How Would You Like to Be Married by Pope Francis?

The Vatican has announced that next month, Pope Francis will officiate at his first wedding ceremony since his election to the papacy.

On September 14, Pope Francis will marry not just one, but 20 engaged couples from the Diocese of Rome.  The nuptial Mass will take place in St. Peter’s Basilica, just a few weeks before the start of the extraordinary synod of bishops on the family.

According to the Catholic Herald, this will be the first time since 2000 that a pope has officiated at a wedding.  In that year, St. John Paul II married eight couples from around the world as part of the Jubilee for Families.  Pope Benedict XVI had never celebrated a marriage ceremony during the years of his pontificate.