Catholic Royals

[An Ard Ri]

Originally Posted by Furienna

But since her mother was Brazilian, and she did live in Brazil as a child, it's not hard to imagine, that she's "half Catholic". But if you say that's not the case, I believe you.

As per Wikipedia Alice Sommerlath father was a descendant of Afonso III of Portugal,so she might well have some Roman Catholic blood.

[Kit]

No,not necessarily so.They can opt for the children to choose themselves once they grow older.A wise thing.Or,they can have the baptisms performed by both a minister and a priest,as has happened here as we have several of our protestant House who married Catholics.But then we here are advanced in the way we experience Faith and put it into practice.It is increasingly of this day and age,instead of medieval times
Yes, they must. You can read it in the Catechism

No they must NOT. Lucien is right! The catechism has been changed and adapted many times, the last time in 1992. The rule that they must raise their children catholic only applies in theory. The catholic church can not force all of their members to raise their children catholic, they have simply not the power nor the legal rights to do so. Times most definitely have changed.

[Furienna]

Originally Posted by An Ard Ri

As per Wikipedia Alice Sommerlath father was a descendant of Afonso III of Portugal,so she might well have some Roman Catholic blood.

So our first commoner queen for four hundred years has some royal blood after all?

[Kit]

yes of course Queen Silvia has some royal blood. It is a well known-fact in Austria and Germany, though apparently not in Sweden.

[Meraude]

Originally Posted by Furienna

But since her mother was Brazilian, and she did live in Brazil as a child, it's not hard to imagine, that she's "half Catholic". But if you say that's not the case, I believe you.

That she was familiar with the Catholic church and its rituals doesn't make a person "half Catholic" if there is such a thing, it's whether she has been baptized and brought up in the Catholic or Lutheran faith.

If she had been a Catholic there wouldn't have been any reason for her to change her faith, as Sweden have already had two Catholic Bernadotte queens, Desirée and Joséphine, and one queen of the Dutch Reformed Church, Louise. The only persons who have to be of Lutheran faith in the royal family is the monarch and his/her heirs.

[An Ard Ri]

Originally Posted by Furienna

So our first commoner queen for four hundred years has some royal blood after all?

Yes but it came via the King's mistress, Maria Peres de Enxara.

Queen Silvia's mother was born Alice Soares de Toledo,you can read more here.

Alice Sommerlath - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Furienna]

Originally Posted by Meraude

That she was familiar with the Catholic church and its rituals doesn't make a person "half Catholic" if there is such a thing, it's whether she has been baptized and brought up in the Catholic or Lutheran faith.

If she had been a Catholic there wouldn't have been any reason for her to change her faith, as Sweden have already had two Catholic Bernadotte queens, Desirée and Joséphine, and one queen of the Dutch Reformed Church, Louise. The only persons who have to be of Lutheran faith in the royal family is the monarch and his/her heirs.

But haven't many people been raised into two different religious traditions, because their parents come from two different faiths? It's not so hard to imagine, that Silvia and her brothers were more than familiar with the Catholic faith, when their mother was Brazilian and they also lived in Brazil for many years. But if that's totally incorrect, I admit my mistake.

As for whether or not she had to convert, when she became queen of Sweden, maybe she didn't have to. But the historical experience with Desirée and Josephine, who both were allowed to keep their Catholic faith, wouldn't have helped at all. From our 21rst century perspective, it seems very good, that they weren't forced to convert. But us having two Catholic queens in a row wasn't all that popular back then. For example, the Norwegian archbishop refused to coronate Josephine because of her Catholic faith. So even if Louise was Reformed rather than Lutheran, she was a Protestant, which was a relief for many people.

[Furienna]

Originally Posted by An Ard Ri

Yes but it came via the King's mistress, Maria Peres de Enxara.

Queen Silvia's mother was born Alice Soares de Toledo,you can read more here.

Alice Sommerlath - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I see. And it also appears that Alfonso III lived in the 13th century, so the royal ancestry is very distant. It's still cool to find out about this though, because I've never heard about it before.

[Meraude]

Originally Posted by Furienna

But haven't many people been raised into two different religious traditions, because their parents come from two different faiths? It's not so hard to imagine, that Silvia and her brothers were more than familiar with the Catholic faith, when their mother was Brazilian and they also lived in Brazil for many years. But if that's totally incorrect, I admit my mistake.

Just to have two parents with different religious traditions doesn't mean that they are raised into two different faiths, and to be familiar with a different faith doesn't make you "half-x". I would say that whatever faith Siliva have depends on what religion she has been confirmed into, and it's very possible that it was the Lutheran faith as her uncle was a Lutheran theolog.

Even if the Reformed Dutch Church is Protestant, as well as the Anglican Church (crown princess Margareta and probably queen Louise), that doesn't make their beliefs and rituals identical, so having a parent who practised an different Protestant faith would also influence their children when it comes to religious matters.

[Kit]

or maybe, just maybe she doesn't believe in God at all .... she could very well be an atheist for all we know.

[Meraude]

Originally Posted by Kit

or maybe, just maybe she doesn't believe in God at all .... she could very well be an atheist for all we know.

Queen Silvia is not an atheist, she has sponsored a prayer book for the Church of Sweden and there is a prayer in it that she wrote when she was eleven years old. And according to this article, Drottningen ger ut bönbok | Kultur | SvD , while her mother was a Catholic, Silvia, her brothers and father was Lutherans.

[Kit]

well as I said it could be. But if you say she is a Lutheran I believe you ;-)

[IslandDweller]

Empress Michiko has been widely reported to have been raised Catholic, but this has been hotly contested elsewhere on this forum.