Sacraments
Marriage and Its Indissolubility
Christ raised marriage between the baptized to a sacrament and taught that a valid, consummated marriage cannot be dissolved by any human power.
Catholic teaching
Marriage images the unbreakable covenant between Christ and his Church; what God has joined, no human authority, including civil divorce, can put asunder. The Church's annulment process does not dissolve a true marriage but investigates whether a valid sacramental bond ever existed in the first place.
Biblical foundation
Jesus explicitly overturns the Mosaic allowance for divorce, teaching that Moses permitted it only 'for your hardness of heart' but 'from the beginning it was not so.' Paul explains marriage's meaning by comparing it directly to Christ's love for the Church, 'a great mystery.'
Scripture references
Historical evidence
Despite immense social and political pressure, the Church consistently refused to grant divorce even to powerful figures such as King Henry VIII of England in 1533, an episode that itself testifies to the Church's unwavering historical commitment to indissolubility.
The Church Fathers
“In our case, the sacrament [of marriage] is a matter of greater durability, so that the man and woman... are not sundered even by separation.”