An anti-divorce billboard on the Żebbuġ church parvis which decried “the injection of the divorce disease” into the minds of young people was removed yesterday within 24 hours of being erected.
The billboard features a man, wearing a tie, injecting a freakish-looking youngster with a syringe that has divorce written on it while holding in the other hand a paper reading “Private Member’s Bill”.
The parish priest behind the stunt, Fr Daniel Cardona, said the billboard was removed early yesterday morning following a late-night decision by the parish media commission, which met to discuss the negative reaction the parish and Fr Cardona had received as a result.
He still stood by the image featured on the billboard, insisting it had a “strong message” but “was not in bad taste”. He only conceded “the image may have been misinterpreted”.
He said the injection was simply a metaphor to represent the way he believes youth were being fed information and brainwashed by the pro-divorce lobby into believing the country could not do without divorce.
“This billboard was put there to get the message across and, although it was up for just 24 hours, I think our message did come across. It was not targeted at anyone but simply a portrayal of how we are seeing things happening,” he said.
The defiance echoed the stand Fr Cardona had taken in July last year when the parish erected a billboard saying in large black letters: “Divorce: God doesn’t want it” and stirring huge controversy.
The Curia at the time distanced itself from the matter. This time, a Curia spokesman washed his hands of the parish’s “initiative”.
“The initiative to erect and remove the billboard on the Żebbuġ parish parvis was taken by the media and PR commission of the same parish,” he said, denying the Curia had issued orders for its removal.
When contacted, Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, who seems to fit the description of the man in the image being the first to present a divorce Bill in Parliament (a second Bill was presented jointly by himself and Labour MP Evarist Bartolo), said his attention was drawn to the poster by friends who found it offensive.
He said when he went on site and saw the image on the billboard, he confirmed what he had been told and found it “in bad taste”.
“While acknowledging those who are genuinely against divorce not only have a right but also an obligation to make their views known, I feel there is no need for the debate to degenerate to such levels,” he said.
He said he was “glad that common sense had prevailed” and the billboard was removed, adding he believed the poster was a parish initiative that did not have the Curia’s backing.