Absence of Faith and Validity of the Marriage: Basic Principles

The article aims to elucidate how the validity of marriage may be impacted by the absence of faith and the social context. The International Theological Commission (ITC) proposes an indirect identification of marital intention with personal faith, sees the identity between the conjugal bond and the sacrament of matrimony as nonessential, and opts for the elimination of the favor matrimonii where there is a lack of faith. The perspective of the ITC is limited by the fact that its approach does not take into account the relationship between nature and grace, nor the mutual correspondence between natural and positive divine law. The references to recta intentio by the Magisterium and in doctrine relate to two human phenomena that are not clearly distinguished in this regard: that which intervenes in consensus, and the ratio naturalis of the human essence, which is prior and superior to the former. The author proposes the notion of ratio naturalis as a basis for the validity of marriage in the absence of faith.