A Catholic tribunal has allowed Dutch priest Fr Ruud Huysmans to continue a "registered partnership" with theologian Freda Droes despite the opposition of Rotterdam Bishop Ad van Luyn. The EarthTimes reports the priest was allowed to retain the formal relationship after a deadline for an appeal against the union expired.
A Church court had previously ruled that Fr Huysmans could not be held accountable for violating Church law when he had entered a "registered partnership" - a legally recognised system of cohabitation - in the year 2000, a year before a Church ban on such partnerships took effect.
The appeal deadline for the ruling expired on Wednesday.
Bishop van Luyn had requested the tribunal to "disband" the partnership and to remove the priest from his position if he refused to terminate the partnership.
But late 2008 the tribunal ruled the priest "could not be held accountable for an apparent violation of the law" and Huysmans was not ordered to end his partnership.
Although Huysmans and Droes registered their partnership, they do not live together, saying only that it offered them the best "formal arrangement" for their relationship.
In 2001, the Catholic Church determined registered partnership was identical to marriage. It also ruled then that priests are prohibited from such a relationship.
In the Netherlands, a registered partnership carries all the legal weight of a formal marriage, Dutch News notes.
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(Source: CTHN)