flucko, you are so incredible! Thank you for going to all that trouble and for giving such a detailed post... And the picture is fantastic. I see that pinky ring to which you refer; and the tell-tale 3rd finger of the left hand is ringless, as you indicated.

So there goes my romantic notion that Michael considered himself still married to Kay . Oh well, despite the absence of the ring, there are enough scenes between them in GF3 to indicate that Michael continues to have a special place in his heart for her .

And mustachepete, you brought up a good point about Michael's Catholicism. Considering that in GF3 he's trying to get into the good graces of the Catholic Church to make up for his past spiritual corruption, that could account for his wanting to have the semblance of following Catholic precepts, including those concerning marriage.

However, my feeling is that this is not the reason Michael did not remarry. First, Michael and Kay are already divorced. If Michael were truly concerned about adhering to Catholic orthodoxy, civil divorce would be out of the question, as it is forbidden by the Church. Admittedly, that's my weakest argument. As far as we know, in the film Kay had not converted to Catholicism. Plus she had originally left Michael, so I don't think there was much point in Michael fighting a divorce if she filed for one.

Most important, though, I believe the Church would have officially annulled Michael and Kay's marriage if Michael petitioned for that, which I think he did. The fact of his wife having an abortion without his knowledge would alone be enough grounds for an annulment. With the church's official "permission" to end the marriage, Michael is free to hobnob in the upper echelons of the Church without being looked on as an iconoclast (in other words, he's a "respectable" Catholic by all appearances). It also means that he is free to remarry.

That's my theory anyway . The question that we again come to is, since Michael has fulfilled Church requirements and can remarry, why doesn't he? (And at this point, I want to acknowledge the many good possible explanations that have been posted in this topic. More are welcome, for anyone who hasn't grown tired of this subject yet .)