Jus novum (c. 1140-1563) Jus novissimum (c. 1563-1918) Jus codicis (1918-present) Other Sacraments Sacramentals Sacred places Sacred times Supra-diocesan/eparchal structures Particular churches Juridic persons Philosophy, theology, and fundamental theory of Catholic canon law Clerics Office Juridic and physical persons Associations of the faithful Pars dynamica (trial procedure) Canonization Election of the Roman Pontiff Academic degrees Journals and Professional Societies Faculties of canon law Canonists Institute of consecrated life Society of apostolic life In Catholic canon law, natural marriage is the covenant "by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring".
It is distinguished from a sacramental or Christian marriage, in which the two parties involved are baptized.
Examples of such baptisms considered invalid are those of the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses.
If no Catholic is involved, the only impediments that apply are impediments affecting the very definition of marriage (such as if consent, diversity of sex, ability to consummate the marriage are lacking, or in the presence of an already existing marriage bond) and impediments that are considered part of natural law (such as a father-daughter relationship).
In these cases, which require intervention by the Holy See, the Church admits real divorce, actual dissolution of a valid marriage, as distinct from the granting by merely human power of a divorce that, according to Catholic theology, does not really dissolve the marriage bond.