Archbishop Charles Scicluna said that marriage remains exclusively a union between a man and a woman, a union that leads to procreation.

In a homily for the feast of St Nicholas in Siggiewi held yesterday, which was released by the Curia this morning, Scicluna said the Church respected homosexuals but marriage should always be a union between people of a different sex.

On the eve of a debate in Parliament on gay marriage, with the government and opposition agreeing to widen the term marriage to include unioons between gays, Scicluna said “today’s tragedy is that children have become a product of technology”.

“Children are the fruit of love between a man and a woman. When man gives in to tenptation and technology takes over it does not necessarily mean that man’s dignity has been strengthened.”

He said that Parliament will remove the words "man" and "woman", "father" and "mother". "We can do what we like in our laws. I can decide that a carob and an orange should no longer be called by their name. We call them trees. But a carob remains a carob and an orange remains an orange, whatever the law says. And marriage, whatever the law says, remains an eternal union exclusive to a man and a woman," he said.

Whatever the law says, he added, a man cannot procreate with another man, and a woman cannot procreate with another woman. Someone else has to intervene, or technology must be used, he said.

He referred to insults and calumnies directed at him over the past days. “No disgusting editorials, no calmunies and no instigation can destroy God’s win over His people”.

Scicluna has been the target of harsh editorials by the General Workers Union newspaper l-orizzont.