I saw the headlines and went ballistic.

“Pope Francis Seeks Easier Way for Catholics to End Marriages”

“Pope Francis Simplifies Marriage Annulments with New Fast-track Process”

There were others as bad and these. They are all grossly misleading.

There is nothing easy about ending a marriage and there is no fast-track to annulment. Not even with the Apostolic Letters motu proprio, or “on his own impulse” just issued by Pope Francis.

One of the letters, Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus,  “The Lord Jesus, Clement Judge,” reforms the Code of Canon Law governing the Latin Church, while the other, Mitis et misericors Iesus or “Clement and merciful Jesus,” reforms the Code of Canon Law for Oriental Churches.

In general, both letters lessen the time and cost required for annulments. They also allow the local bishop to judge annulment cases himself or to delegate the responsibility to a priest-judge with two assistants in places where the normally required three-judge tribunal isn't available. That’s not so much the case in the United States, but it’s not uncommon in other countries.

Neither document in any way questions the indissolubility of marriage, nor do they offer a free ticket for those wanting to take the A Train out of it.

Annulling a marriage is not the same as ending (as in divorce). Divorce is the civil dissolution of the marriage, for which the state issues a license. Rather, the annulment process is a discernment and judgment (based on gathered information and testimony) of whether the marriage was valid in the first place.

There’s an important difference.

When a person enters into a Catholic marriage without fully understanding what they are undertaking – for example, not understanding or accepting its sacramentality – then the marriage is not valid. Likewise, the marriage is invalid when a person marries without accepting the possibility of children.

There are other reasons, and these things, sadly, happen more often than we realize. And they happen to faithful, loving Catholics who enter marriage with their heads on straight but whose spouses are not on the same page.

I’ve seen this, not in my own marriage, but in the marriages of friends and relatives.

In the two most heart-breaking cases, the individuals – one man, and one woman – were left with small children when their spouses abruptly left the marriages. This was against their will and in spite of their dedication to making the marriage work.

Also in both cases, it became clear (for reasons I can’t share) that the marriages on the part of the spouses were not valid from the get-go.

In the one case, after seven years of marriage and two children, the woman’s husband admitted to long-term infidelity, the presence of a child with another woman, and the curt explanation that he never loved her in the first place.

For folks such as these, I’m grateful that the annulment process will be made less complicated and costly. They did not choose to leave the marriage; it was foisted on them by spouses who insincerely entered into the marriage.

The Holy Father’s reform of the annulment process is not so much about changing Catholic doctrine (it doesn’t), but about finding a more merciful way to deal with those caught up in the turbulent of humanity’s brokenness.

Absolutely, we must remain resolute about the sacramentality, indissolubility, and life-giving nature of marriage.

Absolutely, we must do all that is possible (and a whole lot more could be done, in my view) to properly prepare couples for marriage. Added to that, those of us who are married must live our marriages in joy and holy witness for others.

Absolutely, we must make annulment more accessible for those who rightly merit it so that they can stay and remain within the Church.

I think most of us will view Pope Francis’ changes to the annulment process from our US perspective. While it’s no skip in the park, it’s easier in this country to obtain an annulment than it is in certain others. Tribunals are more common here, whereas in other areas they may be scarce. I believe it’s the other countries that Pope Francis has in mind by issuing Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus.

Pope Francis isn’t making it easier for Catholics to end marriages. In fact, he’s repeatedly spoken to the opposite, calling for greater support of engaged and married couples and families.

That’s what we have to keep in mind as those ridiculous headlines come tumbling in.