CHAPTER VI

THE CANON LAW AND THE ATTITUDE OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Canon law reaffirms the subjection of women--Women and marriage--Protection to women--Divorce--Cardinal Gibbons on protection of injured wives by Popes--Catholic Church has no divorce--But it allows fourteen reasons for declaring marriage null and void and leaving a husband or wife free to remarry--Some of these explained--Diriment impediments and dispensations--Historical instances of the Roman Church's inconsistency--Attitude towards women at present day--Opinions of Cardinals Gibbon and Moran, and Rev. David Barry and Rev. William Humphrey--Sources