With the completion of the Synod on the Family coming next month, Pope Francis has moved to take one item more or less off the table. In the Extraordinary Synod that kicked off the yearlong debate within the Catholic Church on outreach to broken families, a conflict arose around proposals to allow divorced and remarried Catholics to remain in communion regardless of whether they received dispensation to remarry through an annulment. The pontiff issued two changes to the annulment process that may have short-circuited those efforts from the bishops in Germany:

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Francis’ biggest reform involves a new fast-track procedure, handled by a bishop, that can be used when both spouses request an annulment or don’t oppose it. It can also be used when other proof makes a more drawn-out investigation unnecessary.

It calls for the process to be completed within 45 days.

Another reform is the removal of the appeal that automatically took place after the first decision was made, even if none of the parties wanted it. An appeal is still possible, but one of the parties must request it — a simplification that was used in the United States for many years.

The reform also allows the local bishop, in places where the normally required three-judge tribunal isn’t available, to be the judge himself or to delegate the handling of the cases to a priest-judge with two assistants.

That measure is aimed at providing Catholic couples with recourse to annulments in poorer parts of the world, or places where the church doesn’t have the resources or manpower to have fully functioning tribunals.

The Associated Press notes that conservative bishops proposed tightening the annulment procedures, but that clearly wasn’t a popular idea in last October’s Extraordinary Synod. Conservatives instead focused on protecting the traditional Catholic teaching on sacramental marriage and the prohibition of recognizing remarriage after having already entered into a previous sacramental union. Rather than tighten the annulment process, it became clear that bishops opposed to German proposals to treat marriage more in line with the Orthodox churches (which allow remarriage) would focus instead on making the annulment process less burdensome, especially for the poor — although some conservatives balked at that approach, too.

Francis appears to have gone along with this line of thinking. As John Allen points out at Crux, this not only removes some of the impetus for the German proposals, it also makes the questions of divorce and communion more or less moot in the upcoming Ordinary Synod:

Last October, the matter of whether the traditional ban on Communion for Catholics who divorce and remarry outside the Church ought to be softened was the hot-button issue par excellence, with cardinals and other senior leaders exchanging barbed commentary and activist groups on both sides egging them on.

All along, reform in the annulment process seemed the most obvious compromise measure, a way of giving both camps at least part of what they wanted. Those opposed to revising the Communion ban could take comfort that the Church was not softening its stand on divorce, while progressives would be pleased that the Church was at least trying to show greater compassion and outreach.

By implementing the compromise in advance, Francis has not quite resolved the Communion debate, but he’s made it less burning. He’s also ensured that the synod won’t get bogged down debating what a hypothetical annulment reform might look like, because it’s now a fait accompli.

As I wrote in my reporting at the time at the Extraordinary Synod for Hot Air (and for our partner in that coverage, Catholic Match Institute), most of the news media missed this nuance. They spent more time speculating on whether Pope Francis would recognize same-sex marriage than on the real fight over this exact point. And John is right; it was obvious at the time that the solution would be to streamline the annulment process and make it more available around the world, especially in poorer areas. By encouraging people in broken relationships to trust that the Church would provide support and mercy through this process, many of the bishops felt that they could better reach the children in such families and keep them within the faith. That’s what this debate was really about.

By the way, just as with the dispensation for priests to bring those who have had abortions back into full communion, this will have almost no immediate impact in the United States. The US already has the most well-developed annulment model in the world. Although it certainly will certainly become more efficient with these reforms, every American diocese (or nearly so) has an annulment tribunal and relative accessibility for Catholics. Most dioceses in other countries, especially developing countries, do not. This reform will have a far greater impact there, and the hope is that it will welcome large numbers of people who feel as though they have been marginalized back into the Church.

It’s interesting to see Pope Francis cut through the process in this manner. Why not wait for the bishops to make this decision next month? John Allen figures that Francis wants this more or less off the table so that the Synod can focus instead on practical methods to improve catechesis and service on Catholic family teachings. That was, after all, the stated purpose of the Extraordinary Synod in the first place. Perhaps, or it may also be that the reaction to the German proposals looked stronger a year later and Francis wants to avoid an acrimonious split next month by making the question moot. Either way, the only surprise in this is the method by which Pope Francis implemented it.

Addendum: How will conservative Catholics greet this change? Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, says “Amen!”

“I welcome today’s announcement by Pope Francis about the annulment process.

“The Church teaches that what God has joined, nobody may separate. The ‘annulment’ process is not about breaking the marriage bond, but rather discerning whether the conditions were there in the first place for it to come about. And if they weren’t, then we should find out as quickly as possible.

“So many who want to be married in the Church are discouraged by the annulment process as it now stands. What was announced today is not a change in teaching, but an effort to help people live Church teaching and reconcile to the Church more quickly. To that, we can all say ‘Amen!’ “

And noted conservative John-Henry Westen, founder of LifeSiteNews and Voice of the Family, agrees that this firmly establishes the indissolubility of sacramental marriage:

The public confusion over the Synod somehow okaying divorce is over. The Pope has definitively said today that marriage is ‘indissoluble’ meaning that it is permanent till death.  He made annulments — declarations that the marriage was invalid from the start — easier and faster to determine and eliminated the cost for such deliberations. But the most important thing to remember here is that he’s reaffirmed that as far as God and the Church are concerned divorce and remarriage is never an option.

I suspect we’ll mostly see this reaction, and few shouts of dissent, from conservatives.