SYDNEY, June 27 (UPI) -- Nicole Kidman married singer Keith Urban in Sydney in a Catholic ceremony without an annulment because the church hadn't recognized her marriage to Tom Cruise.
It had been widely reported that Kidman received an annulment of her first union. Because the previous marriage had been performed in the Church of Scientology, however, it was not considered legitimate in the Catholic church, the BBC reported.
Kidman only needed a license from the church, saying she was legally free to marry. Father Paul Coleman, who married the couple, spoke of the religious ceremony as Kidman's spiritual homecoming.
The Vatican is said to be displeased with the rate of annulments in the United States, saying U.S. priests are too easy to argue for "psychological incapacity assuming the obligations."
The Holy See said 43,153 annulments were granted worldwide, almost 29,000 of which were issued in North America, in 2003. Only 511 were granted in Great Britain and 304 in Ireland.
