'Old' versus 'new' Catholics in the Church's fight against divorce

The spokesperson for the Maltese archdiocese, Kevin Papagiorcopulo, has taken a month off from his office at the Curia to put his public relations skills at the service of the anti-divorce lobby group Żwieġ Bla Divorzju.

And news of a new religious movement – Kristu Iva, Divorzju Le – that will ‘crusade’ against the introduction of divorce has been met with the disapproval of Fr Joe Borg, Times blogger and university lecturer.

Papagiorcopulo’s involvement in Żwieġ Bla Divorzju may confirm something few people had any doubt about: the Maltese church’s fundamental role in supporting the main lobby against divorce.

But while the Church intensifies its involvement in Żwieġ Bla Divorzju - because the latter makes an effort to present itself a lay organisation with spokespersons who are not members of the clergy - Fr Borg speaks of Kristu Iva, Divorzju Le as a group of “nostalgic Catholics” that are also described by Archbishop Paul Cremona as “a pastoral problem for the Church”.

At the heart of the Church’s role in campaigning against the introduction of divorce, is its mission not to set up an over-zealous front. That is why people like Andre Camilleri and Arthur Galea Salomone, from the financial services world; or Joyce Cassar and entertainers Pierre Cordina and wife Mireille Bonello, embody a modern movement of Catholics who do not hail from the musty world of convents but who seek to present social arguments against divorce. 

Borg himself was a signatory of a declaration by theologians that argued that Catholics may consider voting for divorce if they “form their conscience according to God’s Word and the teaching of the Church.”

As he himself blogged in The Times, Borg said the Kristu Iva, Divorzju Le movement “builds no bridges with those good Catholics who after reflecting on Church teaching, studying the local situation and researching about the effects of divorce overseas support its introduction as the lesser of two evils” – summing up the spirit of the theologians’ declaration.

But while Borg and people like Anton Gouder, the Archbishop’s pro vicar-general, attempted to reach out to ‘good Catholics’, other Church leaders like Gozo bishop Mario Grech do not subscribe to this reasoning, going by one of his latest homilies in which he said there was “no compromise on a proper, true and sincere conscience” for Christians.

And referring to the issue of divorce, Bishop Grech said the authority that guides Christians’ conscience “doesn’t come from theologians’ opinions or socio-economic considerations, but from the Church’s ministry, and the Pope’s and his bishops’ teachings.”

So the Church itself appears divided on its political strategy of how to reach out to Catholics and Maltese voters who, going by MaltaToday’s latest survey are still undecided.

Borg himself refers to Catholics in Kristu Iva... as the backbone of Maltese Catholics’ core audience but says they are “described by Archbishop Cremona as a pastoral problem for the Church” – and their crusading spirit risks annoying people.

As Borg himself states, people may be tempted to vote for divorce because of an unjustified “fear that the Church’s position results from its desire to dominate not from a desire to serve. There are lines that should not be crossed and limits that should be respected.”