Can a couple who has not been legally married be godparents?

Question:

If a priest officiates a religious wedding without a civil one, can this couple also marry other couples? Thanks.

I wonder how that couple managed to officiate the religious wedding without registering their marriage at the registry office. Who is the “servant” who officiated such a service? No God-fearing priest or pastor will do this. But even if they managed to get married in this way, what now prevents them from going to the registry office to register their civil marriage? Are they afraid to bind themselves to something? Maybe they are thinking about divorce and are afraid that they will have to share their fortune? Do they prefer to give a godly appearance to their marriage, but at the same time live as if they were in cohabitation? For this is the thinking of those who live in cohabitation – they do not want to be bound by any responsibilities to each other and to their children.

No, these people can’t be godparents. In most Protestant and neo-Protestant churches there is no practice of godparents, and in Orthodox churches they not only fulfill the role of witnesses to the forming of the marriage covenant, but also have the duty to be mentors to the newlyweds. What kind of mentors can be this couple who to this day live without taking responsibility for each other (cohabitation), after they have managed to avoid the correct church order? They are not worthy to be mentors.

I advise the couple who want to be godparents, but who have not yet registered their civil marriage, to repent of their condition and to hurry to officially register their marriage at the civil status office as well.

Translated by Nicoleta Vicliuc