Pauline privilege

The Pauline privilege (Privilegium Paulinum) is a Christian doctrine drawn from the apostle Paul's instructions in the First Epistle to the Corinthians.

The Pauline privilege refers to the dissolution by the Church of the marriage of two persons not baptized at the time the marriage occurred.

In 1 Corinthians 7:10-15 it states:

"To the married I give charge, not I but the Lord, that the wife should not separate from her husband ... and that the husband should not divorce his wife. To the rest I say, not the Lord, ... But if the unbelieving partner desires to separate, let it be so; in such a case the brother or sister is not bound. For God has called us to peace."

The first section, "not I but the Lord", roughly matches Jesus' teaching on divorce, found in an antithesis (Matthew 5:32) with parallels in Matthew 19:9, Luke 16:18, and Mark 10:11. The second section, "I say, not the Lord", gives Paul's own teaching on divorce, and was initiated to address a serious pastoral problem in the Church in Corinth where problems apparently developed in marriages between believers and unbelievers. Therefore, in instances where the unbaptized spouse left the newly baptized spouse, Paul allowed the latter to enter into a new marriage.

In the Catholic Church and in some Protestant denominations (although most Protestants allow divorce in all circumstances), this is interpreted as allowing the dissolution of a marriage between two non-baptized persons in the case that one (but not both) of the partners seeks baptism and converts to Christianity and the other partner leaves the marriage. Assuming it is established that both spouses were un-baptized at the time of their marriage, and subsequently obtained a civil divorce, should the now baptized party wish to enter into a sacramental marriage, the Pauline Privilege ("in favor of the faith") takes place ipso facto at the time of that marriage.

...
Wikipedia