Navigating Annulments · Companion

The Companion

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The Companion needs a moment of setup.

Six questions — where you are in the process, which diocese, which tribunal, which phase. The Companion will calibrate from there. Everything stays on your device.

Begin setup →

The road — 8 phases per CIC 1983, cann. 1671–1707, with Mitis Iudex (2015)

This week, your tribunal expects you to —

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What is happening now

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What the Code says

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What to do this week

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Progress · days in phase, the road behind, the last 90 days

Where you have walked.

The tribunal road is measured in months, sometimes years. The Companion holds the count so you do not have to — how long you have been in this phase, how long each phase took, how often you came to the journal in the last 90 days. Nothing here is sent anywhere.

Phases walked

Last 90 days · the journal cadence

13 weeks · a filled cell is a week you wrote · the outlined cell is this week

Journal — this was hard, this was grace

The Companion's quiet page.

Two sentences. One naming the weight of the week. One naming where God broke in. The tribunal does not see this; nothing about this entry is sent anywhere. Save it because in eighteen months you will not remember what March of this year was like, and you will need to.

This was hard

This was grace

Last few entries

Library — primary sources, not commentary

Codex Iuris Canonici · 1983, as amended 2015

Cann. 1671–1707 — Marriage cases in the tribunal

The procedural canons governing every marriage nullity case in the Latin Church, post-Mitis-Iudex. Fourteen canons walked, verbatim Vatican English with Companion commentary — jurisdiction, tribunal, libellus, citation, proofs, sentence, appeal, briefer process, documentary, super rato, presumed death.

Read the canons →

Pope Francis · Motu Proprio · 15 Aug 2015 · in force 8 Dec 2015

Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus — The reform of the process

The 2015 reform: preamble, the eight fundamental criteria, and the Ratio procedendi articles that authorize the briefer process and the single executive sentence. Verbatim Vatican English with Companion commentary for the petitioner.

Read the motu proprio →

PCLT · Instruction · 25 Jan 2005

Dignitas Connubii — The instruction for tribunals

The Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts' 308-article instruction. Selected articles on the libellus, witnesses, experts, publication of the acts, and the standard of moral certitude — read after Mitis Iudex.

Read the instruction →

Pope Benedict XVI · Apostolic Exhortation · 22 Feb 2007

Sacramentum Caritatis §§27–29 — The Eucharist, indissolubility, and the divorced-and-remarried

Benedict XVI's three-paragraph teaching on the Eucharist as the nuptial sacrament, the unicity of marriage, and the Eucharistic situation of the divorced-and-remarried — with explicit papal endorsement of the marriage tribunal as the institutional pastoral response. Verbatim Vatican English with Companion commentary on which of the three sacramental categories applies to your present state.

Read the exhortation →

Pope St. John Paul II · Apostolic Exhortation · 22 Nov 1981

Familiaris Consortio §84 — Pastoral care of the divorced-and-remarried

The 1981 parent text of the modern magisterial teaching on the divorced and the divorced-and-remarried — the three categories (unjustly abandoned / gravely culpable / conscience-conviction case), the Eucharistic discipline with both reasons named, the path of return through Penance and "brother and sister" continence, the prohibition on quasi-sacramental ceremonies. Verbatim Vatican English in eight natural paragraphs with Companion commentary, read alongside CCC §§1650–1651 and Sacramentum Caritatis §29.

Read the exhortation →

Diagnostic · CIC cann. 1095–1108

Canonical grounds — which ones may apply

The nine substantive grounds of marriage nullity, one at a time. Verbatim canon text, plain-English summary, applicability self-checks, and a printable summary of the grounds you flag — to bring to the first meeting with the tribunal.

Walk the grounds →

If a negative sentence just landed — open the crisis protocol

If the sentence today was negative — or the appeal failed

Read this slowly. Once. Then close it and do one thing.

What the Church actually says

A negative sentence does not say you lied. It does not say the suffering of your marriage was not real. It says the tribunal did not find moral certainty (CIC 1983, can. 1608 §1) that the consent given was canonically defective at the moment of the wedding. The presumption of validity stood (can. 1060). That is a legal finding about a moment in time, not a verdict on you.

What you can still do

You retain the right to appeal — to the Metropolitan tribunal in first instance, to the Rota in second (can. 1628). The term is 15 useful days from the notification of the sentence (can. 1630 §1). Speak to your advocate, or the judicial vicar, before that term lapses.

You retain access to the sacraments. A negative sentence does not impose any sacramental penalty. You may continue to receive Communion as you have throughout the process. The pastoral question of remarriage civilly is a separate one, and a separate conversation with your confessor.

What to do tonight

One Hail Mary. One Memorare. The compline psalms if you have them. Sleep — the brain processes grief in REM, not in vigils.

Tomorrow, one phone call: to your advocate if you have one, to the judicial vicar's office if you do not, to your pastor if neither. Not to argue. To ask: what is the next canonical step, and when must it be taken?

This is not the end. The Church has more roads than this one. The Companion will walk the appeal phase with you if you take it.

Sources: Codex Iuris Canonici (1983) can. 1060 (presumption of validity), can. 1608 §1 (moral certainty), can. 1628 (right of appeal), can. 1630 §1 (term for appeal). Memorare attributed to St. Bernard of Clairvaux; compline psalms 4, 91, 134 per the Liturgia Horarum.

— Brotherhood Pass —

The other deeper-formation tools

Three more tools live under your Brotherhood Pass. Each is daily. Each is built on primary sources. Each prints to paper for the half-hour with the confessor or the accountability brother.

— Daily rule —

Rule of Life Builder

Your personal monthly rule across the duties of state. Liturgical-day aware. Daily readings from the Rule of St. Benedict, the Imitation of Christ, and Lumen Gentium IV.

Open the builder →

— The father's post —

Priest of the Home

The father as priest of the domestic church. Daily blessing, table prayer, formation discipline. Reads the Catechism, Familiaris Consortio, the Roman Ritual, and the 1983 Code on parental duty.

Stand at the post →

— The daily fight —

Fight Club Companion

The fight for chastity, daily. Trigger watch, sacramental anchor, examen, crisis protocol. Reads Theology of the Body, Augustine's Confessions VIII, the Catechism's Sixth and Ninth Commandments.

Open today's plan →

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CIC 1671–1707 · Mitis Iudex (2015) · Dignitas Connubii (2005) · Sacramentum Caritatis §§27–29 · Familiaris Consortio §84 · Sanctum tools