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People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

A Catholic can now marry British monarch but may never become king or queen

Posted on Monday, October 31, 2011 at 08:55 AM
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Queen Elizabeth and Pope John Paul II

The decision by the British government to allow their monarch to marry a Catholic is only 400 years or so long in coming.

Up until last week's decision the monarch would absolutely lose the throne if a papist was his/her consort.

Just a papist mind you, a marriage with a Hindu, Muslim or Jewish person was not considered disqualifying

It was a remarkable piece of discrimination that lasted centuries and was originally brought in after Henry V111 dumped the church to create his own.

But the monarch himself/herself can never become a Catholic as that conflicts with their role as head of the Church of England.

Which really makes England a theocracy more than a monarchy in some ways.

It clearly means that the king or queen has to be an Anglican and will lose his/her crown if they decide to suddenly become a Buddhist.

Which is outright religious discrimination.

And even though they can now marry a Catholic what happens when they have children?

The Vatican always seeks for a child of a mixed marriage couple to be brought up a Catholic.

Which would of course disqualify that child from ever becoming the king or queen.

It could lead too an extraordinary stand off between church and state at some point in the future.

Which seems ridiculous in this day and age.


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29 comments

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ciaradexy | Nov 10, 2011, 05:55 PM EST
Seeing as most irish people arent practising catholics i do not see the relevance.

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SingleDonald | Nov 06, 2011, 09:11 PM EST
jacersagain, You seem to be talking like my brother, who converted to the Evangelical way (Fundamentalist), around 2004. I was baptized as a baby, thus I don't need to be "born again" now! Also, I believe in some flexibility in the scriptures. Remember that they were written 2,000 years ago (New Testament), and even further back (Old Testament). There were no eye witnesses, and no recording of conversations and events. Then, consider what may have been lost in translation, from the original Greek. For a 21st Century man or woman to take the scriptures literally, all the time, is showing gross ignorance to me.

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jacersagain | Nov 05, 2011, 06:39 PM EDT
@Dano – Excuse me but I was never trying to get away w/ anything by what you see in my comments. They are truthful. If people who hear the Word of God and chose to ignore it, then they are as like the seeds of the sower which fell on bad ground and withered away. I hafta say I deliberately wanted to pique you (and others). I’m satisfied now. If you wish to pursue the argument further, I suggest you take it up with the Man Himself. He lives in Tabernacle near you; go see Him and have yr own words with Himself. I’m sure He will listen to you and “get back to you on that” in His own ways.

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jacersagain | Nov 05, 2011, 06:36 PM EDT
FallsRNat – that’s an outright untruthful statement by you below. The baptising of unwanted "illegitimate" children and the raising of children of mixed marriages in the Catholic Faith was for one reason only... the salvation of the spiritual SOUL of the children; that policy existed in the Church all over the world before the foundation of the inconsequentially wee 26-county Irish State in the 1920s. This is solely based on what Jesus told Nicodemus... "He that, out of contempt, will not be baptized, shall be condemned as an unbeliever, and shall be reproached as ungrateful and foolish. For the Lord says: 'Except a man be baptized of water and of the Spirit, he shall by no means enter into the kingdom of heaven.' And again: 'He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned.’” Those are very serious words for all to take note of and is the why the Catholic Church urges Christian baptism of all... It has nothing whatsoever to do with “preserving a 26 county catholic state” as you claim.

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FallsRNat | Nov 04, 2011, 07:01 PM EDT
The Catholic Church insisted on children from so-called mixed marriages (between RC Catholic & other faiths) and from those once-called “illegitimates” for one reason only...to preserve the 26 county catholic state, thus destroying any chance of a united ireland which was fought over by countless generations of patriots on the understanding that it would the IRISH FREE STATE not the irish catholic state which meant anybody not in that religion would be effectively 2nd class citizens, now we have woken up to the fact that for 80 years not only have they be buggering the irish on that, but also by buggering our children at the same time.

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DanOLoingsigh | Nov 02, 2011, 08:54 PM EDT
@jacers – satisfied? Not quite.. You can’t simply get away with stuff like ‘Hindus refuse to listen’. Maybe they didn’t hear, maybe they listened and decided to stick with their own faith…I admire your absolute conviction that you are right and all these other billions of souls are wrong…up to a point…but it cannot be anything but good luck that most Irish will be ‘saved’, because of where they happened to be born, while most Indians will be lost, because of where they were born. Any just and fair god would give all his children an equal chance to be saved…so keep your eyes and ears open…you might just hear a little self doubt?

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jacersagain | Nov 02, 2011, 02:39 PM EDT
@ Dano yesterday – God is catholic i.e. Universal. His Son is Jesus Christ who told the Apostles to go tell everyone. That Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims still refuse to listen to and accept the Good News of Jesus Christ is their fault for rejecting what is put in front of them every day. Jews, much more sadly, reject Him as their Messiah which He is. FYI also, though raised as an Irish Catholic I fell away from the Church, travelled a lot in many countries including Muslim ones but once I saw how wrong I was, I returned to it despite its human faults and am mighty glad and spiritually happy that I did. Satisfied now?? Eh?

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SingleDonald | Nov 02, 2011, 10:34 AM EDT
jimgordo1, Thanks for the clarification; I thought Edward was the cousin of Albert, later George VI. I still disagree with you, concerning Wally Simpson. Edward loved this woman, thus, to me, he did the right thing! I learned about arranged marriages, during biblical times, in 1st Grade. I was happy to learn that those arrangements were no longer taking place, at least for Americans. Yet, even at age 6, I determined that I would gladly alienate my family, than be forced to marry some girl who I didn't like, when I grew up!

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jimgordo1 | Nov 01, 2011, 11:34 AM EDT
SingleDonald -- you need to review your recent British history. The once and future Edward VIII (aka The Duke of Windsor) was the one who married Wallis Simpson, not his younger brother Albert (aka George VI), who was never trained to be King. While you may "respect him for his decision," he did his brother a dirty turn. Essentially, he put himself above family and country. He knew from the time that he took up with Wallis that there was no way he could marry her without consequeneces, yet he persisted. The person who should be praised and looked up to in this whole affair is George VI who got the crown dumped on him, and despite that, went forward to lead his country thru WW2!

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DanOLoingsigh | Nov 01, 2011, 03:24 AM EDT
Jacers..you obviously believe that God is a catholic, and that is your right...other people have their beliefs and rights...not only the 'illegitimate' christians, but the Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists etc. You are (probably)blessed that you (probably) have an Irish catholic heritage, so your faith was sorted for you...pity all these other souls had the bad luck to be born into other heritages, eh?

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jacersagain | Oct 31, 2011, 09:54 PM EDT
(..more) God does discriminate between good and evil and those who do or not listen to His original Ten Commandments or those 10 commandments condensed into Two by His Son, Jesus Christ, (to Love God and to Love each other).We who carry the souls He gave us should too. Even with our last breath, the last spanner in our earthly life’s machinery. Which will you choose? It’s every bit of our human existence business, even of jamieLM’s, despite her declaration that it’s none of her business, typically to be shying away from it. Everyone should make it their business to know God’s will. It’s there like a spanner is, like jamieLM is. Like her soul is. Like God is. Like jamieLM’s death will come as surely as mine will. Like a Catholic will always ‘BE’, always present, if not acknowledged, in the life of the British Royal family. And also in Patrick Robert’s life, for, otherwise, he wouldn’t be writing about Catholics. Ain’t he lucky to have job, writing about Catholics?

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jacersagain | Oct 31, 2011, 09:48 PM EDT
I’m going to throw a very big spanner in the works of those who agree with jamieLM (Oct 31 et seq). The Catholic Church insisted on children from so-called mixed marriages (between RC Catholic & other faiths) and from those once-called “illegitimates” for one reason only... to preserve the SOUL of the baby of such consummations for the sanctity of Heaven, all in accordance with Christ’s teachings and Sacrifice. It’s so easy to be misled into believing that no one has a soul... one created by God alone. You, yes you reading this post of mine, have one, don’tcha? Don’tcha know God gave it to you? From the short “time” after of your birth (which none of us remember) to the whatever-eternity after your death (which no one will remember, ‘cos of the disease of human ‘dead-iness’), you will have the most precious thing – your soul, the very soul God gave you before you were born and will expect you to deliver back to Him. What you do with your soul in between your birth (which you don’t remember) and your death (which you know is coming but not when) is up to you, with the free choice God gave you. Sorry everybody... but God does, very actively, discriminate. (More...)

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SingleDonald | Oct 31, 2011, 08:49 PM EDT
This is great! I always empathized with the cousin of Albert (Later King George, who was the subject in "The King's Speech")for sticking with Wally Simpson, even though it cost him the crown! Now, Wally Simpson did nothing to me. For one thing, her lipstick was too pronounced! I recall her in her 80's, and have seen younger pictures of her. Yet, Wally meant everything to her man (forgot his name), and therefore I respect him for his decision. Happily, this now won't happen again!

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JOHNTOBIN | Oct 31, 2011, 08:20 PM EDT
The"apartheid"as practiced by the GAA in the past certainly did not help in the intergration of the various sections of the Irish people.

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JOHNTOBIN | Oct 31, 2011, 08:12 PM EDT
A number of protestants held high positions in the Irish Goverment,especially in the early days of The Irish Free State.

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