Filipino bishops urge nation to ‘take a little more time’ before legalizing civil divorce

Filipino newlyweds dance in the street during a reception in Baleno town, Masbate island province in the central Philippines, April 15, 2007. / Credit: ROMEO GACAD/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Staff, Jul 12, 2024 / 13:40 pm (CNA).

The bishops of the Philippines this week are urging their fellow citizens to move slowly and carefully as the country considers legalizing civil divorce for the first time in its history. 

The country is one of the most Catholic-heavy nations in the world, with nearly 80% of its population practicing Roman Catholicism. It is the only nation in the world, other than the Vatican, where divorce is still outlawed.

Lawmakers there have repeatedly attempted to legalize divorce in recent years. The legislation most recently passed the country’s House of Representatives in May and is currently under consideration in the Senate. 

In a lengthy statement on Thursday, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines acknowledged that the nation was “the last country in the world that has not yet legalized civil divorce.” 

The Catholic Church is “in no position to dictate on the state what is best for Filipino families,” the statement claims. “We know that our stubborn assertion that a genuine marriage cannot be dissolved is not necessarily shared by all religions, and we respect that.”

“But before we join the bandwagon, shouldn’t we ask ourselves, on the basis of research and statistics, if the legalization of divorce all over the world has indeed helped in protecting the common good and the welfare of the family?” they wrote. 

In their letter the bishops urged the country to adhere to the principle of “maghunosdili muna tayo at mag-isip-isip,” which in the Filipino language of Tagalog means “Let’s keep our cool and ask ourselves.”

“Think about the many times your parents had gotten into each other’s nerves and were almost tempted to call it quits,” the prelates wrote. “Think about the number of times your father slept ‘outside the kulambo’ or your mother packed up her things and brought you with her to her parents’ home, because of a misunderstanding between the two of them.” 

“Think about what could have long happened to your own family if civil divorce had already been available when you were much younger, and your parents were going through some serious problems in their relationship,” the prelates said. 

The statement acknowledged that “some marriages might indeed be beyond repair,” but they pointed out that marital crises are a regular part of many marriages from time to time. 

Referring to the high rates of divorce in countries where it is legal, they asked: “Are we sure we want our families to become part of [these] grim statistics?”

The bishops stressed repeatedly that they do not seek to dictate laws and rules on marriage, and that “as spiritual and moral leaders of the Church, we can only propose but never impose.”

Yet they implored the nation to “take a little more time and ask — could there be a reason why we are practically the last remaining country in the world that still has not opted to legalize civil divorce?”

The divorce bill up for consideration would, if passed, “give the opportunity to spouses in irremediably failed marriages” to secure “an absolute divorce decree as an alternative mode for the dissolution of an irreparably broken or dysfunctional marriage.” 

Divorce would be allowed “under limited grounds and well-defined judicial procedures,” the bill states; it would further “grant the divorced spouses the right to marry again for another chance to achieve marital bliss.”