Surveys have been inconclusive but according to religious devotees, the Virgin Mary has the answer to whether the introduction of divorce enjoys majority support: It does.

Angelik Caruana and his followers, who claim the Virgin Mary appears to him at Borg in-Nadur every Wednesday, say Our Lady’s latest message was a stern warning for people not to heed the will of the majority.

“Do not take notice or pay heed to what the majority of the population is saying. They want divorce, my children. It is not the solution to repair the family. It is the deceit of the devil,” the Virgin Mary is quoted as having told Mr Caruana last week.

An appeal is then made for people to stop being taken for a ride by the devil and to return to Jesus.

Her message was uploaded onto the video sharing website You Tube and is the third time this year that divorce has been the subject of the apparitions.

“My children, take the situation seriously, for once divorce is legalised in your country, what happened abroad will happen to you too: the result will be very ugly,” her message continues.

Contacted about the apparitions last month, the Curia had said it was observing the online videos, consulting experts and relaying everything to the Vatican.

Mr Caruana originally made headlines when a statue of the Virgin that he owns allegedly started weeping tears of blood and oozing a large quantity of oil, a phenomenon said to continue to this day.

Meanwhile, surveys have shown that a general referendum proposing the introduction of divorce would probably not find majority support but if based on a conservative law with various safeguards, a referendum is likely to be successful.