Who needs a declaration of nullity?
The Catholic Church teaches that it is the consent of the parties that creates the marital bond. Therefore, whenever two people have exchanged marital consent, the Church has to look into the matter to see if a valid marriage bond has been formed. This is regardless of whether the parties were Catholic or non-Catholic, baptized or non-baptized, married in a religious ceremony or married in a civil ceremony. If a person has been married and divorced more than once, additional inquiries will need to be made, either by the Tribunal or the Office for Canonical Services.
