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The SacramentsIntermediate

What is required for a valid marriage between a Catholic and a non-Catholic?

The Sacraments

The short answer

A Catholic marrying a baptized non-Catholic needs express permission for the marriage to be licit. Marrying an unbaptized person is invalid without a dispensation. Either presupposes that both know and do not exclude marriage's essential ends and properties, and that the Catholic will do what he can to have the children baptized and raised Catholic.

Mixed marriage

Under Latin Church law, marriage between a baptized Catholic and a baptized non-Catholic needs the express permission of Church authority to be licit.

Disparity of cult

Marriage between a Catholic and an unbaptized person is not only illicit but invalid unless a dispensation is obtained.

What permission presupposes

Both parties must know and not exclude the essential ends and properties of marriage, and the Catholic party must accept the obligation to do what is in his power to have the children baptized and educated in the Catholic Church (CCC 1633-1637).