Marrying Mary

Queen Mary the First

The Succession to the Crown Bill had its third reading debate in the House of Lords on Monday, meaning the bill has passed through both Houses of Parliament and lacks only Royal Assent to become law. It states that for the first time in 300 years, a member of the Royal family may marry a Catholic. However, "the sections of the 1701 Act of Settlement that insist on the sovereign being a member of the Church of England will, however, remain in place."

That means that the little girl that the Duchess of Cambridge is expected to have in July will be able to grow up and marry a Catholic if she so desires. Strangely, she will not be required by the Church to raise any of HER children as Catholics.

From the Catholic News Service:

" Lord Wallace of Tankerness, speaking on behalf of the government, said he had been assured personally by Msgr. Marcus Stock, general secretary of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, that the canonical requirement of Catholics to raise their children in the faith was not always binding. as Catholics". See, you can't become King or Queen if you are a Catholic.

"In this context the Catholic Church expects Catholic spouses to sincerely undertake to do all that they can to raise children in the Catholic Church," he continued. "Where it has not been possible for the child of a mixed marriage to be brought up as a Catholic, the Catholic parent does not fall subject to the censure of canon law."