Dr Edward Peters:Divorce mentality among Catholics

Divorce mentality among Catholics: a case from the Roman Rota

The Catholic Church's highest judicial court is the Roman Rota. While not exactly the equivalent of the United States Supreme Court (see 1983 CIC 16), cases decided by the Rota are nevertheless of great significance in the development of canonical jurisprudence. All Rota sentences are published in Latin, and relatively few are later translated into modern languages. The few that are translated are generally available only in specialized publications.

For the benefit of those who might like see what a Rota sentence looks like, I recently translated one that I found interesting not only in that it provides a look at how facts and law are discussed by Rotal judges, but because it deals with a topic of major current interest, namely, how a "divorce mentality" can negatively impact the attitudes of Catholics entering marriage. Click here for my translation of the case, c. Filipiak, 23 March 1956, SRRD 48 (1956) 255-258.