MEXICO CITY (CNS) The Archdiocese of Mexico City expressed disappointment with the recent liberalization of marriage laws in the Mexico City Assembly to allow for "express divorces," which can be approved in less than two hours. The new laws, approved June 30, permits couples to end their marriages quickly so long as their children are of legal age, the wife isn’t pregnant and neither of the spouses is receiving government assistance.
Father Jose de Jesus Aguilar Valdes, director of radio and TV for the Archdiocese of Mexico City, said the new laws promote an easy way out for couples instead of promoting reconciliation.
"This kind of divorce responds only to one of the many necessities that a couple in crisis has," Father Aguilar told Catholic News Service July 1.
The priest questioned why lawmakers facilitated easy divorces instead of dedicating resources to programs and institutions that would work to save marriages.
A coalition of lawmakers from the governing Democratic Revolution Party and its ally, the Labor Party, approved the changes, which Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard was expected to sign into law. The locally powerful party has had a strained relationship with the Archdiocese of Mexico over the past three and a half years, because of votes to decriminalize abortion and approve same-sex marriages.
Opposition lawmakers had suggested imposing a 15-day waiting period for couples anxious to divorce, but that idea was rejected.