What if I was previously married to a non-Catholic or to an unbaptized person?
The Catholic Church presumes that everyone, Catholic or non-Catholic, marries intending their marriage to be a partnership of life that is faithful, life-long and open to the possibility of children. The Church does not recognize civil divorce as a way to end that commitment a commitment that we believe is binding until death. Whenever a previously married Catholic or non-Catholic wishes to marry in the Catholic Church, there must be a process to determine whether the former marriage commitment was valid, according to the doctrine and discipline of the Church.
