Editing Engagement (section)

====Catholic Church====
Historically, betrothal in Roman Catholicism is a formal contract considered as binding as marriage, and a divorce is necessary to terminate a betrothal.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.askelm.com/doctrine/d870301.htm |title=Marriage, Divorce, Living Together and the Bible |first=Ernest L. |last=Martin}}</ref> Betrothed couples are regarded legally as husband and wife – even before their wedding and [[Consummation|physical union]].
The concept of an official engagement period in Western European culture may have begun in 1215 at the Fourth Lateran Council, headed by Pope Innocent III, which decreed that "marriages are to be&nbsp;... announced publicly in the churches by the priests during a suitable and fixed time so that, if legitimate impediments exist, they may be made known."<ref>[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/lateran4.html Medieval Sourcebook: Twelfth Ecumenical Council: Lateran IV 1215<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://www.utunumsint.org/lateran%20iv.htm Utunumsint.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060712133501/http://www.utunumsint.org/lateran%20iv.htm |date=2006-07-12 }}</ref>  Such a formal church announcement of the intent to marry is known as banns. In some jurisdictions, reading the banns may be part of one type of legal marriage.