Can we marry at World Youth Day?

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Can a marriage take place at a gathering like World Youth Day? Whose jurisdiction would it be under if my girlfriend and I wanted to marry at WYD Madrid 2011? Would we need to write to the Pope? The bishops of Spain? Do you think the Pope himself might even officiate, or is this a silly dream of an idea? I’m open to suggestions.
 
DL82 said:
Can a marriage take place at a gathering like World Youth Day? Whose jurisdiction would it be under if my girlfriend and I wanted to marry at WYD Madrid 2011? Would we need to write to the Pope? The bishops of Spain? Do you think the Pope himself might even officiate, or is this a silly dream of an idea? I’m open to suggestions.
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Since Catholic marriage is a church event, not just a social or family event, the Church prefers that marriages of a Catholic be celebrated in the parish church of one of the spouses, but the local bishop can permit a marriage to be celebrated in another suitable place. I think this would require a dispensation. It would be wonderful to have the marriage at the Catedral de Santa María la Real de la Almudena.

I think it is not possible to get Pope Bennedict XVI to celebrate the nuptial mass, his schedule is too difficult and also I think the last time was Pope John Paul II performed a wedding ceremony for common people was Vittoria Janni and Mario Maltese at the Vatican Pauline Chapel (February 1979). (The Popes can perform weddings for their family members.)
 
DL82 said:
Can a marriage take place at a gathering like World Youth Day? Whose jurisdiction would it be under if my girlfriend and I wanted to marry at WYD Madrid 2011? Would we need to write to the Pope? The bishops of Spain? Do you think the Pope himself might even officiate, or is this a silly dream of an idea? I’m open to suggestions.
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That’s a great idea. First write the WYD organizers. Don’t sweat the details.

But if they don’t recognize a good idea when they see one, or if they can’t fit a mass wedding into the schedule, or if they’re afraid of comparisons with the Moonies, then your secondary plan would be to convince a Spanish parish priest to marry you at about the right time (a very busy time for him, BTW) in his parish. And then you will need to worry about the details–getting your marriage license in Spain, the marriage recognized in your home town, your marriage papers sent by your local priest to the Spanish parish, the double investigations into your marriageability, etc., etc.
 
I also think in many European countries you have to be civilly married before the religious ceremony since they don’t recognize the religious ceremony alone.

We have had several parishioners married in Europe and it required a lot of paperwork as the churches, especially in Spain, had more stringent requirements.
 
You would need the following
  1. A dispensation from your local bishop that allows you to marry outside of your parish church.
  2. Permission from the local Ordinary in the diocese in which you would desire to recieve the Sacrament in (obtained from the Chancellory office)
  3. Clergy with faculties to witness the Marriage.
  4. Any civil paperwork
It would help if you bring the letter of dispensation with you, along with letters from your pastors granting their permission. This attests that you are free from impediments, and have completed any pre-requisetes required by Canon Law or your diocese ( 6 months notificaiton, banns, any marriage prep etc…)
 
Brendan said:
You would need the following
  1. A dispensation from your local bishop that allows you to marry outside of your parish church.
    The first thing they have to do is find a priest in Spain willing to marry them during that time. Contacting a parish in Madrid would be a start. Once they have that, #1 is usually handled by their pastor who forwards their file to the Chancellery with a request for a ‘Testimonial Letter’.
  2. Permission from the local Ordinary in the diocese in which you would desire to receive the Sacrament in (obtained from the Chancellery office)
That’s usually done by their own Chancellery office which forwards the ‘Testimonial Letter’ to the diocese in which the marriage is to take place.
  1. Clergy with faculties to witness the Marriage.
    #1 on their To Do List.
  2. Any civil paperwork
    They should contact the Spanish Embassy or Consulate nearest them to find out what is needed.
It would help if you bring the letter of dispensation with you, along with letters from your pastors granting their permission. This attests that you are free from impediments, and have completed any pre-requisetes required by Canon Law or your diocese ( 6 months notificaiton, banns, any marriage prep etc…)
Not a bad idea but all of that would be in the paperwork that is done by their own parish and sent to the marrying parish via their respective Chancelleries. Once the paperwork leaves our office we never see it again so we don’t have copies of the Testimonial Letter or any of the paperwork that’s added to the file by the Chancelleries.

I wonder if it wouldn’t be easier to marry civilly at home then receive the Sacrament in Spain. That’s what’s done by those who want to be married at the Vatican – stipulation of course is that they not live as man and wife until they receive the Sacrament.
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Phemie:
Phemie,

They will have difficulty finding a priest who is willing unless they have a dispensation from their diocese.

That is why that should be done first.
 
Brendan said:
Phemie,

They will have difficulty finding a priest who is willing unless they have a dispensation from their diocese.

That is why that should be done first.
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The thing is that when you apply for this dispensation, part of the application for a testimonial letter is the name of the priest and the parish where you will be getting married and none of this comes back to the parish or the couple but is forwarded by the chancellery directly to
a) the priest officiant, who then applies to his bishop for permission, or
b) to the bishop of the diocese where it is to be celebrated, who then signs the permission and forwards the file to the officiant.

We retain a photocopy of what we’ve done but, unless we are the baptismal parish, we never hear of this again.

Whenever anyone from out of town calls to ask to be married here, we always say ‘yes’ with the proviso that they have the appropriate documents. If those have not been received at least a month before the wedding date we start calling parishes and chancelleries.

Whenever anyone approaches us to have a marriage celebrated outside our parish/diocese (the majority of the marriages for which our pastor did prenuptial investigations last year) they have already made contact with the parish in which they want to marry and they have the name of the priest who will be celebrating the wedding and the date is already set.
 
Don’t make your wedding a circus event.

Why on earth would you want to do this? This seems like the religious equivalent of a “destination” wedding.
 
PaulinVA said:
Don’t make your wedding a circus event.

Why on earth would you want to do this? This seems like the religious equivalent of a “destination” wedding.
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Would you say the same thing to those who want to marry at the Vatican?:confused:
 
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