President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca will not be attending the canonisation of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II.

Her presence in Rome on Sunday was announced in the President’s engagements for the week ending 27 April. She was scheduled to leave for Rome Saturday and return after the ceremony on Sunday.

The Office of the President has not said why the President will not be going to Rome, as had been previously announced. The cancellation comes in the wake of the President's signing of the gay marriage bill, which includes the possibility of gay couples to adopt children, a law that has been criticised by the Church.

The Maltese delegation, according to a Department of Information statement issued this afternoon, will be led by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Anglu Farrugia, and will include PN Deputy Leader Beppe Fenech Adami and Mrs Michelle Muscat, wife of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

The President’s cancellation means that Malta will not be represented by its Head of State or head of government at the canonisation ceremony. Neither does the delegation include a representative of the government.

According to protocol, if the Prime Minister is unable to attend such occasions, the country should be represented by either the deputy PM or the Foreign Minister, both of whom however are not going.