Scandals within religious courts in Lebanon force the Vatican to intervene

In its edition of today, Al Akhbar daily highlighted the extent of administrative corruption within Christian religious courts that take care of divorce-related matters.  The echoes of these seem to have reached the Vatican which has prompted the latter to seriously think of setting up a special court at the Vatican Embassy in Beirut to alleviate the suffering of many Lebanese people. While reporting some of the oppressive rulings of above courts, particularly against women, Al Akhbar revealed a yet far-reaching influence these institutions have with relation to determining the custody of children, size of alimony and the proper aptitudes of either parent, among other powers that normally fall under the jurisdiction of civil courts. Notwithstanding the Vatican’s recommendations to rectify similar abuses, the newspaper unveiled the case of a woman victim who after reporting her grievance to the Holy See prompted the latter to strongly intervene in order to put an end to such mounting transgressions. In this respect, a wealthy man known to have strong relations with religious judges and influential persons at the Patriarchate has filed for divorce to the Maronite religious court. The wife, however, after 16 years together, has refused the ‘termination of the marriage contract’, and firmly opted for separation. Al Akhbar noted that while a similar file takes usually from 2 to 3 years, this special case was closed in a couple of weeks with a ruling in favor of the husband. This, the newspaper maintained, could not have been completed without the personal mediation of the chief of respective court who considered that the wife suffers from ‘irrecoverable mental illness’. In her turn, the wife brought her file and the evidences validating her spouse’s ‘religious’ connections, to Rome. But while the Lebanese religious Court reacts quickly to the recommendation of the Vatican court, this time the Lebanese dragging and stalling, has exacerbated the fears of Rome who is now aware that all pretexts of a slow email or other technical excuses are but deceptions. In conclusion, the newspaper reported that the Papal Seat is intending to forcefully intervene in this case to stop all abuses. (Al Akhbar, July 26, 2016)