Catholic Church allows divorce

How would Europe and Christianity have developed had the Catholic Church allowed divorce? It's allowed in Judaism, after all.
 
Matthew 5:39

Never stopped the Church from endorsing or leading wars or persecutions.

Look at usury- it was banned for hundreds of years, but dropped when the social pressure for making money became too strong.

And of course many Protestants who consider themselves followers of sola scriptura sanction divorce.
 
England might have followed a different path which has massive ramifications for the settlement of North America. Outside of England I am not sure it matters as much. Divorce was just one of many issues that led to the reformation and so forth.
 

Nocrazy

Banned
Actually, it's not that divorce isn't allowed, it has to be anulled by a bishop. You can be legally divorced, but annulment is where the church accepts that the marriage is no longer valid.
 
Actually, it's not that divorce isn't allowed, it has to be anulled by a bishop. You can be legally divorced, but annulment is where the church accepts that the marriage is no longer valid.

An annulment and a divorce are very different things. An annulment says the marriage was NEVER valid. The process of seeking one includes interviews and statements regarding the nature of the relationship of the two parties and includes those who witnessed the wedding and those who were a part of their life. So, if you were married 30 years ago, it involves getting people in your life from 30 years ago to facilitate the process.
 

jahenders

Banned
True, divorce was only one of many things leading to the reformation, and arguably not a primary catalyst.

As far as England, the problem of divorce (ala Henry VIII) did lead, more or less, directly to the separation of the Church of England from Rome. By that point, reformation had already been ongoing in continental Europe for a couple decades. The break in England brought them more in-line with what was happening elsewhere.

If the Catholic Church had allowed divorce (in general, or just in Henry's case), England might not have split off the Church. Eventually, reformation concepts would have taken greater hold in England anyway, but it might have been a different sect. So, perhaps you have England eventually becoming Lutheran instead of Church of England or, perhaps, it develops its own Protestant faith that's less based on Catholicism and more based on Lutheran.

England might have followed a different path which has massive ramifications for the settlement of North America. Outside of England I am not sure it matters as much. Divorce was just one of many issues that led to the reformation and so forth.
 
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