Pope Francis Enacts New Church Reforms
KINKADE: Welcome back. Pope Francis is simplifying the process for Catholics how want to annul their marriages. The changes are expected to speed up a process the pope has previously called "long and burdensome." It's all part of the pope's push for the Catholic Church to become more welcoming. Let's bring in our Vatican correspondent, Delia Gallagher, for more on all of this. And Delia, it seems in short that the annulment of marriage will now take less time and cost less. What is the Vatican doing?</s>DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Lynda. Those were the two major complaints, let's say, about the annulment process. It could take anywhere from one to five years to get an annulment. And the cost involved could be from a couple hundred dollars to a couple thousand dollars. So what the Vatican announced today is that the pope says the process should be free with the exception of some nominal charges for administration because there are, of course, people who work in the church tribunals. The way the annulment process happens is it starts at the local level in what they call a diocese in a tribunal there. And what normally has happened is that there are two grades of --</s>GALLAGHER: -- let's say, trying to decide and judge what the verdict will be. So those two tribunals, both needed to independently look at the case. What the pope has done, in order to streamline the process, is get rid of one of those tribunals. So the process will obviously be shortened now by saying that the verdict of the first tribunal of the case of the annulment can stand. In addition, the pope has added a kind of fast track which is put under the direct responsibility of the bishop in cases, which he says are more evident, where it is obvious that the annulment should be granted, for example, the brevity of the marriage, if there was coercion at the time of the wedding, if there was an extramarital relationship, for example, at the time of the wedding. So those are a couple of the major changes that the pope has instituted today to help streamline this annulment process -- Lynda.</s>KINKADE: So, Delia, when will these changes all come into effect? And isn't it expected that this will lead to an increase in couples who are struggle with their marriages to seek an annulment?</s>GALLAGHER: It comes into effect on December 8th. That is the beginning of the Year of Mercy that Pope Francis has wanted for some time, to bring people back into the church. The thing about annulments is it's not really directed at people who are necessarily married, it's directed at people who are already divorced and who want to get remarried in the Catholic Church. Because the problem is you can't get remarried until you have an annulment. This topic has been discussed for the last year, quite hotly debated here at the Vatican and will be discussed again in October, about giving communion to people who are in this situation, that they have not bothered to get an annulment because, again, they thought it was costly and time- consuming. But they're in a new relationship and in some cases they want to get married again in the Catholic Church. So these people are in a kind of irregular situation. They are not allowed to receive communion at the moment and the debate is should we give them communion, should we not give them communion? By making these changes to the annulment prices, they are able to get around this because they say you can now get an annulment; annul your first marriage, which, in some cases, happened 10-20 years ago, then you are free to have another Catholic marriage and then you can receive communion. Receiving communion, of course, is important because it's a sign of your good standing, as it were, with the Catholic Church -- Lynda.</s>KINKADE: OK, Delia Gallagher, we'll leave it there for now. Thank you for that update. Still to come here at the INTERNATIONAL DESK, Hungary is struggling to deal with a massive flux of refugees. They want to head west to Germany and Austria which is now pledging to improve conditions for asylum seekers. We'll have the details on that at the IDESK, just ahead. Also ahead, the dentist who killed Cecil the lion is back in the public spotlight. What he faced on his return to work when we come back.