The discussion on divorce

Prime Minister Lawrence`s Gonzi promised divorce discussion in the light of Minister John Dalli`s contention that this obvious right of each married couple should finally be discussed at Cabinet level naturally cannot be taken seriously.

The people smile at such suggestion as we all know that this is Hypocrisy Land where you can do what you please, have as many adulterous relationships as you deem fit, be unfaithful to yours faithfully, cohabitate as you please, register with impunity father-unknown children, distribute generously state benefits at the expense of the honest tax-payer to single mothers, some of whom obtain even additional assistance for imaginary disabilities both for themselves and the forlorn minors to the tune of several hundred euros per month, obtain Housing Authority accommodation as an emergency residence while you still have your ordinary residence and all this plus more under the banner of strengthening family values as Dr Gonzi so often loves to reverberate on!

All the world has an a priori acceptance that divorce is a consequential corollary of entering into a marriage: everyone has a right to marry and as a consequence each of those everyone has a right to divorce. All the world, that is (forget The Philippines with its over 7,000 islands, which have different legal regimes) except tiny, insular and inconspicuous Malta, whose Prime Minister openly shares O Sole Mio with leaders who not only take divorce for granted but are divorcees themselves. So how can the citizens of our country come to terms with this double-faced presentation of the Jekyll & Hyde complex permeating our constitutionally Catholic country when, in reality, Catholic teachings are a far cry from the daily lives most of us lead?

In pure parlance, this is no more than political humbug inviting our people to do more and worse of the same, naturally in the name of family values.

O Sole Mio...