A judge who is president of Radio Maria Association decided he would continue to hear a case on clerical sex abuse in which victims are claiming financial compensation from the Church.

Mr Justice Joseph Micallef ruled there was no valid reason at law why he should not hear the case, as the victims were demanding, because of his connection with Catholic radio station Radju Marija.

Radio Maria Association, which forms part of an international family spreading the five continents, promotes the “promulgation of the evangelical message of joy and hope... according to the teaching of the magisterium of the Catholic Church, with a clear and rich Marian spirituality”.

The victims said they wanted to have peace of mind that they were being adjudicated by an impartial and independent judge who was not involved in a Church-related association. The case for compensation started in October 2013 after former priests Godwin Scerri, 77, and Charles Pulis, 68, were found guilty and sentenced to five and six years’ imprisonment respectively for abusing 11 boys in their care at St Joseph Home, in Santa Venera in the 1980s and 1990s.

Lawyers representing the Curia are arguing that the request for financial compensation is time barred.

The victims, on the other hand, insist that was not the case because the Church had offered help in the form of psychiatric and psychological care.

Lawyers Patrick Valentino and Franco Vassallo are representing the victims.