The drop in the number of church marriages is an issue that seems to have faded into the background in the debates that are currently taking place. Francis talks about this in an interview

From Vatican Insider

ANDREA TORNIELLIVATICAN CITY

Pope Francis looks at the young. At the many many young people who prefer to live together rather than get married. He said this in the context of the Synod, in an interview with Joaquín Morales Solá, published yesterday in Argentinian newspaper La Nación. “The family is such a precious and important part of today’s society and the Church... A great deal of emphasis has been placed on the divorced. Naturally, this issue will be discussed. But for me, the new trends among young people are just as important. Young people are not marrying. This is today’s culture.Many young people prefer to live together without getting married. What should the Church do? Cast them away from its bosom? Or should it approach them, understand them and try to bring the Word of God tot hem? I prefer the second option.”

What seems to have slipped the minds of those engaged in the recent debates over the indissolubility of marriage, is that the number of people getting marriage in church, is dropping. And yet none of the Synod Fathers want to call the principle of the indissolubility of marriage into question. In Milan, to name but one example, 1,329 marriages were registered in the first half of this year. Only one in three of these was celebrated in a religious ceremony (374), while a just under a thousand couple (955) opted for a civil marriage ceremony. In one out of four cases, one of the spouses had come out of a failed marriage. The average age of first marriage is 37 for men and 33 for women, compared to 32 and 29 in 1991. In Milan, the number of singles is more than double that of married couples.

To deal with this phenomenon by simply blurting out condemnations, wistfully looking back at the “good old days” and driving home religious doctrines, would clearly be counter-productive. The Church cannot just detach itself from the processes that have taken place over the last thirty to forty years, simply accusing today’s culture without asking itself why it has become so difficult for people to testify the beauty of the family.

In yesterday’s homily, Francis recalled that “bad pastors burden people with an unbearable weight,” a weight they do not have to carry themselves. Francis wants this Synod to be careful and compassionate in its examination of the real experiences of families, including wounded and “irregular” families. Evangelising means being capable of embracing, being compassionate and understanding others. This has a priority over lists of rules and precepts. In this sense, Francis does not intend to change the Church’s doctrine on indissolubility, but is asking the entire Church to change its perspective, becoming more sensitive to the reality of people’s lives, proclaiming the Gospel and mercy in a calmer manner.

 

In his interview with La Nación, the Pope also answered a question on the book which five cardinals published, opposing Cardinal Kasper’s suggestion regarding the administration of the sacraments to remarried divorcees: “It did not worry me. Everyone has an opinion to contribute.”