The people had the duty to vote in the divorce referendum next Saturday showing what they believed in by participating in the poll, Gozo bishop Mario Grech said this evening.
Speaking to a packed hall at the Fgura pastoral centre, Mgr Grech said the bishops shall be issuing a pastoral letter tomorrow, a week before the people will have the opportunity to cast their vote.
He hinted that in this letter, the bishops will call on the people not to abdicate of their civic and Christian duty to go out to vote "so that together we will ensure a bright future for Maltese families".
MPs, he said made the people a favour by not taking the decision themselves "because they gave us the opportunity to have a say in the matter. We will do what the Lord sent us to do and spread the good news.
"It is our duty to vote and show what we believe in by participating," he said.
Bishop Grech asked what future were families being offered "if we are considering building them on sand rather than solid ground. If familes are not healthy, society is not healthy".
The church, he said, knew that there were civil marriages besides church marriages. "We want to spread the beauty of both civil and church marriages."
Mgr Grech said: "We cannot ever offer a solution which is wrong."
Giving an example, he said that offering a teenager who got pregnant an appointment in a clinic was the wrong solution. Sending someone who was hungry to steal from the grocer next door, was also the wrong solution.
Bishop Grech said that no one was imposing divorce on the people. The people should think and do what was right. "The problem is that people are confused between what is right and wrong," he said.
When a man told the bishop he felt he would be hurting people by voting no, Mgr Grech said that people should not feel a sense of guilt when choosing the right option.
On the recent comments about statements he made on Communion, Mgr Grech said he was misquoted.
Last Sunday, the bishop said that people who were not in full communion with the teaching of the Church, were not in communion with Christ and could not receive Communion.