Prime Minister Boris Johnson has married his fiancee Carrie Symonds in a secretly-planned wedding at Westminster Cathedral.
Interesting ... a Catholic wedding ... seems canon law is flexible when it comes to celebrity.
Technically, as neither of Johnson's prior marriages were Catholic, they are invalid as fas as Catholics are concerned, but Johnson had renounced his Catholicism while at Eton, although the Catholic Church refuses to recognise such renunciations.
If , for example, Johnson was Anglican, and divorced, Carries would not be able to marry him in a Catholic without first having the Anglican marriage annulled – as the Church recognises marriages in the state (ie the UK) that sanctions the marriage.
While OTOH because Johnson was baptised Catholic, and although renounced his Catholicism to become Anglican while at Eton, the RCC does not recognise anyone as having left the Church (apparently you can't leave) and has declared his prior non-Catholic marriages illicit.
Frankly I find this a sleight of hand. The RCC
does recognise the validity of non-Catholic church and civil weddings, so that a divorcee wishing to marry a Catholic would have to get the prior marriage recognised as annulled (not divorced) by the bishop. The process takes about 2-3 years.
In short, it's legalese, and because it is, it smells.
