For the average Protestant, Jew or other non-Catholic, the most perplexing ecumenical problem is a personal one: what if he or she should decide to marry a Roman Catholic? Many a non-Catholic who wants to marry a Catholic has found himself faced with two difficult demands: that he must promise to raise any children as Catholics, and that the marriage must take place before a Catholic priest. Last week, in a 2,400-word instruction, Pope Paul VI removed the promise requirement entirely for the non-Catholic partner and ruled that local bishops may henceforth grant dispensations from a Catholic ceremony.
The new rules go...
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