British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's wedding to his third wife, Carrie Symonds, was criticized by same-sex union advocate Fr. James Martin for allegedly being a "double standard" of the Catholic Church.
The Christian Post reported that Johnson was married in a "secret" ceremony at the Westminster Cathedral on Saturday with only 30 family members and close friend in adherance to COVID-19 restrictions for mass gatherings. The news came as a shock to Johnson's staff since the couple have announced just days before that their marriage was set to July 30, 2022.
A Bohemian-styled celebration, according to the Telegraph, followed the wedding at Downing Street complete with an acoustic trio, lanterns, and hay bales.
As per The Christian Post, Johnson is the first prime minister of the United Kingdom to be married while in office in nearly 200 years. Johnson is currently 56 and already has a one-year-old son, Wilfred, with Symonds. Though the prime minister's spokesperson announced the couple's honeymoon will be set next summer.
Johnson worked with Symonds during his reelection campaign as mayor and employed her as his party's communications head before she left to work for the marine conservation organization Oceana. Johnson has been divorced to his previous wives--Allegra Mostyn-Owen and Marina Wheeler-- who he was married to outside the Catholic church, prior to marrying Symonds over the weekend.
The Roman Catholic Church's canon law allows the marriage of a divorcee if the prior union was not a Catholic one. Basically, any union engaged into by a Catholic that is not officiated in the Catholic church or is not officiated with rites acknowledged by the Catholic church does not actually make the person "married" in the eyes of the Catholic Church. Johnson, then, is considered "single" when he was married to Symonds.
Yet, The Christian Post said, Martin criticized the prime minister's marriage in Twitter as something he wished to be granted to those wishing to have a same sex union.
"#BorisJohnson, a twice-divorced man, whose girlfriend recently had a baby with him out of wedlock (and who also has another child out of wedlock) was married in a Catholic ceremony in Westminster Cathedral, the seat of English Catholicism," Martin said.
"At the same time, a same-sex couple who are both Catholics (unlike Mr. Johnson, who was confirmed as an Anglican) cannot have their civil union blessed even in private by a priest because 'God does not and cannot bless sin...'" he added.
Martin used the very lines of Pope Francis against same-sex union in his tweet in criticizing Johnson's wedding.
In March, the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith released Pope Francis' final statement on the issue of blessing unions of the same sex, which is "not licit" for priests to do because the "Church has no power to bless" such unions, since it would go against what God has instituted from the beginning of time that "marriage" is between one man and one woman.
However, the Catholic church cleared that it has nothing against persons with same-sex attraction who are actually welcomed with compassion into Her various ministries and communities, but it is the action they commit, as with any sin, that is condemned.
Martin, author and editor-at-large of America Magazine, has been a consultor to the Vatican Secretariat for Communications. He has become a controversial priest due to his stance on same-sex unions that is contrary to the stand of the Catholic Church. He did affirm in his final tweet that Johnson's wedding was licit.
"Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were married within the rules of the Catholic Church. And I wish them well. I also wish that the same mercy and compassion that was offered to them, recognizing their complex lives, could also be extended to same-sex couples who are lifelong Catholics," Martin said.
