What makes a valid marriage?
Catholic annulment declares that a couple didn’t have some ingredient necessary for a valid marriage. For a marriage to be valid for it to be something “God has joined together” a couple needs to… • Be able to exchange consent, and do so freely and unconditionally • Consent to fidelity, indissolubility, and openness to children • Not have any impediments to marriage (see below) • Follow the sacrament properly Church law recognizes twelve specific impediments to marriage. They include things like coercion, being too young, already being married, blood or in-law relations, having received holy orders, being under vows of chastity, or being impotent (permanently unable to engage in sexual intercourse). But besides these specific impediments, all four of the above requirements have to be met. If they are all met, then the marriage itself is valid. If not, it’s invalid. A Catholic annulment simply declares that to be the case. What if a marriage fails? The Church knows that the world isn’
