Ex-nuns Marrying Each Other

Quoted in part below is from an article entitled Former nuns to get civil union in northern Italy  published by The Local it  on September 30, 2016: [1] 

Isabel and Federica are among the many Italians finally able to make their love official, thanks to the civil union bill this year which legalized same sex unions in Italy. 

But their story is a little bit different: the 44-year-olds are both former nuns. 

Federica is Italian and Isabel South American, and both women used to belong to the Franciscan order, named after the current pope's namesake Francis of Assisi. 

They fell in love during a mission and have been together for three years, according to northern Italian daily La Stampa, which shared the ex-nuns' story on Wednesday.

After the civil ceremony, the lesbian nuns received "a religious blessing from ex-priest Franco Barbero, who himself was suspended from the Church in 2003 due to his support of gay marriage and criticism of Catholic doctrine." [2]  "'They got to know each other slowly, and discovered they had deep feelings,' Barbero told La Stampa. 'They are two marvellous people, with very deep faith. They reflected for a long time and took the decision courageously, knowing it wouldn't be accepted.'" [3]

What did Franco Barbero mean when he said that the nuns "got to know each other slowly"?  Could the word "slowly" be replaced with "intimately" and Franco Barbero would still be saying the truth?  Only God, the two nuns themselves and perhaps their confessor would know for certain if their relationship was platonic before they severed ties officially with their order and the Vatican.  If their relationship was a sexual one during the three years they were together as nuns, then they would have broken their respective vow of celibacy.  If that happened, it was not the first time in the history of the Catholic church, and certainly not limited to just homosexuals and to just nuns.

This blogger thinks that the nuns did the right thing, to quit being nuns rather than carrying on a sexual relationship wearing their Franciscan habits, living a hypocritical double-life.  This blogger wishes them a happy marriage and hopes that they would continue to live their lives together with at least the same degree of humility and love for God as when they entered their convents separately.


[1] https://www.thelocal.it/20160928/former-nuns-to-tie-the-knot-in-civil-union
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.