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On Saturday, Mr Johnson married his partner Carrie Symonds in London’s Westminster Cathedral, making him the first Prime Minister to get married while in office in 199 years. But Mr Johnson has been attacked by Today host Allison Langdon for his unironed shirt.
Alex Cullen, newsreader on the Australian show, began the discussion and shared images from Mr Johnson’s wedding.
He said: “Isn’t that lovely? The British Prime Minister married 33-year-old Carrie Symonds in a secretly planned wedding at Westminster Cathedral.
“It’s his third marriage and he’s already returned to work.
“He’s the first Prime Minister to get married while in office in nearly 200 years.”
Mr Johnson was divorced from his first wife, Allegra Mostyn-Owen, in 1993 and finalised his separation from his second wife, Marina Wheeler, in November last year.
Father Mark Drew, an assistant priest in Warrington, tweeted: “Can anyone explain to me how ‘Boris’ Johnson, who left the Catholic church while at Eaton [sic] and is twice divorced, can be married at Westminster Cathedral, while I have to tell practising Catholics in good faith who want a second marriage in Church that it’s not possible?”
Others pointed out how his marriage reaffirms it is “one canon law for the rich and one for the poor”.
Christopher Lamb, Rome correspondent for the Catholic magazine the Tablet, told BBC Radio 5 live: “There will be a feeling that, why are some people who are divorced allowed to be married in the church and others not?
“And I think that’s where the church can look at its current rules and see how it can become more welcoming.
“It has been welcoming to Boris Johnson, why not to others?”
The Catholic church does not also permit same-sex marriages or blessings of same-sex couples to take place in church.
Father James Martin, editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine America, called for the church to have the same “mercy and compassion” of same-sex marriages.
He tweeted: “Mr and Mrs Johnson were married within the rules of the Catholic church. And I wish them well.
“I also wish that the same mercy and compassion that was offered to them, recognising their complex lives, could also be extended to same-sex couples who are lifelong Catholics.”
Announcing their wedding, Mr Johnson’s office said on Sunday: “The Prime Minister and Ms Symonds were married yesterday afternoon in a small ceremony at Westminster Cathedral.
“The couple will celebrate their wedding with family and friends next summer.”
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