Two lovers decided to say “yes” to each other in church. While the process was well underway, the priest finally refused to authorize them to marry for a reason that was as absurd as it was unfair.
The happiest day of David and Violette*’s lives turned sour. On July 13, 2024, they were to get married first at the town hall of Moulin-sous-Touvent (Oise), then at the village church. Except that they ultimately weren’t able to say “yes” to each other in the religious building… A few months earlier, in January, they approached the church priest, but the deadline was too short for the traditional preparation, so he sent them to a feasible fast-track procedure a few miles away. For three months, they held interviews with a priest from the Congregation of the Servants of Jesus and Mary, reports The Parisian.
When he asks them if they want to have children, Violette explains to him that she has endometriosis and that she has already experienced a spontaneous termination of pregnancy. She adds that she would like to try again to conceive a child but that, despite an operation and consultations with specialists, she is not sure she will succeed.. “I risk serious complications if I stop my contraception. So I explained it, but this man’s face closed and he stopped everything. It was over”remembers the young woman. The reason: the couple’s infertility problems.
But David having been raised in the Catholic faith, he insists on getting married in the church. For her part, Violette is baptized and wants her fiancé’s wish to come true. So, they took new steps, going so far as to write to the Pope. However, “if the priest who made the preparation does not sign the administrative document, any celebration is impossible”indicates the diocese of Oise.
The couple again contacts the person who conducted the interviews, who agrees to receive them individually. But no solution will be found, and he even goes so far as to report comments that the future bride and groom claim not to have made. “I was told that my partner had reiterated her wish not to want children. I told them that it was impossible. They wanted to cause trouble to support their version: that we did not accept the life.”says David. The priest affirms that Violette “said he didn’t want (children).”
It is he who will have the last word, and Violette laments: “I was too sincere. I was taught not to lie, to be honest. It’s unfair but I don’t want to get into endless conflicts.” With David, they therefore had no other choice but to settle for the civil ceremony at the town hall.
*first names have been changed
