Is this marriage is recognized as valid by Church?

[JamesCaruso]

I have an acquaintance who has been away from the Church for many years. He recently expressed interest in returning to the Church. He is in love with a woman who has been separated from her husband for two years. She is Buddhist, as is her husband. They were married in VietNam in a civil ceremony. Is there any circumstance in which he can marry this woman whose husband is still alive?

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

The marriage of the Buddhist couple is a valid natural marriage. She can apply for an annulment attempting to show that an essential element of marriage was missing from the very beginning. Or if she desires to become a Catholic she could apply for a Pauline Privilege in which the Church would dissolve her natural marriage.