PL MEP and former Prime Minister Alfred Sant hit out against Archbishop Charles Scicluna’s comment to the press, where he said that “Parliament can do what it wants and we too will do what we want...”.

The Archbishop made that statement in relation to the possible decriminalisation of vilification of religion.

“In a parliamentary democracy, Parliament does not function in order to do what it wants, but to legislate in the name of the people, in line with the results secured in democratically held elections. If it acts in breach of the Constitution, procedures exist to provide remedies,” Dr Sant said in his TMI blog today.

Dr Sant presumed that the “we” used by the Archbishop referred to the Catholic Church in Malta. “He certainly could not have referred to the majority of the population. He mentioned the divorce referendum, stating that this was a strong vote of no-confidence in the Church.

The Church cannot do what it wants, just like any other citizen or institution, he said. “It must respect laws passed by Parliament”

Dr Sant said that everyone is entitled to their views on the removal of the vilification of religion as a criminal act, adding that he is one who has doubts about it.

“But there can be no reservations about the following: that Archbishop Scicluna and the institution he leads use this as a pretext to declare that they ‘can do what they want’deserves full condemnation”.