Since taking office almost a year ago, the Prime Minister has tried to portray the image of a dynamic leader who does not hesitate to take bold measures. We remember that he tackled so many areas that effect government spending or allegedly increase productivity etc.

It is high time the Prime Minister shows us he is bold enough to straighten the Church’s ecclesiastical tribunal once and for all.The appeals for divorce are growing stronger and stronger and several correspondents writing to this newspaper are evidence of this.

I have concluded that the main cause of the strong rise of pro-divorce sentiment is the way the Church’s ecclesiastical tribunal operates.

Few would disagree that one of the most controversial laws ever passed through Parliament is the 1994 Family Act. This legislation made certain that couples who married in church were stripped of their civil rights to seek a civil annulment before the church’s ecclesiastical tribunals give their verdict.

I recall that the leader of the opposition claimed at the time that this legislation would set Malta 500 years back in history. Many were those who laughed and made fun of these comments back then, but few are laughing now.

As the legislation ran its course, couples who separated and sought a Church annulment discovered to their horror that they had an average five to seven year wait before a verdict was given.

If couples filed for a civil annulment (in the meantime) their case was postponed sine die until the Church case was concluded.

Most of the annulment verdicts given were negative and even 50-50 cases are being ruled against.

As a matter of fact I recall one of the monsignors who is a judge at the tribunal commenting on Radio RTK (some two years ago) that “unlike the Catholic Church in America, in Malta we are far stricter and serious”. This gaffe requires no explanation but highlights the thinking being used when passing judgement. As time passed, support for the introduction of divorce has more than doubled in 10 years. The main problem with the ecclesiastical tribunals is that they are not accountable to anyone except an archbishop well past his expiry date.

This is where the Prime Minister comes in. The power (and abuse of it) that the ecclesiastical tribunal wields is only possible because the government signed an agreement with the Vatican, the contents of which were transposed into the Family Act.

If that Act is ever repealed, or if the government pulls out of the treaty, the tribunal would lose its grip on people’s civil rights

In the light of stronger and stronger calls for the introduction of divorce, I appeal to the Prime Minister to create a watchdog over the ecclesiastical tribunal to ensure that cases are delivered within an appropriate time.

Since it is the government who gave the church the legislative power to do as it wants, it has every right to demand accountability from the church.

Failing this action, it is only a matter of time before the divorce movement finally triumphs in its quest to legislate a divorce law.

George A. Caruana

QORMI