I read an article about his philandering over the weekend. Part of it pointed out that in the eyes of the Catholic church he has had only one marriage, the one with Callista. The marriage with the teacher who seduced him was tainted and would have been annulled. The marriage with the second bimbo was not valid as she was married before her marriage to him. I found it interesting. And that deathbed conversation he had with his first wife, she is still alive and well. Lots of bad info out there, sifting through it is a full time job.
the eyes of the Church, maybe. The eyes of God? I doubt He is going to parse away the infidelity inherent in Newt’s behavior, and if voters choose to, then i guess BJ’s aren’t sex either.
I don't know what your article said, but that is not exactly right. The Catholic Church considers Protestant marriages valid if they are with Baptized Christians and married acccording to Protestant rules. So, if later, a new partner (who is Catholic) wants to marry a divorced man, he must seek an annulment from his earlier (Protestant) marriage and make his case before the Tribunal and get those marriage(s) nullified. This is a lengthy process that could take a couple of years. Witnesses must testify that knew the couple before and after the marriage. Families must testify.
This happened to some people I know, and the family of the woman was highly connected within the church: thus they had all the resources to get an annulment. It surprised me too. The couple cancelled their church wedding and got married elsewhere.
I don't know what is in Newt's heart, so I can't comment. I do know that, as a politician, he broke my heart back when he resigned his seat in Congress rather than be demoted after the 1998 election when it looked like his people might remove him as Speaker. I kept wondering why he had not taken a more prominent role in the impeachment proceedings, not been more outspoken about Clinton's crimes, etc. Then it all became public. I'll never trust him again.