Cardinal Nichols Congratulates Megan & Harry



I was a little bit shocked to see Cardinal Nichols publicly congratulate Prince Harry and his fiancé on their engagement yesterday given that she is a divorcée:
What do you think? Is this appropriate?

One may argue that in making such a public statement, Cardinal Nichols is acting in his civic capacity only and thus this is perfectly civilised and reasonable. But what message does it send to his Catholic followers?

Certainly I was not at all surprised to see this comment aimed at the Cardinal:
It makes the excellent point of identifying very clear double standards at work. I wonder if some of our clergy are aware that their flip-flopping, wishy-washy "opinions" have reall effects on people's lives?

I don't suppose the Royal couple are in the remotest bit interested or worried about their spiritual standing, but in any case Markle does not appear to have been baptised, and the context of her previous marriage was a civil wedding to a Jewish businessman. Her previous marriage not being remotely sacramental then, it isn’t such a bar as it would otherwise have been. Though it will need a voiding of some description, in favor fidei.

One should also bear in mind that declarations of nullity are not public and therefore we would only know if one of the Parties publicly declared as much.

Notwithstanding such considerations, the replies to Cardinal Nichol's tweet are interesting, even rather amusing. Perhaps silence would have been a more appropriate position given the complex personal situation involved?

Perhaps Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith had the best idea in a tweet which both congratulates Markle whilst remaining true to his vocation as a Catholic priest:





I don't know, what do you think?

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