Divorce is not a human right and in Malta it is not even a civil right, the Pro-Vicar General, Fr Anton Gouder told a seminar held to mark the 25th anniversary of the setting up of the Charter of the Rights of the Family by Pope John Paul II.

The seminar, organised by the Progett Impenn, which is made up of the Diocesan Commission for the Family, Caritas Malta and the Cana Movement, was held at the Catholic Institute, Floriana last week.

Fr Gouder’s main emphasis was on the meaning of family, which by definition is based on an indissoluble marriage entered freely between a man and a woman, recognised by society, to live in intimacy and in assistance to each other and open to new life.

The Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations refer to this type of family as ‘the natural family’. Marriage and the family are a fundamental human right as these evolve from the very nature of man, and nations are in duty bound to defend this right. Divorce is neither a human right, and in Malta, it is not even a civil right.

The seminar was opened by the Apostolic Nuncio in Malta, Archbishop Mgr Tommaso Caputo, who stressed that although a quarter of a century had elapsed, this document still remains ‘a jewel we ought to examine attentively’. The charter knows its origin to the demand made by the Synod of Bishops to Pope John Paul II in 1980. It came into being in a climate of contrasts and the refusal of values which were being violated by many nations, and in instances, outrightly institutionalised.

At the end of the meeting, Rita Borg Xuereb, chairperson of the Diocesan Commission for the Family, presented the results of the suggestions proposed by groups, couples and individuals who answered the national discussion that was launched on 15 May as part of the International Day of the Family. This concerned suggestions on how the State, Church and society could in general work towards supporting and strengthening marriage and family.