Pauline privilege
The Pauline privilege ( Latin: Privilegium Paulinum ) is a special regulation within Christianity that goes back to the Apostle Paul for the dissolution of a marriage between Christians and non-Christians.
In Pauline times (approx. 32–64 AD) it happened that individual married people were converted to the Christian faith and received baptism . However, this apparently sometimes led to serious conflicts within the partnership, for example because of the refusal to make traditional sacrifices to idols ( 1 Cor 10 EU ) and the resulting social exclusion and the persecution of Christians .
Probably for these or similar reasons, the apostle Paul created an exception: If the unbaptized partner wants to separate, this is permitted. Because of the so-called Pauline privilege, the baptized partner is no longer bound to this marriage either ( 1 Cor 7.15 EU ). In general, however, marriage is otherwise indissoluble through man ( 1 Cor 7.11 EU , Lk 16.18 EU ).
Today (as of 2008), this means that as a Catholic , one can e.g. B. can then dissolve if it was concluded before the baptism of the now Christian partner and the remaining unbaptized partner refuses the peaceful continuation of the marriage, which means that the marriage is not continued in the sense of the Christian moral law. The previous marriage is dissolved when the partner who has become Christian enters into a new marriage. The new marriage can also be entered into with a non-Catholic Christian or with an unbaptized person.
In contrast to the dissolution of the marriage by papal sovereign act, which can be granted in the form of a dispensation in the case of a non-consummate marriage (including among baptized persons) as well as in the case of at least one unbaptized partner, in the case of the Pauline privilege, the marriage is not through the Pope, but rather "automatically" dissolved if the relevant requirements are met when the spouse who has become a believer enters into a new marriage. There is therefore no need for a dissolution procedure in the actual sense, but only the official church determination that the prerequisites have been met.
In addition to these three exceptions (Pauline privilege, non-execution, Petrinian privilege), there is no other possibility of "divorce" (dissolution, annulment) of a valid marriage according to Catholic church law , but only the possibility of separating the spouses (separate lifestyle without the possibility of remarriage) . In addition, a marriage can be annulled if, in the Church's opinion, it was invalid from the start.
literature
- Codex Iuris Canonici (Codex of Canon Law 1983) cann. 1142-1150
- John Paul II : Familiaris Consortio (1981) online resource
- Heinrich Flatten: annulment, dissolution and separation of the marriage. In: Joseph Listl u. a. (Ed.): Handbook of Catholic Church Law. Regensburg: Pustet 1983 ISBN 3-7917-0860-0 , pp. 815-826, here: pp. 822-824
- Walter Kirchschläger: Marriage and Divorce in the New Testament: Reflections and Inquiries on the Practice of the Church. Vienna: Herold 1987 ISBN 3-7008-0353-2
- Hartmut Zapp: Canonical marriage law. Freiburg im Breisgau: Rombach 7 1988 ISBN 3-7930-9044-2 , pp. 223-226
