NOW that the debate on the absolute divorce bill heads to the Senate, senators must do their duty to represent the majority of Filipinos and not just the people who voted for them or supported them.

All it needed was a visit to the pope in Rome for Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri — not too long ago the Senate president — to forget that, as a member of the legislature, he serves the people, not the Catholic Church.

"Pope Francis asked me to please protect the family, and this is an instruction that I will take to heart," Zubiri said, making it clear that he would bring his "pro-life" and "pro-family" values when the divorce bill comes up for debate.

These loaded terms — they smear anyone on the opposite side of the debate as anti-life or anti-family — were used in an exuberant press release he issued after his visit to the pope, filled with bromides about the importance with which he holds his family and the importance of his faith.

Sadly, this indicates he would likely abdicate his duties and responsibilities as a senator to set aside his own biases and consider each piece of legislation with the rational and levelheaded analysis it deserves. The goal of legislation is not to make Mr. Zubiri a better Catholic but to make life better for the majority of Filipinos.

A group of theologians from Ateneo de Manila University put it well earlier this month when they said the divorce bill now pending in Congress "is a public policy issue, not a religious one."

They also said the Catholic Church should open its eyes to the struggles of married couples and not get in the way of "those who truly need" divorce in the Philippines.

"Having no divorce law in our country does not mean that we are already upholding and promoting the sanctity of marriage," the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven-Ateneo de Manila University (KUL-ADMU) Center for Catholic Theology and Social Justice (CCTSJ) said.

"At the same time, supporting and having a divorce law does not necessarily mean we are endangering the institution of marriage," it added.

"While not ideal, divorce, as contemplated by the authors of the bill, is only for irreparable marriages. Catholics who are in healthy marriages and are against it are not compelled to get one," the theologians said.

"While the Church rightly emphasizes its teachings on marriage and the family, it must not lose sight of the reality of the struggles that many married couples and families experience in their daily lives. We ought not speak of the sacramentality of marriage merely in the abstract but must seriously grapple with its lived reality," they added.

The experiences of many married couples and families are different and far from the ideal — to the extent that there is now a perceived need for divorce in the country.

While many marriages are successful, meaningful and fruitful "because of God's grace and the persevering efforts of married couples to make their relationship work," we cannot deny that there are couples who should never have been married in the first place.

"There are individuals who are incapable of any genuine commitment," the CCTSJ said. "There are even those who have shown themselves to be abusive of both their spouses and children. Sadly, many of those victims of physical, emotional or sexual abuse continue to suffer. They even feel that they need to sacrifice their own happiness for the sake of their children."

"Abusive marriages are not sacramental at all, and they should make us question if it is truly God who has joined them together," the theologians said, noting that many parishes do not have adequate safeguards to prevent those psychologically unprepared and incapable from getting married.

Many women in such difficult marriages find themselves financially and socially vulnerable and lacking in legal support. Church leaders, they said, need to listen to their heartbreaking stories, avoid judgments, and be attentive to how people experience and endure distress because of their condition and learn from them.

The divorce bill ought to make the Church more reflective of its own shortcomings, the theologians conclude.

"Our role as a community for the success of any marriage is indispensable," the CCTSJ said. "When we do our part, marriage can truthfully be a commitment for better and for worse. Divorce ought to be only a last resort, but we must not stand in the way of those who truly need it."

The theologians raise important points that the senators — especially those approaching the issue with a closed mind — must consider before casting their vote.

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