LONDON, July 9 (UPI) -- The Church of England decided overwhelmingly Tuesday to permit divorced couples to remarry in church under certain circumstances -- a decision that could open the way for Prince Charles and the first such marriage by a monarch-to-be since Henry VIII.
The church's ruling General Synod, meeting in York, England, voted 269-83 in favor of allowing divorcees to wed in the church, in a major step toward ending a dilemma that Bishop of Winchester Michael Scott-Joynt said had "afflicted the church from its earliest days."
The synod gave its blessings to a motion that said the church now recognized "that some marriages regrettably do fail and there are exceptional circumstances in which a divorced person may be married in church during the lifetime of a former spouse." The decision in each case would be left to individual priests.
The ruling was approved over the fierce opposition of the Church of England's evangelical wing, which feared that such a ruling would "devalue the principle of a lifelong marriage before God." Others were concerned that it could wreck the church's rapprochement with the Roman Catholic Church.
The decision appeared to clear the way for Prince Charles, the heir-apparent to the British throne, to eventually marry his divorced mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles, within the Church of England, if they wish -- and if he can win approval from his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
That may prove tougher that getting the church's nod. The queen is the titular head and carries the title "defender of the faith" of the Church of England, and she has only reluctantly gone along with Charles's relationship with Camilla. His long-time companion was divorced from her husband Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles in 1995.
A church source told the U.K. Press Association that "the church has been wrestling with this problem for many years, long before it became an issue for Prince Charles."
But veteran religious commentator George Austin told journalists that Tuesday's vote "will be interpreted by the public as the church giving its backing to Prince Charles marrying Camilla Parker Bowles. She is the love of his life, and it is better that they marry."
In fact, the issue of divorce was the major issue the Church of England was born in the first place. Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic faith and launched the breakaway religion in the 16th century, in part to get a divorce from his first wife, Katherine of Aragon, to marry Anne Boleyn.
The Anglican Church has refused since the 17th century to marry persons whose previous partners were still alive. But pressure of the different lifestyles of the 20th century and 21st century life forced the church's hierarchy as long as 20 years ago to begin contemplating a relaxation.
The General Synod, seeking to keep peace between the church's liberal and evangelical wings, insisted in its motion Tuesday that "marriage should always be undertaken as a solemn, public and lifelong covenant between a man and a woman."
The bishop of Winchester rejected suggestions that the relaxation of the rules would trigger a "free-for-all" among divorcees to remarry in church and said that under the new guidelines the clergy would still have to ask "searching questions" before giving them the go-ahead.
Without the change, Scott-Joynt told the synod, "We (the Church) present an uncertain, incoherent picture to those who want to know where the Church of England stands on an issue which sadly touches the lives of many thousands of people."
