Last year I and my husband celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary. We are both converts to the Catholic faith. I was instructed by a Jesuit in Rome over 40 years ago; my husband went through the RCIA programme 30 years ago. We renewed our vows on our 40th wedding anniversary, and received a blessing at Mass on our golden anniversary. At no point have we ever been told that our Church of England wedding is invalid. Is it possible that the law is an ass?
Boris and Carrie Johnson’s Westminster Cathedral wedding violates if not the letter then the spirit of the law. And it makes the Catholic Church look perfectly ridiculous in the eyes of non-Catholics, and indeed many Catholics, some of whom are, especially after a year of enforced non-attendance, hanging on to church membership by a thread.