Tom Cruise & Nicole: never married?

Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise may have blinded the Catholic Church with Scientology.

The BBC reported Monday that, while there has been speculation that Kidman got her first marriage annulled so that she and Keith Urban could say their "I do's" in a Catholic chapel, it turns out that, because she and Cruise swapped vows upon the altar that L. Ron Hubbard built, she wasn't legally married in the first place--as far as the Catholic Church is concerned, that is.

Father Paul Coleman, the priest who presided over Kidman and Urban's star-studded nuptials in Sydney over the weekend, told BBC News that in the case of the Oscar-winning Aussie's first marriage, the requirements for a valid union were not fulfilled.

"The Catholic Church sets down requirements to have a valid Catholic marriage," he said, referring to Sunday's wedding as a spiritual homecoming for Kidman.

Interestingly enough, you don't have to be Catholic yourself. But, you do have to seal the deal in a Catholic place of worship--which Cruise and Kidman did not do, instead opting for a ceremony conducted by the Church of Scientology.

So, although Catholicism frowns on divorce as a rule (and it isn't in love with annulments, either), the fact that Cruise and Kidman said "I don't" in 2001 did not affect her second trip down the aisle.

Chances were slim that Kidman would have been granted an annulment, anyway. She and Cruise were legally husband and wife for 10 years, kind of a long time to turn around and claim that the union was fraudulent, entered into under misleading circumstances or a victim of one of the other reasons people give for erasing a marriage from the record books. (Only Kenny and Renee know for sure?)

To end the story on a happy note, after Kidman and Urban were cleared to get hitched in a romantic, cliffside Catholic ceremony, they were good to go on a romantic, secluded honeymoon before returning to the States to set up house in Nashville. The newlyweds were spotted boarding the blushing bride's private jet Monday, and were reportedly bound for either Fiji (a popular Cruise-Kidman destination in the past) or Tahiti.