When a deacon, priest or bishop, even the Bishop of Rome, convalidates a marriage, the convalidation could be a more elaborate "Nuptial Liturgy" with all the bells and whistles, although moderation should be counseled.
Or it can be quite simple and minimalist. For example most convalidations that I witness take place with just the couple and two witnesses. I do not use the full nuptial liturgy outside of Mass, but rather truncate it to a Greeting, Opening Prayer, short Scripture and the Consent with a nuptial blessing. Usually it takes 10 minutes if that much. There isn't anything very formal about it.
A convalidation could take place in my office, the person's home or almost anywhere, like a jetliner. Consummation of the marriage is to take place afterward not excluding an appropriate private area in a jetliner which would make them members of the "Mile High Club", an additional perk.
Thus Crux has a further article on Pope Francis' Convalidtation that is important for all Catholics to understand and for us all to know that the Pope is the Pope and His Holiness can dispense from this, that or the other (unless it is Divine Law).
Your can read the full Crux article HERE, but the following are excerpts that are true:
The pope said:
“I judged they were prepared, they knew what they were doing,” the pope told reporters Jan. 21 on his flight back to Rome. “Both of them had prepared before God - with the sacrament of penance - and I married them.”
“I questioned them a bit and their answers were clear, it was for life, and they told me they had done the pre-marriage course,” the pope told reporters. Also, he said, “they were aware that they were in an irregular situation.”
Others in the curia have chimed in:
But the pope was not celebrating a wedding on the plane, he was convalidating a marriage, and like most priests who have done that in a variety of settings, including hospital rooms. “He did what any good pastor will do.”
“It is the task of the priest who officiates to take responsibility and be morally certain that couples who ask to be married are prepared and ready for the sacrament,” he said. That certainty is something that outside observers cannot presume to have.
Besides, he said, “as supreme legislator, the Holy Father has the authority to dispense from and even change merely ecclesiastical laws, if he judges it appropriate,” including canon law’s expectation that weddings take place in a church. Still, the pope’s officiating at a convalidation in midflight is “not meant to be replicated,” Pham added.
But, he also said he hoped the pope’s outreach to the couple would encourage priests to be more solicitous toward other Catholic couples who have been married only civilly, finding ways to facilitate the convalidation of their unions as well.
3 comments:
"POINTS ABOUT CON-VALIDATIONS THAT SO MANY TRADITIONAL CATHOLICS SEEM NOT TO KNOW"
What does this have to do with "traditional Catholics"? Among whom I've never heard any discussion (pro or con) of con-validation.
And what does it have to do with the most recent high-altitude papal fiasco? Francis' own words say that he thought he was performing a marriage, not a con-validation:
“I judged they were prepared, they knew what they were doing,” the pope told reporters Jan. 21 on his flight back to Rome. “Both of them had prepared before God - with the sacrament of penance - and I married them.”
“I questioned them a bit and their answers were clear, it was for life, and they told me they had done the pre-marriage course,” the pope told reporters. Also, he said, “they were aware that they were in an irregular situation.”
Presumably, any priest would know that "In Catholic canon law, a validation of marriage or convalidation of marriage is the validation of a Catholic putative marriage."
So Francis surely knows what the words mean when he says "I married them". Not that he validated their marriage. (Their having said they were civilly married.)
But you have to wonder about the inane contortions of the quoted cardinals and curial officials-- claiming retroactively that a marriage ceremony was instead a con-validation, and at the same time arguing that a pope can dispense marriage requirements, which (along with the hand-written marriage certificate) would have been unnecessary for a con-validation.
Does all this suggest that the whole bunch of them are devoid of any knowledge of Catholic doctrine and law?
All of this makes my head spin. I am with the Orthodox Church on this - let all members of the Church that plan to be married, have a marriage ceremony in the church with the priest (think, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2).
If this is what the Pope was doing, and if he actually knew it at the time, why didn’t he just say so? There is a big difference between “making a mess” and vandalism. He misses these teaching points, if he actually knows the lesson, and leaves it to his apologists to explain. And what lesson does that teach?
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