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Muscat to visit Pope Francis to discuss marriage concordat
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat visits Pope Francis I at the Vatican to hold talks on 1993 Church-State agreement.
23 June 2013, 12:00am
Raphael Vassallo
Raphael Vassallo
1 min read
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will be a guest of Pope Francis I at the Vatican tomorrow, where informal talks will commence regarding the future of the 1993 Church-State agreement concerning marriage.
Muscat, who won a landslide majority in last March's general election, announced his intention to revisit this contentious agreement immediately upon taking office. One of his first initiatives as Prime Minister was to a send a 'note verbale' to the Holy See to initiate discussions on the abrogation of the concordat.
Singed by former Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami and Foreign Minister Guido de Marco in 1993, the agreement envisages a partial concession to the Ecclesiastical Tribunal over the local civil courts when it comes to the annulment of Catholic marriages.
Proceedings commenced in the Church marriage tribunal take automatic precedence over simlar proceedings in the civil courts: prompting lawyers to complain about a potential breach of human rights (in particular, the right to be represented by a lawyer of one's choice, which was often denied by the Ecclesiastic Tribunal).
The issue assumed greater relevance in the wake of the divorce referendum of 2011, in which almost 54% voted for the introduction of divorce.
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This marriage agreement between the government of Fenech Adami and the Vatican in 1993 was one of the worst mistakes by Fenech Adami - who arrogantly re-appeared to address a Gonzipn meeting before the last election. For 20 years the Maltese who were handcuffed by this agreement had to lump it.It is surprising how the Vatican had accepted this agreement that put the state of Malta in an inferior position to the state of the Vatican. For it goes contrary to Christ's teaching that we must give to God what belongs to God and to the State what belongs to the state.This shameful agreement is on the way out, thank God, but would have stayed as long as there was a PN government.
