Marriage and the Vatican

A reader reminds me:

This kind of stuff has gone on for a while. Frank Sinatra’s fourth – FOURTH! – marriage was performed by New York’s Cardinal Cooke.

I rarely agree with you on matters religious, but the double standard practiced over the years with regard to marriage and annulments definitely has been pretty appalling for a religion priding itself on its internal consistency.

Another point about the Kidman farce. If the church is utterly indifferent to marriages conducted by other churches or the state, then why has it devoted so much effort to demonizing civil marriages for gay couples? Shouldn’t they be as irrelevant to the Vatican as, say, civil divorce or re-marriages in other churches? The double standards abound. Some of them can be explained by catering to the rich and powerful (the Kidmans and Sinatras and Kerrys); some can be explained by Orwellian-speak (calling divorces "annulments"); but some can only be explained by bigotry and fear. None of it speaks that well of the Church, it seems to me.