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Gwen Stefani is very Catholic. She was raised in the church. She goes to church with her children most Sundays. She and her ex-husband Gavin Rossdale needed a day-long mediation session about how much Gwen was exposing the kids to the Catholic church, and how Gavin wanted their sons to be raised with less Christianity in their lives. And now it looks like Gwen wants the church to annul her marriage to Gavin completely, and until she gets an annullment, she won’t be marrying Blake Shelton. Huh.

On hold! Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton have been ready to say “I do” for quite some time — but now they want to make sure they have God on their side before they walk down the aisle, a source exclusively reveals in the new issue of Us Weekly.

The former No Doubt front woman, 49, “began the formal process” to have her marriage to ex-husband Gavin Rossdale annulled by Catholic church officials “so she can marry Blake and have it be recognized by the church,” says the source. “Gwen’s religion has always been extremely important to her, and Blake is completely supportive of this.”

Even though Stefani and the country singer, 42, have been ready to get married for a while, “there are obstacles they have to deal with” first, an insider revealed in February. One of the issues is their living arrangement. The Voice coach currently splits his time between his native Oklahoma and Los Angeles, while Stefani is based in L.A. with her three sons, Kingston, 12, Zuma, 10, and Apollo, 4. But in the meantime, the couple are happier than ever. Adds the source, “they’re willing to wait.”

[From Us Weekly]

Blake has wanted to hold off on marriage for a while now, and I think that’s a bigger part of this. Blake is gun-shy about marriage after his disastrous marriage to Miranda Lambert. As for the annulment… I honestly don’t know much about Catholic doctrine and all of the rules the church has about which marriages are eligible for annulment. It seems to me like a thirteen-year marriage which resulted in three children would be one of those marriages ineligible for annulment. Then again, Gavin clearly was not and is not a Catholic, so maybe that’s what will be used to annul. Your guess is as good as mine.

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