[Harmless Teddy Bear]

The idea that Catholics should be allowed to remarry and receive communion did not begin with the letter signed by Cardinal Kasper and other members of the German episcopate in 1993. Another country’s episcopate – England’s – pioneered this experiment in Christian doctrine nearly 500 years ago. At stake then was not just whether any Catholic could remarry, but whether the king could, since his wife had not borne him a son.

Oh for love of algore! People act like Henry VIII asking for an annulment was the first time it ever happened.

The Roman Catholic Church has a history of granting royal annulments on sometimes dubious legal grounds and they tend to be captious in their granting.

Let's consider what happened in 1152. Eleanor of Aquitaine and Poitou's marriage to Louis VII of France because she had given him two daughters and no heir.

The official reason was consanguinity which was the same grounds Henry VIII claimed.

She then, with the Catholic Church's blessing married Henry II who was every bit as closely related as she was to Louis.

Turned out it the problem was with the stallion not the mare as she went on to give sight children, five sons and three daughters and all of this was with the blessing of the Pope.

In 1499 Louis XII of France was granted an annulment on much shakier legal grounds with the goal of marrying another woman.

So while Henry VIII, nasty man that he was, makes a convenient whipping boy to act like what he did was unheard of is to ignore history.

Like it or not none of the grants or denials in any of these cases were based on any sort of firm Roman Catholic Church law but on the political leanings of the popes at the time.

[STJPII]

So improper implementation of God’s law impugns the underlying merit of the law itself? We’re wrong to honor those saints who followed God’s even to the point of death?

[BusterBear]

Yes. I have read that the Pope at that time, Clement VII, was a virtual prisoner of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, who had invaded Italy. Charles V was the nephew of Catherine of Aragon and he did not want his aunt to be deposed. The Pope, given his circumstances, did not want to provoke Charles V, and so was reluctant to grant the annulment that Henry was angling for.

[Mrs. Don-o]

It's common under any and every system of legislation to have laws which are good and wise in themselves, but are misapplied because of ignorance, negligence, malice, or corruption.

So it goes with the laws of the Church as well as the State. That is not an argument against the basic soundness of the law. It is an argument against the frailties of men, of those who administer the law, of human nature: ignorance, negligence, malice, corruption.

[Arthur McGowan]

Your argument is that once an abuse has occurred, the abuse is the norm.

You ever hear the word “reform”?