Questions / Confession and the sacraments
What is an annulment?
Answered on video by The Thomistic Institute (Dominican friars)
Video: What Is an Annulment? (Aquinas 101), The Thomistic Institute, published Nov 3, 2025. Checked 10 October 2026. Loads from YouTube (privacy-enhanced mode) only when you press play. Watch on YouTube
In short: Not a Catholic divorce. It’s a finding, after a Church tribunal looks closely, that a valid marriage never existed. CCC 1629
The answer, in writing
After examination by a Church tribunal, the Church can declare the nullity of a marriage: that the marriage never existed. CCC 1629
In that case the parties are free to marry, provided they meet the natural obligations of the earlier union. CCC 1629
It isn’t Catholic divorce, and it doesn’t make your children illegitimate. It’s an honest look at whether something essential was missing at the start. Your parish priest can walk you through it.
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Sources on this page
How we know · 1 Catechism paragraph
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1629 (official text on vatican.va).
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