A more thorough explanation:

Pauline privilege is a rule in the Catholic Church that allows a baptized person to end their marriage to an unbaptized person under certain circumstances. This is done when it is beneficial to the church.

The privilege can be used when:

• The marriage was valid
• The baptized spouse wants to marry a Catholic
• Both parties were unbaptized at the time of the marriage

Before the privilege can be used, the following conditions must be met:

• The unbaptized spouse must have left the baptized spouse without a good reason
• The unbaptized spouse must still be unbaptized
• The baptized spouse must ask the church for permission to use the privilege
• The church must agree that the privilege can be used

There is some uncertainty about how far the privilege can be used. The Petrine Privilege is a similar rule that applies to marriages between two unbaptized people.

For example, if a Catholic woman marries a man who is not baptized, and he later leaves her without a good reason, she may be able to use the Pauline Privilege to end the marriage and marry a Catholic man instead.