The shortcut taken by the Pope

Editorial Staff

During the Pope’s visit to Chile and Peru, television gave much prominence to the news of a wedding he celebrated on the plane, during a transfer from one country to another. I recently got married and my parish priest wanted a lot of documents from me and my present wife, we absolutely had to attend the marriage preparation course and he didn’t even give us permission to get married in a chapel that we liked so much instead of in our church. It doesn’t seem right.

F.C.

I don’t think it’s even right that the church where these betrothed were supposed to fulfill their dream of love collapsed in an earthquake! What is right is not the same for everyone in every situation but rather what is most appropriate to each individual case in the context of real life. Pope Francis gave a beautiful example of discernment and not of relativism or indifference. In any case, it seems only fair that your parish priest asked you to marry in the parish church and not in the chapel that you “liked so”, because the sacraments are to be lived in the fabric of a community of faith and not in a “folkloristic” way. I hope you are grateful to life for having been able to prepare carefully your wedding and to celebrate it properly... without the accident of any earthquake.