The Indissolubility of Marriage in Support of Family Life

In recent decades, Piet Fransen, S.J. (1913– 1983) and others have questioned whether the Council of Trent in 1563 dogmatically defined the indissolubility of marriage. Even the International Theological Commission in 1977 maintained that Trent did not intend to define the indissolubility of marriage but only the Church’s authority over marriage. Drawing upon Scripture, the Fathers, and the magisterium—as well as studies by E. Christian Brugger and others—this article argues that Trent did indeed define the indissolubility of marriage. It further argues that marital indissolubility reflects the covenant between God and the human race established by the Incarnation, and it also provides the necessary support for family life as willed by God.