In the canon law of the Catholic Church, a vetitum (Latin for "a prohibited thing") is a prohibition, in the form of a precept, imposed by an ecclesiastical judge on a particular individual, in connection with declaring the nullity of marriage, that prevents him or her from contracting another marriage, at least until the cause of the nullity of the first marriage has ceased. [1] A vetitum prohibits marriage in the Catholic Church until the prohibition is removed. [1]
The canon law of the Catholic Church is the system of laws and legal principles made and enforced by the hierarchical authorities of the Catholic Church to regulate its external organization and government and to order and direct the activities of Catholics toward the mission of the Church. It was the first modern Western legal system and is the oldest continuously functioning legal system in the West, while the unique traditions of Oriental canon law govern the 23 Eastern Catholic particular churches sui iuris.
Ecclesiastical Latin, also called Church Latin, Liturgical Latin or Italian Latin, is a form of Latin initially developed to discuss Christian thought and later used as a lingua franca by the Medieval and Early Modern upper class of Europe. It includes words from Vulgar Latin and Classical Latin re-purposed with Christian meaning. It is less stylized and rigid in form than Classical Latin, sharing vocabulary, forms, and syntax, while at the same time incorporating informal elements which had always been with the language but which were excluded by the literary authors of classical Latin. Its pronunciation is based on Italian.
The term describes a prohibition against a particular behavior or action that is affixed to a party whose marriage was declared found to have been null in a declaration of nullity from a matrimonial tribunal of the Catholic Church. This prohibition or directive may involve one or both of the parties. A vetitum is imposed to delay the celebration of a future marriage until a given condition has been fulfilled or addressed. Thus, the pastoral purpose of a vetitum is to help an individual and/or a couple address the underlying problems that led to the breakdown of a former marriage union. At times a recommendation or a warning (a monitum ) may also be made by the tribunal which processes a formal petition for nullity. [1]
In the Catholic Church, a declaration of nullity, commonly called an annulment and less commonly a decree of nullity, is a judgment on the part of an ecclesiastical tribunal determining that a marriage was invalidly contracted or, less frequently, a judgment determining that ordination was invalidly conferred.
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with approximately 1.3 billion baptised Catholics worldwide as of 2017. As the world's oldest continuously functioning international institution, it has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilisation. The church is headed by the Bishop of Rome, known as the pope. Its central administration, the Holy See, is in the Vatican City, an enclave within the city of Rome in Italy.
Marriage in the Catholic Church, also called matrimony, is the "covenant by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring", and which "has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament between the baptised." Catholic matrimonial law, based on Roman law regarding its focus on marriage as a free mutual agreement or contract, became the basis for the marriage law of all European countries, at least up to the Reformation.
