Kennedy annulment reversed

The annulment of the first marriage of former US congressman Joseph Kennedy has been reversed by the Catholic Church, ten years after they agreed to it.

Mr Kennedy's former wife Sheila Raunch requested that the decision be reversed because she objects to the fact that it makes it seem as though her marriage to him did not exist, the WENN news agency reports. Moreover, she believes that her ex-husband used his family's influence with the Vatican to obtain it.

The couple wed in 1979 and had two children together. The marriage ended in a civil divorce 12 years later, but in 1993 Mr Kennedy obtained the annulment which allowed him to marry his secretary Anne Elizabeth Kelly in a Catholic ceremony.

Following the Catholic Church's decision, Ms Raunch said: "I'm very grateful that the marriage was validated. The [original] annulment decision totally overlooked the fact that I felt that we had a very strong marriage in the beginning, we had two wonderful children, and it lasted. I was certainly happy in the beginning... Things unravelled, but that doesn't mean you didn't have a marriage."

Mr Kennedy, the son of late politician Robert F Kennedy and the nephew of late President J F Kennedy, served in the US House of Representatives from 1987 to 1999.