Can a Catholic who knows that he or she is sterile nevertheless validly contract marriage within the Church if the spouse-to-be knows the situation?
Fr. Rocky: Sterility is not
an impediment for marriage, but “antecedent and perpetual impotence” is
(Canon 1084). The two are often confused.If the spouse-to-be
knows about the other person’s sterility, the two can contract marriage
validly. However, if the sterile spouse hides the fact of sterility from
the other or the non-sterile spouse is in error about that quality,
such deception or error could be grounds for declaring the marriage null
according to Canon 1097.2: “Error about a quality of the person, even
though it be the reason for the contract, does not render a marriage
invalid unless this quality is directly and principally intended.”
Also,
Canon 1098: “A person contracts invalidly who enters marriage inveigled
by deceit, perpetrated in order to secure consent, concerning some
quality of the other party, which of its very nature can seriously
disrupt the partnership of conjugal life.”
