Benedict XIV’s 1743 Encyclical “Inter omnigenas” on divorce and the sacraments

Pope Benedict XIV’s Encyclical Inter omnigenas, February 2, 1743 to the Bishops and people of Serbia and nearby regions.

The Form

It is with pain and sorrow that We have learned that the decrees of the Council of Trent regarding the Sacrament of Matrimony are not observed by certain persons in those regions where the decrees have long since been duly published, as noted in the Council of Albania itself [1703]. While we declare that all the faithful of these regions are bound to observe the above mentioned law, we also declare the so-called marriages contracted in the presence of the Turkish judge or caid, and those not even contracted before a judge but only by the spouses themselves not adhering to the prescriptions of the aforesaid Council of Trent, to be null and void. We command then that those who contract similar null and clandestine marriages, and who, after having contracted them, live together in an illicit concubinage are to be excluded from participation in the Sacraments unless they repent of the past and are united in a proper marriage before the Church.

Prohibition of the Moslem rite

We do not permit the faithful who have duly contracted matrimony, not even if done to remove from women the danger of abduction by the Turks, to renew by proxy the Turkish rite before the caid, unless the

Moslem rite be a purely civil matter, not involving any invocation of Mohammed or any other kind of superstition. The married couple cannot be considered less culpable if they go through this rite by proxy rather than in person; the crime is committed by their authorization or command.

As regards the publication of the banns established by the Council of Trent, We prescribe also that, as is far as possible, this should be done even in Serbia, where it has been said that this practice has not been maintained. In the above-mentioned Council of Albania, in fact, the publications are enjoined upon the parish priests of Serbia, and they have been forbidden the use of the faculty to grant dispensations, except in cases of urgent necessity.

Prohibition of divorce

If the wife of one of the faithful seeks refuge with the Turks, and dares to contract with one of them a sinful union, it is not lawful for the man to take another wife in the place of the one who fled; for matrimony by divine law is indissoluble while both parties are living and it is not dissolved by a crime such as that perpetrated by the wife. Whoever in such a case weds another woman commits adultery, and, if he does not separate himself definitively from her, he is to be excluded from the Sacraments.

What must be said about the salvation of such women, if they do not repent, is obvious to all. As regards Christian women who are abducted forcibly by the Turks and compelled to wed while still children, and who are not regularly united by any valid bond of sacramental faith, but persevere in illicit concubinage with the infidels, We establish the same punishment as has been decreed in the above-mentioned Council of Albania: namely, that they be refused the Sacraments of the Church, in spite of their supposed perseverance in the Christian faith, or the fact that they, while still children, have been subjected to the violence of the Turks; or the fact that they are now regarded by the Turks as the only, or principal and legitimate, wife. These motives do not confer any right to the reception of the Sacraments upon those who continue to live in concubinage and fornication; and they do not give any authority to the priests to administer the Sacrament to such unworthy persons.

Conditions for dispensations.

As regards matrimonial dispensations, let the Bishops and the missionaries of Serbia be on their guard, when using the faculties granted them by this Holy See, against issuing them in a rash manner or in favor of those who do not merit such dispensations; and let them not exceed their authority when granting dispensations. We ordain that no dispensation be granted to those secret Christians, noted above, who simulate the Moslem rites. Indeed, such people, ashamed of Christ, make themselves unworthy of the favors of the Church, which is the Spouse of Christ. Besides, no dispensation may be granted in those cases in which it is foreseen that the marriage will not be celebrated validly and in a holy manner according to the rites of the Catholic Church. In such cases there is no question of dispensation but of dissoluteness and encouragement to incontinence; matters against which a good and prudent minister of Christ is always obliged to guard.

Original Latin: CIC Fontes, I, p. 803 https://archive.org/details/CICF-Gasparri/D-c.i.f.-Vol.2N.1-365-544Gasparri/page/n408/mode/2up?view=theater

English Translation: Papal Teaching, Matrimony, Benedictine Monks of Solesmes, tr., Michael J. Byrnes, Boston, Daughters of St. Paul, 1963