Church marriages last year numbered 1,520, down 96 when compared to the previous record year.

The Archbishop’s Curia said there were 1,315 Church marriages between Maltese couples and 66 involving foreigners last year. The figures were based on the records of the Curia’s marriage office in Malta and did not include marriages registered in Gozo, the Curia noted.

The statistics were published to coincide with an annual Mass celebrated by Archbishop Paul Cremona at St John’s Co-Cathedral, in Valletta, for couples who got married last year.

In a message to the newlyweds, Mgr Cremona spoke about the distinction between marriage and wedding, with the latter lasting only a day. He said that the marriage vocation meant that the couple ought to be committed to go to Mass every Sunday and join Catholic groups to share their marriage experience with others.

The Curia’s figures showed that in the case of the 66 weddings involving foreigners, 31 involved Maltese and foreign Catholics, 23 were between Maltese Catholics and foreign non-Catholic Christians and 12 marriages were between Maltese Catholics and foreign non-Christians.

The foreign spouses consisted of 29 men and 37 women of different nationalities including Italians, Russians, English and Filipinos.

A further 16 marriages involving Maltese people living abroad were registered together with 123 marriages between foreigners.

Last year, 55 civil marriages were recognised by the Church, 16 widows or widowers remarried and 48 people married again once their former union was declared null. In 2010, Church marriages reached a record high since 2001, with 1,536 being listed at the Marriage Registry. The Curia’s official statistics, however, showed 1,616 unions in 2010.

Cana director Fr Joseph Mizzi had explained that the discrepancy was due to the fact that the Curia’s figures included civil weddings accepted as Church marriages as well as other religious ceremonies between foreigners that were not automatically listed by the Marriage Registry.