(Maybe this post should be in another sub-forum.)
Am I the only one here that lacks the possibility to chose "divorced" as relationship status in my profile? To me that's something different then being single.
It is different. It is a man-made (civil-legal only) abomination which flies in the Face of God!
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cf. Malachi 2:
13 And this again you do. You cover the LORD’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor at your hand. 14 You ask, “Why does he not?” Because the LORD was witness to the covenant between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Has not the one God made and sustained for us the spirit of life? And what does he desire? Godly offspring. So take heed to yourselves, and let none be faithless to the wife of his youth. 16 “For I hate divorce, says the LORD the God of Israel, and covering one’s garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So take heed to yourselves and do not be faithless.”
CATHOLIC BIBLICAL ASSOCIATION (GREAT BRITAIN), The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Catholic edition (New York 1994) Mal 2:13-16.
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(Catholic Commentary)
§ d 13–16 The Evil of Divorce—13. St Jerome with the ancient Rabbis rightly explained the covering of the altar ‘with tears, with weeping, and with groaning’ as caused by the harsh treatment of husbands divorcing their legitimate Jewish wives. The expression is, of course, metaphorical, as women did not have access to the altar. And this injustice is a further reason why God tells the Jews that he no more regards sacrifice nor accepts ‘it with favor at your hands’. The marriage covenant or contract was sacred and God was a witness how it was kept, as he tells the sinful husband, ‘between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast acted faithlessly’. 15. This verse is obscure and has been variously interpreted. The meaning intended by St Jerome and the DV is this: Did not one and the same God who made man (Adam) make also woman (Eve), and did he not breathe into the first woman of the same breath that he breathed into Adam, Gen 2:7? And what was God’s purpose in uniting the sexes except that they should raise up children to God? As so much of Malachias is in dialogue form, and in particular in the form of objections raised by the Jews, and as moreover a Jew could not fail in this connection to recall the dismissal of Agar by Abraham, it is probable that the prophet’s meaning is: Did not one do this, who yet was not lacking in the spirit of God? (It is perhaps not accidental that Abraham is twice spoken of as ‘one’, Is 51:2; Ez 33:24.) Then the answer is given: ‘But what was that one’s purpose but the seed of God?’ Abraham acted with divine permission in the interest of Isaac, the child of promise, Gen 21:10–12. This agrees better with the following exhortation: ‘Look then to your spirit and deal not faithlessly with the wife of thy youth’. 16. The interpretation of this verse also is difficult. The DV follows that of St Jerome according to which an objection is raised from Deut 24:1 with the answer implying that if God there tolerated divorce it was because of the hardness of men’s hearts. Translate: ‘When a man dismisses (his wife) out of hatred … he covers his garment with injustice’. Therefore ‘take care of your spirit and act not faithlessly’.
SUTCLIFFE, E. F., “Malachias”, A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture (ed. B. ORCHARD – EDMUND F. SUTCLIFFE) (Toronto; New York; Edinburgh 1953) 704.
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As an unwilling, divorced refusenik, I sometimes use the title "married-single" since society doesn't (legally) recognize the Christian reality of 1 Cor. 7: 10-11 --in fact: Most "Christians" do not either.
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10 But to them that are married, not I, but the Lord, commandeth that the wife depart not from her husband.
11 And if she depart, that she remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And let not the husband put away his wife.
The Holy Bible, Translated from the Latin Vulgate (Bellingham, WA 2009) 1 Co 7:10-11.
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10–11. First he speaks of separation, which is discouraged, but allowed for grave reasons (adultery, cruelty, drunkenness, etc.), then makes it clear that the marriage cannot be dissolved. 11. ‘If she does depart.’ Put away’: i.e. divorce. He does not explicitly treat of cases where a husband desires separation.
REES, W., “1 and 2 Corinthians”, A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture (ed. B. ORCHARD – EDMUND F. SUTCLIFFE) (Toronto; New York; Edinburgh 1953) 1089.
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So whether you or your spouse instigates civil divorce, St. Paul states emphatically that you remain married (though separated) and should seek to be reconciled.
That's two choices as I read it. I don't see any "third option" for Baptized Christians having entered into Matrimony. [Malachi tried 2500 years ago to enjoin the same view upon the whining Jews.]
