First: Types of Kinship in Canon Law

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III explains that kinship preventing marriage is divided into three categories: natural kinship (blood relations), affinity by marriage, and spiritual kinship, which includes adoption and baptism.

Second: Natural Kinship (Blood Relations)

Blood kinship is divided into ascending kinship (parents and grandparents), descending kinship (children and grandchildren), and collateral kinship (siblings, uncles, and similar relations). All these forms in roots and branches are completely forbidden in Church marriage.

Third: Collateral Kinship and Its Limits

Marriage between siblings, uncles, aunts, and their equivalents is prohibited because it leads to confusion of lineage. Medical evidence is also cited regarding the harm of repeated close-kin marriages.

Fourth: Affinity and the Unity of the Spouses

The core principle is that husband and wife become one body; therefore, the relatives of one become relatives of the other. Consequently, marriage with a mother-in-law, sister-in-law, brother’s wife, or uncle’s wife is forbidden, even after the death of a spouse.

Fifth: Previous Marriages and Children

If either spouse has children from a previous marriage, they are considered children of the other spouse by law, and marriage between them is forbidden as it would be considered marriage between siblings or between parents and children.

Sixth: The Principle of Confusion of Lineage

His Holiness emphasizes that any marriage which causes confusion in family relationships or kinship terms is considered canonically forbidden, regardless of outward justifications.

Seventh: Spiritual Kinship (Baptism and Adoption)

In baptism, the godparent is considered a spiritual father or mother to the baptized child. Marriage between spiritual children and the godparent’s biological children is forbidden. Adoption likewise establishes full kinship equivalent to natural kinship.

Eighth: Law and Conscience

These principles are not merely written laws but are rooted in natural law and human conscience, which recognized prohibitions even before the Law of Moses. Ignorance of the law does not remove the fault.

Ninth: The Spiritual Purpose of These Restrictions

The lecture concludes that these canons protect chastity within the household, prevent moral confusion, and affirm that marriage is a holy sacrament that must be entered into with clarity and purity before God and the Church.

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