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Roman Catholics are Christians who believe that Jesus was sent by
God to show people the right way to live. The Pope, based in The Vatican,
is the leader of the Church and advises on matters of faith and morality
over his world-wide flock.
Central to the Roman Catholic faith are The Seven Sacraments which
are: Baptism, Penance (the confession and forgiveness of sins), Holy
Communion, Confirmation, Marriage, Holy Orders (where a person devotes
him or herself entirely to God), and becomes a nun (bride of Christ),
monk or priest, and relinquishes any right to marry, and Reconciliation
(the final sacrament, preparing the dying for ever-lasting life).
The main difference between the Protestant and Catholic beliefs is
that Protestants believe that Holy Communion (Eucharist) is a remembrance
of Christ's last supper, whereas the Catholic Church believe that
the consecrated bread and wine actually becomes the body and blood
of Christ (transubstantiation). In addition, Protestants only have
two sacraments, neither of which are Marriage.
If you are both Roman Catholic, the publication
of banns goes ahead as normal but they do not form part of the
legal preliminaries. If only one partner is Roman Catholic, banns
are not published and the priest of the Roman Catholic partner will
have to give permission for the marriage to take place either in a
Roman Catholic Church or a non-Roman Catholic church. The legal requirements
to be fulfilled for a Roman Catholic wedding ceremony are those that
apply to civil
marriages. However, if the church is in a different registration
district to where you live, you need to prove to the superintendent
registrar that the church is your normal place of worship. If you
cannot do this, you will be required to give notice in the registration
district in which the church is situated after having met the necessary
residency requirement. For further information on this subject, please
refer to the Marriage
Legal Requirements article.
Divorce is very difficult within the Catholic Church, who do not recognise
a civil divorce. The only way to divorce within the Church is to receive
an annulment. This is quite often a long procedure and will only be
granted if the marriage suits the Causes of Marriage Nullity. However,
a limited amount of priests are willing to offer a church blessing
to a couple if one of them is divorced, especially if they are both
regular churchgoers.
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