The bishops will issue a pastoral letter today, being the last weekend before the divorce referendum, urging people to use their civic right to show what they believed in and ensure a bright future for Maltese families.

Gozo Bishop Mario Grech hinted yesterday that, in this letter, the bishops would call on people not to abdicate their civic and Christian duty and vote according to their values.

“We have a civic and Christian responsibility to make our input and have a say. Whatever the result, we should live this historic moment with happiness and Christian hope. We should show what we believe in by voting and making our contribution to ensure a bright future for our families and the country,” Mgr Grech told a packed parish hall in Fgura last night.

“We will do what the Lord sent us to do and spread the good news,” he said.

The Bishop insisted the Church was not imposing its views, as much as divorce was not being imposed on the country.

He spoke about the importance of the family, saying that if families were not healthy, society would not be healthy and adding that people’s quality of life would be undermined without the family.

“What future are families being offered if we are considering building them on sand rather than solid ground,” he asked.

He acknowledged that there were families facing problems and also that there were different forms of families. “We cannot be insensitive to these realities,” he said, adding: “We cannot ever offer a solution that is wrong.”

Giving an example, he said offering a teenager who got pregnant an appointment at a clinic was the wrong solution. Sending a hungry person to steal from the grocer next door was also the wrong solution.

Bishop Grech referred to a homily he gave last Sunday saying people who were not in full communion with the teaching of the Church were not in communion with Christ and could not receive Holy Communion. He said he was misquoted and invited people to read the full text on his Facebook page.

Fielding questions, he told a man who asked whether he should go to confession for voting no because he would be hurting so many people who were already hurt, Mgr Grech replied: “You should not feel guilty for making the right choice.”