You CAN hit the road, Jack.... the Pope Says Your marriage is probably invalid

The Pope says most sacramental  marriages are invalid. If this is so then our spouses are free to leave without guilt or condemnation. Paradoxically, the Holy Fathers says that he has ...."seen a lot of fidelity in these cohabitations, and I am sure that this is a real marriage, they have the grace of a real marriage because of their fidelity  .., etc.”  What does this mean in real life? Is a marriage only real if the lovers are faithful and happy? Was Servant of God, Elizabeth Leseur's marriage invalid? Were the marriages of St. Rita and St. Monica invalid? None of these ladies had good husbands and all of them suffered. 

One popular blogging priest says not worry because His Holiness is not speaking ex cathedra and this is just an offhand opinion.  I sighed when I heard that. Most people aren't theologians or cannon lawyers. Most people assume that if Papa says something it must be official and that's that. On one positive note, to my surprise, most of the blogging priest's fans wrote comments expressing disagreement. 

In my mother's family's denomination couples have a built-in out for marriage. A man can say that his wife secretly had the spirit of Jezebel or a woman can say that her husband was "not a godly man," and they can get divorced and remarried and keep their standing in the church with nary a murmur of criticism from anybody. Catholics do you want to imitate this?  Dear Lord, surely not.