President Eddie Fenech Adami yesterday lamented that the family, one of the values which held Malta strong throughout the years, was threatened, with many discussing different types of families.

Speaking to a group of emigrants from the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom who yesterday paid him a courtesy visit, the President said that while it was true that it was the duty of the state to ensure that no one was discriminated against, the definition of the family should remain that of a man and woman united by marriage.

Dr Fenech Adami stressed the importance of values, saying that if the Maltese remained loyal to these values, the future would always be better. The main values of the Maltese were faith, the family and solidarity.

But these values were now threatened by waves of modernism, he said. Solidarity was threatened by a sense of egoism which sought primarily personal satisfaction and pleasure.

And although Malta was known as a Catholic country, truths based on moral principles and ethics were being contested through the excuse of freedom of thought.

Dr Fenech Adami also told the emigrants, who were led by Emigrants' Commission director Mgr Philip Calleja, that their Maltese citizenship was now also European and they could enjoy new rights which were non-existent prior to last May 1.

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