Catholic Church targets Maltese homes with 12-point missive against divorce

MaltaToday has seen the text of a 12-point message the Maltese Church will be sending to all homes in Malta and Gozo as part of its campaign to convince voters not to vote for divorce in the 28 May referendum.

The Maltese parliament last week approved an Opposition motion to hold a referendum asking voters if they agree with the introduction of divorce for spouses who have spent four years separated.

The 12-point missive comes in the form of a Q&A, and also tells voters to go out to vote and not abstain. “If you abstain it means you don’t care about your family and other families, as well as your children. If you know and agree that Jesus doesn’t want divorce, and divorce brings much harm to Maltese society and the family, then you must go vote and show that you don’t agree with divorce.”

The first question asks why battered wives should not be allowed to divorce abusive husbands, evoking the famous retort by Andre Camilleri, of the anti-divorce movement Zwieg Bla Divorzju, who said divorce would allow abusers to remarry at will.

“If divorce is introduced, not only will battered wives remarry, but even her abusive husband!” the Church’s version states. “Apart from that, divorce allows anybody who capriciously leaves their spouse to remarry. Divorce doesn’t fix anything.”

The Church will say that cohabitation will increase when divorce is introduced, since less people will want to marry if divorce is available: this already puts the Church at loggerheads with Lawrence Gonzi’s stated position to pass a cohabitation law to grant rights to people living together.

On which statistics to believe, the Church is resting on these three maxims: cohabitation increased in countries that introduced divorce; second and third marriages are bound to fail more than the first; ‘many below the poverty line’ are divorcees, especially women and children. It will also claim that since cohabiting couples will increase, then so will children born out of wedlock.

On whether divorce is a civil right, the Church will tell people that “abandoning your family to remarry is not a right as established in the European Court of Human Rights 1986 ruling in Johnston versus Ireland.” The ruling had found that Johnston could not invoke the Convention’s right to family life to grant him the right to divorce in Ireland, which at that time did not have divorce.

When ‘asked’ why Malta should be the only country apart from the Philippines not to have divorce, the Church will answer: “America has the death penalty – should we introduce that?” and ask voters to learn from other countries’ mistakes.

The Church will also warn Catholics they cannot divorce and remarry in Church, and will also be prohibited from the sacraments of confession and communion.  “Divorce does not dissolve a Catholic marriage.”

On why atheists or non-Catholics should not be granted divorce, the Church has no specific answer except to call on all Catholics to vote against divorce and make people understand the harm of divorce.

On why priests can leave the priesthood and marry, while spouses cannot leave a marriage, the Church coyly concedes this as “a good point”. But it says celibacy is a canonical law while it is God who says that marriage cannot be unbound. “The Church can change its law when it sees the need... but it cannot change God’s law.”