Roman Catholics who marry members of the royal family will not
be obliged to bring up their children in their faith, RC bishops
have assured the Government.
Lord Wallace of Tankerness, speaking on behalf of the
Government, said that he had been told by the general secretary of
the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, Mgr Marcus Stock,
that the canonical requirement of Roman Catholics to raise their
children in the faith was not always binding.
He said that he could "inform the House that the view taken by
the Catholic Church in England and Wales is that, in the instance
of mixed marriages, the approach of the Catholic Church is
pastoral. . .
"Where it has not been possible for the child of a mixed
marriage to be brought up as a Catholic, the Catholic parent does
not fall subject to the censure of canon law."
The assurance was given to the Lords during the Third Reading of
the Succession to the Crown Bill, on Monday night. The Bill will
allow monarchs to marry Roman Catholics, and will end the rule of
male primogeniture, permitting female first-borns the right of
succession.
Lord Cormack attempted to introduce an amendment to better
protect the requirement that the sovereign be a Protestant, and in
communion with the Church of England. This was withdrawn after Lord
Wallace told the House of the assurances of the RC Church.