Love Builds Communion between Persons (UUS, n. 21): Christological-Ecclesiological Key to Confirm the Identity of Marriages of Baptised Non-Catholics

The words derived from the Ut unum sint encyclical as well as the fruits of the newest research by theologians (among others the members of the International Theological Commission) on the meaning of the Catechism formula of Christian Marriage: “the Sacrament of Faith in the Service of Communion” — became an inspiration to attempt to verify the assumptions confirming the sacramental Identity of Marriages of Baptised Non-Catholics. The author assumes that the today’s challenge for the study of canon law should be to explore more the subject matter of the “the mystery of communion” (UUS, n. 5) in all the complexity of its detailed issues, including the development of relevant conclusions in the canonical (lawmaking) and canonical-pastoral (application of the law) spheres. This is in the name of the rule that church legislation, especially in clarifying key/systemic issues — and among such is the issue of the universality of Bellarmine’s principle of eo ipso sacramentum — is always based on the widely adopted theological foundations.