A leading canon lawyer has said the Catholic Church will not stand in the way of a Catholic spouse of a future king or queen bringing up their children as Anglicans.

This week the Prince of Wales raised concerns about the constitutional consequences of the Government's plan to amend the 1701 Act of Settlement to permit royal heirs to marry Catholics. The prince is believed to be concerned that canon law requires the children of such a marriage to be brought up as Catholics.

But Fr James O'Kane, general secretary of the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland, said that although Catholic parents would still have the obligation to do everything within their means to bring their children up in their own faith, the Church would be compassionate towards the difficulties they faced in doing so.

Above: Government plans to amend the 1701 Act of Settlement will affect the children of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge. CNS photo/Reuters