Reuters cites the Roman Rota’s annual report on annulment appeals:
Smoke got in his eyes. Too much of it, so he asked the Roman Catholic Church to annul his marriage when his wife refused to kick the nicotine habit.
That is just one of the, well, hazy cases that wound up before the
Vatican’s Sacra Romana Rota, a top court which hears the most complicated of marriage annulment requests. […]
In the case of the non-smoking husband, the health and physical fitness enthusiast asked his girlfriend to marry him on condition she would eventually quit smoking.
She said yes and after they tied the knot she tried her best but her addiction was stronger than her and the marriage went up in smoke — at least from the husband’s point of view.
A first diocesan marriage tribunal granted him the annulment but a second tribunal overturned that decision. They are still married in the eyes of the Church and the case is now before the Vatican’s Rota.
Hey, Pete, what do you think of this one? Is it even possible for someone to validly vow marriage when his or her consent depends on a future condition?
No. Sacraments are contracted in the present, not the future. Thus no marriage can be validly contracted based upon the future fulfillment of a condition.
Therefore, if all the witnesses could be lined up and the case could be proved with moral certitude, then this marriage would be invalid in my opinion.
Jesus said divorce was allowed in the old Mosaic covenant not because God likes divorce, in fact he hates it, but because of hardness of the heart.
Seems to me this guy has a hardened heart, and it seems his annulment application is rooted in same.