The Catholic Church is one of the oldest institutions in the western world and dates back some 2000 years. With over a billion Catholics worldwide (around 1 million in the UK), it is one of the most prevalent religions across the globe.
Catholics believe that the Pope, who resides in the Vatican City in Rome, is the natural successor to St. Peter who Christ appointed as the first head of His Church, and possesses supreme authority via his unbroken line back to St. Peter. The faith itself revolves around The Seven Sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Holy Orders and Marriage.
As one of the Seven Sacraments, Marriage is very important to Catholics and the Church teaches that marriage is ‘God’s doing’. These days, around 10,000 marriages take place each year in Catholic Churches across the United Kingdom.
This article introduces Roman Catholic Weddings and talks at length about how to go about arranging one.
So without further ado, let’s get started.
Who Can Be Married and Where Can They Do So?
Undoubtedly, Roman Catholic marriages have stricter rules than their Anglican counterparts, but the strictness is often greatly exaggerated. Catholics are encouraged to marry other Catholics in order to attain what is often referred to as a ‘perfect union’, but inter-faith marriages are much more common occurrences these days.
It is not a pre-requisite for either partner to be a practising Catholic, although some priests may have a different view on this. On the whole, as long as neither partner has been married before (please check out the question about divorcees in the Catholic Wedding FAQ's article), at least one partner has been baptised as a Catholic, and the couple are willing to sign up to the following four basic principles of marriage, the priest will usually be happy to conduct the Ceremony.
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