Categories: Need to know

Is the Pope taking a shot at Prince Charles?

Gift to Prince a reminder of the Church’s view on divorce

by macleans.ca on Monday, April 20, 2009 11:35am - 3 Comments

Sometimes a gift is more than just a gift, and you wonder whether Pope Benedict XVI is taking a poke at the British monarchy with a memento he plans to give Prince Charles, on the occasion of Charles’ first papal audience since he divorced Princess Diana. Next week, after receiving the Prince and the Duchess of Cornwall, the Pope plans to present a “luxury facsimile” of the 1530 appeal by English peers to Pope Clement VII, which asked for the annulment of Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon. That would be the one the Vatican rejected—prompting Henry to break with Rome and causing the formation of the Church of England. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then. Yet the Vatican still holds marriage to be a sacred vow that can’t be broken by temporal laws. Charles, as we know, was granted a divorce from the Princess of Wales in 1996, and remarried to divorcée Camilla Parker-Bowles after Diana died in a car crash.

The Times

Tags: religion

Wayne

Actaully this is kind of funny if you think about – a zinger from the Pope! I would frame it and hang it on the wall next to Henry’s portrait.
wayne moores

Well, this Pope has managed to take a swipe at just about everyone, Protestants, Jews, Moslems, tried to rewrite history concerning Vatican II, so why not slag the British Monarchy. Good to see the popester ingaged with the really important stuff. Maybe the two of them could mud wrestle. Cheers.
Maureen

No the Pope is in the business of annulments – annulling marriages after 20 years and 4 or 5 kids because of some obscure rule of the Church – of course is helps if you are a Kennedy. But since neither Charles or Camilla are members of the Church of Rome it means nothing.