Charles' religion accepts that human beings have weaknesses and make mistakes and permits him, and every other member of the Church of England, to confess his sins, express his remorse, and be forgiven by God. Here is part of the transcript of the CNN coverage of Camilla & Charles' wedding. The speakers are correspondent Becky Anderson and Anderson Cooper, and the Right Rev. Michael Scott-Joynt, Bishop of Winchester.
"ANDERSON: OK. Bishop Michael Scott is still with us. He's in the London bureau. Bishop, thank you very much indeed for staying with us. Talk to us, if you will, through the blessing that we will be witnessing live here on CNN in the next hour or so.
SCOTT-JOYNT: Glad to do that. And I think the -- it's heart is the couple's affirmation, before God and in public, of the marriage commitment that they've just made in the register office. They're praying together for God's blessing on their marriage and they're doing that in the context of Christian worship in that historic place before the archbishop of Canterbury. And that's the core of the service.
Of course, it's the case that, like any Church of England service, there is an expression of penitence, of regret, of remorse, which they, and all the others who are there, will say together. They'll use language then that Prince Charles will have used most Sundays of his life. But it's really not the case to say, as I think I heard a few minutes ago, that that act of penitence is the heart of the service. That's simply a natural element within it.
The heart of the service, in my judgment, is their public reaffirmation of the commitment to each other in marriage, that they've just made privately before this small number of people in the register office. And that will be a moment where people will be able to see that the couple have committed themselves in this way.
COOPER: That act of penitence has received, obviously, a lot of attention in British papers. People focusing on past acts of indiscretion -- and they both have -- has occurred. What exactly is the act of penitence? What do people -- what do they say and what do those in attendance say as well? SCOTT-JOYNT: Well, I think the British press I think have got themselves over-excited about that. Of course it's the case that on a day like this, none of those present and none of the rest of us can forget the past, and many of those pictures have been shown already on news bulletins earlier today. I'm quite -- I'm confident that in their preparation for the service with the archbishop of Canterbury, Prince Charles and Camilla will have talked through with him, I guess, prayed through with him, the events of the past. And, of course, it's natural that in this service, as in any other Church of England service, there is a corporate act of penitence.
The words of it are those from the confession and the Book of Common Prayer and Communion Service, and they're strong words. And when we say them, as any of us who are Christians do regularly, we have in mind both our own personal sins and shortcomings and those that we share in as some human beings. It's very important then to realize that whenever we confess our sins, we're looking to God for forgiveness, and the confession that they and everybody else present will say together will be immediately followed by the archbishop's expressing God's forgiveness for the couple and all concerned for what they have poured into that confession.
I think it's important too to remember and to be very sympathetic about today, the reality that as in any marriage of this kind, all many of those present will have all kinds of complex, difficult, many- layered memories of the past, from the couple's children to their parents to previous -- a previous spouse, to friends, who lived with all the history of the last 20, 30 years or so. So all that will be there, and the act of penitence is there. The absolution is really more important, the declaring of God's forgiveness, and the core of it is that done and meant and real their affirmation of their marriage commitment to each other before God and us all."
Charles admitted his transgressions as provided for in the rules of the Anglican Church and, according to the Church to which he belongs and of which he will one day be Supreme Governor, he has been forgiven by God. In those circumstances, I think it's high time for people who dwell on the past and the mistakes he made associated with his ill-fated first marriage, to forgive him, too.
ETA: Here is a link to the transcript of the coverage. It includes the service itself and the relevant words of Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury. There's some other interesting stuff in there, too, related to Diana and Charles.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0504/09/se.01.html
