Kris and Marriage

Someone asked me, "I have a friend who... heard that Kris Aquino is seeking annulment on the ground that neither she nor James belonged to the sect of the priest solemnizing their wedding. Is this a valid ground? My answer is it is not a valid ground for annulment. At most it is a defect in the authority of the solemnizing officer and will not affect the validity of the marriage. There are two essential requisites and three formal requisites for a valid marriage. The essential requisites are legal capacity and consent. Absence of an essential requisite makes the marriage void, while a defect in an essential requisite makes the marriage voidable. The formal requisites are marriage license, authorized solemnizing officer, and marriage ceremony. The absence of a formal requisites makes the marriage void, but the defect in a formal requisities will not affect the validity of the marriage. When a priest or pastor solemnizes a marriage, he must be authorized by his congregation, and the civil registrar. Futhermore, one of the parties must be a member of his sect. And this is where Kris anchored her case. However, an authorized solemnizing officer the priest was. Defect was not in his authority but in the religion of Kris and James. But for sure when they got married before the priest or pastor, they had declared that one of them was a member of the religious sect. They are now estopped from claiming that one of them is not. The religion of the parties are found in the marriage certificate. Lastly, the law will not annul a marriage on the ground that the solemnizing officer is not authorized to marry them if one party believes in good faith that he has authority.