[PrettyGirl]

The number of actual Catholic marriages that are annuled is very, very low. I forgot the exact numbers but I remember our priest did give it to us...thousands of people apply for annulments with the Vatican every year but very few are actually granted...not even 10%. I think these high-profile cases make it seem as if they're more.

Just for the record, the Catholic Church does recognize all marriages that were done in other faiths or even civilly. It's not like they think it never existed or they don't count. But they consider that uniting of those two persons done by man, not by God. A marriage by man does not have Christ's blessing. A spiritual one does and those are the one's they're concerned about--uniting people in marriage to others when they're already married by God to someone else.