Top 10 Costa Rica

More civil ceremonies than Catholic Church weddings

The number of civil marriages that took place in 2008 in Costa Rica almost quadrupled the number of Catholic marriages that were registered.

According to a report unveiled by the Civil Registry, of the 25,302 marriages registered last year, a total of 19,588 (77.41%) were formalized with a lawyer. Meanwhile, only 5318 weddings (21.08%) were officiated by Catholic priests, and the remaining 396 (1.51%) were weddings of nationals celebrated abroad. Moreover, the number of divorces during 2008 in the country was 10,351. That is 600 fewer than in 2007. Catholic marriages have been declining since 1995 and reached their lowest number last year. In 1980, 77 out of every 100 marriages took place before a Catholic priest, while in 1995 it was only 52 out of 100.

Through a press release, the San Jose Metropolitan Parish regretted this situation. It noted that one reason for this drop is the indifference of Costa Ricans to religious affairs and the rejection of the commitments as enduring marriage. ”We must recognize that many couples today prefer civil to religious marriages because of the bad testimony they have seen in their own homes,” says the communiqué. The Curia, however, insisted that the ideal way for the marriage is the Church. For his part, Reinaldo Salazar, president of the Costa Rican Evangelical Alliance, found that a percentage of couples that are joined through civil ceremonies professed evangelical beliefs. ”There are more people within the evangelical group with a greater desire and commitment to marry and it starts with the pastors who are married and then the evangelical matrimonial perspective is greater than the Catholic,” said Salazar.

Jorge Barquero, of the Central Population Center at the University of Costa Rica, noted that these data are part of a changing society. For Barquero, many couples do not see marriage as a value which must be “sealed” with the blessing of a Catholic priest, but that it only needs the proceedings before a court without this removing strength and symbolic value from the union. For that reason, he said, there are a growing number of divorces, free union relationships or people who choose to live single. For Barquero, these trends are increasing. ”It seems that Costa Rica is going through changes in its patterns of social and interpersonal relationships, adopting practices and values that become inconsistent with the traditional concepts of marriage and family,” he added.

It is clear that the traditional concept of marriage has changed dramatically in the country and focusing the analysis on a single religion is not appropriate because freedom of worship in the Costa Rica allows people to choose whether they want a religion and to marry within its principles. Moreover, it is true that more and more people prefer de facto marriages or not to be single but have a partner because this is best. This does not mean serious legal commitments, but they can experience life with a partner and have many years of life together.