Pope Francis made changes to the annulment process that Catholic officials are saying make it easier for parish couples.

The pontiff recently announced plans to adjust the annulment process by eliminating automatic appeals to higher church courts, among other things to quicken the process.

The new process is expected to take effect Dec. 8, the same day as the start of Pope Francis' Year of Mercy.

In 2014, the pope called the current process “long” and “burdensome,” and he said “people give up.”

Philip Farrell, Episcopal vicar for Pastoral Vicariate Region 4 and priest director, said the changes will make the process “as painless as possible.”

“I'm happy to see that the pope has considered the fact that the process can be long and that he wants to shorten it for the sake of helping couples,” he said.

The changes are a result of the Vatican's collection of input from dioceses around the world over a year ago on what could be done to improve the annulment process.

Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik said the new process does not change church teaching about marriage, but it “streamlines the procedures for determining whether such a covenant existed.”

He said, “The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh has long been committed to helping divorced Catholics through the annulment process and earlier this year dropped all fees for annulment petitions.

“We rejoice in this new opportunity to help people untangle the difficult knots in their lives and move forward in the love and peace of Christ.”

These are changes that go with the new announcement:

n If you live in a diocese, that diocese is automatically able to hear the case for annulment.

n The automatic appeal to a higher church court has been eliminated.

n Overall, the new rules entrust more responsibility to the local bishop and his diocese to make decisions in marriage cases.

n If a former spouse wants to file a personal appeal, it must first go to a higher church court in the Conference of Bishops — the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for cases in Pittsburgh — before it can be appealed to Rome.

n While three judge panels are still allowed, it will be normal practice to have one judge and two “assessors.” An assessor is someone who has canonical training and offers an opinion on particular cases.

n Under certain circumstances, the diocesan bishop may serve as sole judge.

n In addition to the existing process for hearing annulments, there will be a shortened process for cases in which proof of the allegation of nullity is clearly “evident.”

Tom Kunz, diocese vicar for canonical services, said the changes are an extension of the church's “merciful arms” to people.

“It's a great gesture by the Holy Father,” Kunz said.

Kunz, who works with canon law and has worked in the marriage tribunal, said it will take some time to get the new process going, but overall it will make things easier.

“It shows the church is willing to help people and address issues people have,” he said. “Whatever we can do to help people is the impression it should give.”

With the current process, people have to fill out 20-page questionnaires and from there would wait a year before the process was complete.

Earlier this year, a $600 fee the Diocese of Pittsburgh charged was eliminated to make annulments more accessible.

Farrell said the new changes are a part of Pope Francis' desire to “extend the mercy of Christ to everybody” and have people feel the “reality of Christ's presence in their lives.”

“It's one more step in saying the church is not meant to be monolithic or dictatorial by any means,” Farrell said. “We take what we do seriously, but at the same time we don't want to make it so burdensome that folks feel as if they're not loved by God.”