Pope Benedict XVI has told priests to do a better job counseling
would-be spouses to ensure the marriages last and says not everyone has
an automatic right to a wedding.
Benedict made the comments
Saturday to the Roman Rota, the Vatican tribunal that decides marriage
annulments.
An annulment is the process by which the church effectively
declares that a marriage never took place.
Benedict acknowledged
that the problems that would allow for a marriage to be annulled cannot
always be identified beforehand.
But he said better pre-marriage
counseling, which the Catholic Church requires of the faithful, could
help avoid a "vicious circle" of invalid marriages.
SIC: AP/INT'L