POPE URGES TRIBUNAL TO GET TOUGHER ON ANNULMENT REQUESTS

POPE URGES TRIBUNAL TO GET TOUGHER ON ANNULMENT REQUESTS

(ANSA) - Vatican City, January 29 - Pope Benedict XVI urged the Vatican's Roman Rota tribunal on Friday to get tougher with couples seeking annulments from Church marriages, saying more effort must be made to ensure reconciliation.

Even though the tribunal still rejects more requests than it grants, the pope said the indissolubility of Christian marriage must be respected and judges should not be lax to "subjective requests" leading to "annulments at all costs".

Speaking at the opening of the tribunal's judicial year, Benedict also called on lawyers representing couples to "carefully avoid" taking up cases "which have no objective foundation".

The pope also lashed out at relativism in contemporary culture, saying it was an attitude which tends to "obscure the very essence of marriage", and turns love into "an empty shell".

In 2008, the Roman Rota granted 192 annulments.

At the end of 2009, the Vatican tribunal was still waiting to examine 1,118 requests from couples in Italy and abroad.