JOHN Swinney, leader of the SNP, has had his first marriage annulled in order to marry in the Roman Catholic Church today. Mr Swinney has said that any children he might have with his new wife, Elizabeth Quigley, the BBC journalist, would be brought up as Catholics.
As a sign of his commitment to the woman he describes as ''my rock'', Mr Swinney, a practising member of the Church of Scotland, went to the Roman Catholic Scottish National Tribunal to have his first marriage annulled. The Church of Scotland marriage, which took place in 1991, was legally dissolved in 2000.
Mr Swinney, who is fighting a leadership challenge in September, attends Catholic mass regularly with Ms Quigley. He said he was ''very pleased'' to receive the letter from the tribunal telling him he was free to marry in the Catholic Church.
It is not clear whether this came directly from Rome, but it will certainly have been granted with the consent of the Vatican authorities.
Mr Swinney also spoke of his overwhelming love for his wife-to-be. ''She is the most joyous person to be with,'' he said. ''She is my rock, and I am extremely grateful to have met her.''
His application to have his first marriage annulled, lodged after the couple met in 2001, has taken less than two years to reach its positive conclusion. However, suspicions that Mr Swinney's case was helped by the fact that his divorce was the result of his first wife's infidelity, or even that it was rushed through because of his high public profile, have been strongly rejected by the Catholic Church.
Peter Kearney, spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, said: ''Neither scenario would have been a factor, and John Swinney's case is by no means the quickest. He would have been treated in the same way as everyone else. It is the state of the marriage when it was entered into that is taken into account. Pre-existing grounds allowing it to be set aside would have to be present from the very beginning.
''Any breakdown that develops after a marriage, be it as a result of drunkenness, violence, or adultery, has little bearing on the process, even if the petitioner is the injured party.
''However, these can be indicators of a pre-existing defect that was present at the beginning of the marriage. It is the function of the tribunal to satisfy itself, through interviews with parties to and witnesses of that marriage, that the pre-existing defects were always there.''
The wedding today will recognise both faiths: it will be conducted by a Catholic priest and addressed by a former minister of Mr Swinney's parish in Perthshire, where he lives.
A senior member of the Church of Scotland last night said there was ''general unease'' in the Kirk with the concept of annulment.
The Very Rev Finlay Macdonald, former moderator and principal clerk of the Church of Scotland, said: ''The general trouble we would have with the concept of annulment would be that annulment presumes that the marriage never took place.
''Even a marriage that sadly ends in divorce can have had some good things in it and that is a reality that shouldn't be forgotten. However, John and Elizabeth are good friends of mine and I wish them well.''
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article