. generated 57 percent of the requests for annulments that year, despite having only 6 percent of the world’s Catholic population.

In a widely noted recent case, the Archdiocese of Boston annulled the marriage of former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, D-Mass., to Sheila Rauch, who then appealed that decision to Rome. In 2005, the Rota declared the Kennedy-Rauch marriage still valid.

_ Francis X. Rocca

Leader of Greek Orthodox Church dies at 69

(RNS) Archbishop Christodoulos, spiritual leader of Greece’s Orthodox Church, died Monday (Jan. 28) of cancer. He was 69.

Christodoulos’ decade as archbishop of Greece was marked by improved relations between Orthodox Christians and Catholics.

In 2001, he received Pope John Paul II, the first pope to visit Greece in centuries, thawing tensions dating back to the 11th century schism between the Eastern and Western churches. Five years later, Christodoulos returned the favor, visiting the Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican, where the leaders agreed to work together to combat abortion, euthanasia and the “de-Christianization of Europe.”

Born Christos Paraskevaidis in 1939, Christodoulos was ordained a senior priest in 1965, and was tapped to lead Greece’s estimated 11 million Orthodox Christians in 1998.

Following his diagnosis last year, Christodoulos spent several weeks in Miami awaiting a liver transplant, but the operation was canceled in October when doctors discovered the cancer had spread. He died at home in Athens.

Archbishop Demetrios, spiritual leader of America’s Greek Orthodox Christians, expressed his sadness at the loss of his Greek counterpart.

“I had the special honor to know him from the time he attended high school, and afterwards, to appreciate his dynamism, his kindness, his intellect and his great offering to the church in important areas such as the divine worship, pastoral and social care, as well as inter-Orthodox and inter-Christian relations,” Demetrios said, in a statement released by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

Demetrios, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and other Orthodox leaders are heading to Greece to attend Christodoulos’ funeral on Thursday (Jan. 31) at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens.

Church leaders will elect a new archbishop on Feb. 7, also at the cathedral.

_ Nicole Neroulias

Romney campaign disputes view of Mormon beliefs

WASHINGTON (RNS) Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign is disputing a statement by Focus on the Family’s political arm that Romney said his Mormon beliefs are not Christian.

Tom Minnery, senior vice president of Focus on the Family Action, the Colorado ministry’s political arm, declared in a webcast on Jan. 19 _ the day of the South Carolina Republican primary _ that “Mitt Romney has acknowledged that Mormonism is not a Christian faith and I appreciate his acknowledging that.”

But the Romney campaign has denied that the candidate has made such a statement about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“The governor has not made that acknowledgment,” said Alex Burgos, a Romney spokesman. “He has said that his belief is not the same as others. But there is no doubt that Jesus is at the center of the LDS church’s worship.”

Focus on the Family Action, responding to questions about Minnery’s remarks, issued a brief statement that said it had moved beyond the South Carolina primary.

“Like the candidates, our attention is now on the Florida primary,” said Gary Schneeberger, a spokesman for the organization. He did not mention the dispute over Romney’s remarks.

In a widely watched speech in December, Romney said he believes that “Jesus Christ is the son of God and the Savior of mankind,” but he added, “My church’s beliefs about Christ may not all be the same as those of other faiths.”

_ Adelle M. Banks

Quote of the Day: North Carolina divorce attorney Lee Rosen

(RNS) “Kids tell mom what they want to hear and they tell dad what they want to hear. They make decisions on a promised trip to Disney World.”

_ Lee Rosen, a North Carolina divorce attorney, who is following the divorce dispute between two Oregon parents over whether their son, 12, should be circumcised after the father converted to Judaism. Rosen was quoted by The Oregonian.

KRE/CM END RNS