Catholic Church Accused of Bending Marriage Rules for President Pena Nieto David Agren - The Guardian
go to original February 7, 2016

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Angélica Rivera at their wedding in 2010. (Marco Ugarte/AP)

The Catholic church in Mexico has been accused of bending its own rules on marriage to allow Enrique Peña Nieto to enhance his image ahead of his successful run for president.

Documents obtained by investigative reporters appear to show that the church hierarchy fast-tracked a marriage annulment for the actor Angélica Rivera, who became Peña Nieto’s wife 19 months before he was elected president.

The claims of ecclesiastical irregularities come days before Pope Francis makes a six-day trip to Mexico, in which he is expected to address touchy topics such as corruption, inequality and insecurity – matters on which the Mexican government has mostly stayed silent under Peña Nieto.

Reporters with the news weekly Proceso and online news organization Aristegui Noticias obtained the documents, which were shared with the Guardian.

Peña Nieto’s first wife, Mónica Pretelini, died in January 2007 after suffering an epileptic seizure. His subsequent romance with Rivera, who had been hired as the public face of Mexico state, where Peña Nieto was governor, produced a steady stream of puff pieces and cover stories in the country’s gossip magazines.

Rivera, a popular soap opera star, was married to TV producer José Alberto Castro from 2004 to 2008. They have three daughters together, including two who were born out of wedlock. The archdiocese of Mexico City annulled their marriage in May 2009, noting that the ceremony had taken place on a beach in Acapulco and exhibited “defects of canonical form”.

But the newly revealed church documents cast doubt on the archdiocese’s story that an improper wedding ceremony was sufficient grounds to annul the marriage.

Read the rest at The Guardian

Related: With the Pope on the Way, Mexico’s President Is Embroiled in Wedding Scandal (Crux)

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