The Vatican has announced major reforms to the process of annuling marriages.

Pope Francis has issued two apostolic letters covering his plans to make the process faster and cheaper for married people to access. 

The Pope said he had made the changes in order to assist 'the salvation of souls'.

The official Vatican news agency made the announcement today.

It comes shortly after an expert group recently gave its findings on current church laws and practices on marriage to the Pope. 

An annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void, which allows either the former husband or wife to remarry.

Pope Francis outlined his desire to make the process of annulling a marriage shorter, and more flexible.

He also called on church officials to remove or radically lower fees for the process.

The changes include the need for only one church judge to authorise an annulment, that judge can be the local bishop.

An appeals process will be maintained.