Null -def. 2: amounting to nothing; 3: having no value

Pope Francis remained in rare form this week. Responding to questions about the crisis of marriage, the Holy Father responded, “It’s provisional, and because of this the great majority of our sacramental marriages are null." Speaking off the cuff he went on to reference that many young couples just don't know they're saying yes to each other for life, but they can easily say yes to the dress, to bankrupting themselves and their parents with extravagant weddings, to powerful jobs, to money and to shacking up. It's incredible today, how, "...so many couples make such open commitments to homes they cannot afford, or to their dogs and cats while expecting their pet to last longer than their marriage."

Utterly shocked that reporters at various outlets jumped on him faster than a bottle fed tiger cub: like Catholic outlets, the NY Times, and even FOX News called for his resignation; he sat on the side of his bed and thought, "I wonder if anyone heard me say, 'The crisis of marriage is due to the fact that people don't know what the sacrament is, the beauty of the sacrament, they don't know that it is indissoluble, that it is for your entire life.' or that we need to do better marriage prep? Hmmm..."

"I bet it's because I used the word Null." He picked up his cell.

Meanwhile, Fr. Federico Lombardi reached for his phone, looked at the caller ID and quickly switched to his desktop file, "Template_Official Papal Corrections and Clarifications.docx." Caught again in the midst of a memorandum to the caller that yes, indeed, it was Francis' own idea to establish the Secretariat for Communication to oversee communications. "Good morning, yes, your holiness, (pause)... Well no, you didn't say null and void like in the legal sense. I understand it could simply mean if they don't understand the true nature of the sacrament, there is not much value in the vows they profess... (Pause) Well, you did qualify 'many' with great... (Pause) Yes, it seems to have offended a great many... (Chuckles, Pause) Sorry, irony... well, yes, you're trending again. (Pause) Undoubtedly the video with the tiger got more likes, but let me check..."

A portion of the draft of the official Vatican release was sent upstairs for review.