Duc_et_Pair
Imperial Majesty
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2014
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- 13,235
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- Netherlands
So that's:
-one Protestant guy who needed to ensure his spouse and all his descendants would be Catholic
-one mixed marriage overseen by the most egalitarian, ecumenical, and small-c catholic Belgian sovereigns by far, with the no-pressure approach then ending with Astrid converting anyway (imagine what King Baudouin would have been like with a Protestant mother)
-and Albert and Paola have been famously reconciled by the Church, something that hasn't even worked with JC and Sofia.
Everybody is quite right about the decline of religiosity and the Catholic Church in Europe, but that doesn't mean the family has gotten less Catholic or more liberal about it. Laurent would seem to be the biggest candidate for irreligiosity of them all, but the spiritual counseling he's received is noted with great value.
You know Gabriel's uncle Laurent wanted to covert to Islam? In an interview with La Dernière Heure in 2015 the Prince himself told about his passion for Islam and that he and his three children actively learn Arabic language and culture: "An immensely poetic language, so much more so than French". Including reading the Qu'ran because -according to Laurent- it is part of "world heritage".
Yes, we know about his friendship with "rock priest" Père Guy Gilbert but it all does not appear as "staunchly Catholic". That is to be praised, that one is open to all cultures and even Faiths by the way.
https://www.dhnet.be/actu/belgique/...t-apprennent-l-arabe-54e64d2c35701001a1d1b765
When Gabriel learns an Anglican British, or an Orthodox Serbian, or a Protestant Dutch partner: in all cases I expect religion not to be a decisive problem. In the end in essence it all goes about the same Father, the same Son and the same Holy Spirit.
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