To put it simply: Yes.
The Catholic Church has a long history of supporting marriage as a natural right. This includes upholding the validity of marriages across social classes and emphasizing free, individual consent. Both stances were countercultural in their times. Today, canon law still presumes the validity of any existing marriage unless proven otherwise.
The church has also historically asserted its right to define marriage. But even as it now maintains that natural marriage can only exist between one man and one woman, Catholicism has not viewed differences of faith as superseding the natural right to marry.
As St. Paul attests, Christians have been marrying non-Christians since the start of the church. In canon law, such marriage is known as “disparity of cult.”
In majority-Christian contexts, Catholic-Protestant pairings are more common. Throughout the last century, the ecumenical movement fostered greater understanding among Christians. However, the long history of tension and conflict remains significant in some communities. Canon law refers to marriages between Catholics and baptized non-Catholics as “mixed marriages.”
Whether a Catholic marries a non-Christian or someone of another denomination, canon law clarifies that both partners must understand the importance of preserving and protecting the faith of the Catholic spouse. Therefore, the non-Catholic partner must commit to not posing a barrier to their spouse’s practice of faith and acknowledge the Catholic spouse’s obligation to pass on their faith to their children to the best of their abilities. A formal process exists to ensure that these obligations are accepted.
The Catholic Church defines any marriage between baptized Christians as a sacrament, and mixed marriages only require permission from a local bishop. In contrast, because a non-Christian partner cannot consent to Christian marriage, as understood in the light of faith, disparity of cult requires a dispensation from a bishop. While the church would not view this marriage as sacramentally valid, it would be a valid natural and legal marriage.
Although it gets a little technical, canon law never defines marriage to a non-Catholic in moral terms. Instead, it emphasizes the potential challenges such marriages may pose for a person’s faith and the importance of informed and responsible consent among partners.
Interfaith and mixed Christian marriages do raise unique questions about how spouses will support each other across religious differences. That said, marriage is always complicated, and even Catholic spouses may discover challenging religious differences that call for mutual support and greater understanding.
While marriage can be wonderful, it isn’t magical. Entering marriage out of peer pressure, loneliness, financial insecurity, or a misplaced hope of fixing deeper relational issues are all wrong reasons to marry. But the goodness of marriage includes its possibilities for growth in life and love each day after.
This article also appears in the June 2026 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 91, No. 6, page 48). Click here to subscribe to the magazine.
