The Ecclesiastical Tribunal’s supremacy over the courts will be done away with.

Relations between the Labour government and the Holy See were excellent, Foreign Minister George Vella said on Monday, adding that the Vatican had been assured Malta would continue to oppose abortion even though it remained alone with the Catholic Church on this matter.

Dr Vella told Parliament that Malta’s anti-abortion stance frequently cropped up in international fora. He said that it was at times “uncomfortable” to constantly have to explain the country’s anti-abortion stance.

He always told the other side that while Malta was lambasted over the hunting of birds, these people expected the Maltese government to give carte blanche to women to kill unborn children. When confronted by such an argument, these people did not look him in the eye again.

Malta’s position was clear and the EU could not force Malta to legalise abortion, he said.

A protocol in this regard was annexed to Malta’s EU Accession Treaty, giving it legal certainty that EU law, present or future, could not change Maltese law on abortion. Furthermore, both main parties had declared that abortion was not an option.

Dr Vella said that last week he had met the new Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Mgr Dominique Mamberti, who had formed part of the Vatican’s delegation negotiating the change in Maltese marriage law.

The Minister said that while the Church disagreed with civil unions, they understood the need for legislation on the matter because of the issue of human rights as decided under the European convention. He had debated at length the links between State and Church in Malta. He had assured the Holy See of the government’s respect for the Church’s role in Malta and also on the observance of contractual obligations.

Dr Vella also mentioned the talks he had held with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the former Vatican secretary of state, when the agreement on the changes to the Marriage Act had been negotiated with the Vatican months ago.

The Vatican’s representatives, he said, were aware of the issue and had accepted that times had changed.

He thanked the Church authorities for their co-operation and understanding and gave a guarantee that no crusade would be undertaken if problems arose but discussions would be held while showing reciprocal respect.

Dr Vella said the Marriage Bill would put into practice a PL electoral promise which corrected an anomaly [that the Ecclesiastical Tribunal was to be supreme over the civil courts in annulment proceedings]. It had led to a lot of suffering.

He expressed satisfaction that today both sides agreed that this was an anomaly and an apology to those who suffered were in order. He reminded that many were vociferous against the then Labour opposition when the law had been changed in the 1990s to create this anomaly.

Concluding, Dr Vella said the Labour Party in government still believed in marriage as an institution that served as the basis for creating wealth and enriching society.