Divorce emerged again as an issue in the West with the Protestant Reformation. At first Martin Luther allowed it only in cases of adultery of one of the spouses or desertion for at least ten years. He later widened the grounds, as did other Lutheran writers. John Calvin, on the other hand, consistently restricted the grounds for divorce to adultery and desertion. The Council of Trent (1545-1563) was convoked to formulate a Catholic response to the challenges of the Protestant Reformation, including the challenge to Catholic teaching on marriage permanence.253 A first draft presented to the fathers of the Council would have simply defined as an article of faith that marriages that are both ratum and consummatum are indissoluble, any contrary opinion being declared heretical. The bishops of Venice and surrounding dioceses, territorially close to predominantly Orthodox countries, were sensitive to the fact that, in the long and sometimes rancorous history of relations between the two, the Catholic Church had never declared an Orthodox Church to be in heresy. Such a declaration would be a formidable obstacle to eventual reunion. If the proposed formulation were passed by the council, the Catholic Church would apparently imply that the Orthodox Churches are in heresy in allowing divorce. An altered wording was presented and accepted by the 24th session of the Council of Trent, November, 1563, becoming the official and de fide teaching of the Catholic Church. The statement in question is complicated by the fact that it is phrased negatively. It describes a particular position and then, by the concluding phrase, "let him be anathema", indicates that anyone holding that position is in heresy. A further complication arises from the attempt to avoid a direct condemnation of Orthodox belief. If anyone declares the Church to be in error when it taught and teaches, according to the evangelical and apostolic doctrine, that the bond of matrimony cannot be dissolved 253
See Bruns, B., Ehescheidung und Wiederheirat im Fall von Ehebruch, Munchen-Paderborn-Wien, Schoningh, 1976; Fransen, Piet, "Divorce on the ground of adultery - the Council of Trent" in The Future of Marriage, Concilium no. 55, ed. by Franz Bockle, New York, Seabury, 1970, pp. 89-100; Huizing, P., "La dissolution du mariage depuis le concile de Trente" Revue de Droit Canonique 21(1971) 127-146; Pelland, G., "De contextu canonis Tridentini et argumente traditionis de divortio" Periodica de re morali canonica liturgica 63(1974) 509-534.
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