NEWS

The Pope Urges Lawyers to Avoid Divorce Cases.

Roman Catholic lawyers should refuse to handle divorce cases, Pope John Paul has said. He said divorce was "spreading like a plague" through society, and lawyers should refuse to be part of the "evil". His comments came during an annual meeting with Vatican magistrates. "Lawyers, who work freely, should always decline to use their professions for an end that is contrary to justice, like divorce," the Pope said. The full BBC news text is found here.

I wonder, however, how the Pope finds the unique Philippine situation regarding this issue. Being a predominantly Catholic country, Philippine law does not allow divorce. Instead, it allows the declaration of nullity of a marriage due to the "psychological incapacity" of one or both of the spouses to fulfill the obligations of marriage. The ground is based on canon law. However, the application in Philippine courts has been often corrupted where the ground doesn't really exist but lawyers, judges and psychiatrists connive with each other and the spouses to make it appear that it does exist and thus warrant the declaration of nullity of the marriage.