As the bride and groom recite their wedding vows, wedding guests could not help but smile at this affirmation of their love for each other. For the Church, this exchange of vows or consent is the indispensable element which “makes the marriage.” Part III, Article 7 of the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” is all about matrimonial consent:
(1625) The parties to a marriage covenant are a baptized man and woman, free to contract marriage, who freely express their consent; “to be free” means:
- not being under constraint;
- not impeded by any natural or ecclesiastical law.
(1626) The Church holds the exchange of consent between the spouses to be the indispensable element that “makes the marriage.” If consent is lacking there is no marriage.
(1627) The consent consists in a “human act by which the partners mutually give themselves to each other”: “I take you to be my wife” – “I take you to be my husband.” This consent that binds the spouses to each other finds its fulfillment in the two “becoming one flesh.”
(1628) The consent must be an act of the will of each of the contracting parties, free of coercion or grave external fear. No human power can substitute for this consent. If this freedom is lacking the marriage is invalid.
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Source:
Catechism of the Catholic Church. From Simbahayan.org. http://www.simbahayan.org/magis-CCCmatriD.html
