Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi got to know about Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando's Private Member's Bill on divorce through a mobile phone text message, The Sunday Times has learnt.
The SMS was not sent by Dr Pullicino Orlando but by "someone else" in Parliament.
This detail was the first point raised by Dr Gonzi during his hastily-convened Nationalist parliamentary group meeting last Wednesday. Yet, despite the potential explosive issue at stake, the meeting was described as "cordial" by sources.
The majority of MPs, including the more vociferous ones, remained silent during the meeting. Those who spoke criticised Dr Pullicino Orlando for the way he decided to go about bringing the divorce issue onto the party's agenda.
"It is true that the party had to discuss the divorce issue, which it has been sidelining for years, but there are different ways to get to this. An out-of-the-blue Private Member's Bill was surely not the cleverest of ways to get the PN to discuss divorce," a party source told The Sunday Times.
While many believe that the issue should be discussed, a number of Nationalist MPs declared themselves against the introduction of divorce in Malta.
Sources said three MPs - Jesmond Mugliett, Robert Arrigo and Jean Pierre Farrugia - criticised Dr Pullicino Orlando for his strategy to bring the issue onto the party's agenda but acknowledged the need to discuss such an issue which was becoming more of a reality, especially with the sharp rise in separations.
Apart from Dr Gonzi, who made his personal views known, others who were dead set against the introduction of divorce were Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici and Transport Minister Austin Gatt, according to sources.
Yet, another source said there could be a silent majority within the PN parliamentary group that was in favour of divorce but reluctant to make their views known - for the time being.
During the meeting Dr Pullicino Orlando told his parliamentary group colleagues that he had given the Bill a lot of thought and felt it was the right thing to do for society.
MPs argued that they did not have the people's mandate to proceed with a divorce debate in Parliament, once it was not promised in the electoral programme.
The possibility of referring the issue to a referendum was also briefly touched upon. Some viewed it as a way out of the situation, to shift the decision onto the people, while others argued that subjects such as this, which involved personal decisions and minority groups, should not be decided by a referendum.
As he left the group meeting, Dr Gonzi told journalists that any decision on making divorce legal should be taken by the electorate and not by Members of Parliament.