Pope Francis announced reforms Tuesday aimed at simplifying and speeding up the Roman Catholic Church's procedure for marriage annulments.<br />A new law, issued Tuesday from the Vatican in Rome, involves a fast-track process that will be handled directly by bishops.<br />An annulment is a ruling that a marriage is not valid because certain conditions are not being met, such as free choice, psychological maturity and willingness to have children.<br />The Roman Catholic Church does not recognize divorce.<br />Currently, annulments are reviewed by a series of Church tribunals that are subsequently referred, in the event of disagreement, to a Vatican court.
