No priests, politicians for anti-divorce movement

No priests or politicians will be on the frontline of the anti-divorce movement, according to its spokesman Andrè Camilleri, but a number of ministers and parliamentary secretaries have offered their support.

Talking to the The Sunday Times, Dr Camilleri confirmed he discussed the new movement with the Archbishop but denied speaking to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi about it, despite the two being “friends”.

He said the founders of the movement felt the need to unite citizens who aimed to keep voters informed with hard facts about divorce.

Therefore, membership of the movement will not be open to priests or politicians, he said, adding that the Church had a separate function to fulfil, “and we don’t want to be a long arm of the political class.”

Promising a sane and civil debate, Dr Camilleri admitted that divorce could be a useful solution for some individuals and that he had foreign friends who found happiness after divorcing. However, he stressed that the interests of the common good went beyond any individual’s needs.

“Laws are not made for one person,” he said. “If we were to introduce divorce to give separated couples a second chance, it has been shown time and time again that those who marry a second time have a higher break-up rate, and the rate in third marriages is even higher.”

Asked whether he would back Dr Gonzi’s cohabitation legislation, Dr Camilleri said he would first have to see the draft law, which has not yet been published.

But based on what lawyers contributing to the law had told him, he said it was likely to be a “protective” law that came into force when there was abuse or infighting between cohabiting couples, whether heterosexual, homosexual or siblings. “I can see the sense in it,” he said.

However, he declined to comment when asked whether he believed cohabiting couples deserved tax benefits currently enjoyed by married couples, saying he did not want to detract from the discussion on divorce by talking about a cohabitation law that is yet to be presented.

Meanwhile, Dr Camilleri said a referendum was the “fairest” way of deciding the divorce issue, now that an MP (Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando) had presented Private Member’s Bill despite the subject not having been discussed at the last election.

However, Dr Camilleri said he objected to the anti-divorce billboards set up by the Żebbuġ parish church which he described as “gimmicks”. He said billboards were not very effective in informing people about a delicate issue like divorce.

Meanwhile, Dr Camilleri criticised the “flawed interpretation” given to a study published last year in Ireland which showed the introduction of divorce did not increase the rate of marital breakdown.

“We will be correcting that interpretation. You need to read statistics carefully,” he said, promising to bring up more surveys in the future.

Dr Camilleri reiterated his movement’s call for more investment in marriage preparation and support for married couples with problems. He said it did not make sense to spend €88 million on restoring fortifications and refrain from spending €1 million to strengthen marriages and the family through organisations like the National Family Commission.

Asked if he felt that the introduction of divorce coupled with such investment in the family would result in people freely making the right decisions on their relationships, he said: “Show me a country that has managed to achieve that balance.”

He said there was considerable research on how the introduction of divorce impacted countries and Malta would not be able to reinvent the wheel.

He added that Malta, as one of two countries in the world without divorce, was in a “unique” position in preferring an indissoluble marriage, but for some reason “people with inferiority complexes” felt this was shameful.