Is Eddie Fenech Adami a clerical or Christian politician? This was one of the topics that Prof. Joe Pirotta and I discussed with Dr Fenech Adami during a recent edition of the radio programme Mħux kelma bejn tnejn. L-intervista tal-BoV on Campus FM.
Fenech Adami emphatically denies the former attribute while heartily embraces the latter. He points to his days as president of the Catholic Social Guild under the aegis of Dun Karm Schembri of Mosta, as the foundation of his role in politics as a Christian politician and not as a clerical one. He added that in political life there are occasions when the Church says one thing and politicians do something different.
During the programme, Fenech Adami pointed to the amendments to the Marriage Act as one such occasion. He said the Church was not happy with some of the provisions as they went against Canon law, but he pushed the amendments through just the same as that was what was in the interest of the country.
Prof. Pirotta and I expressed our disagreement with the provision of the Act which allows one of the partners to revert to the Ecclesiastical tribunal even if both partners had agreed to use the civil tribunal and even if the case was close to being concluded. This, we said, could sometimes happen out of spite for the other partner.
We brought this point up with Gozo Bishop Mario Grech (the programme will be aired on Wednesday at 10.06 a.m. on Campus FM). Mgr Grech said that in such cases, that is, when things are done out of spite, the Church tribunal should not attend to the case; at least that is what he would do. This is a praiseworthy attitude, although a legal eagle I spoke too said that he doubts whether this could be done legally.
Fenech Adami also spoke of the discussions about Church property, which he said were tough. The Socialist government had confiscated Church property. The Church took the government to court and won. However, government appealed. Upon being elected, Fenech Adami withdrew the appeal. He told Church authorities that it could mark the end of the issue, but both sides agreed to discuss the possibility of a deal on Church property.
Reacting to the position that some people hold that the agreement was a raw deal for the Church, the former Prime Minister strongly disagreed. He said the Church was better off with the deal - without lots of property to administer, especially since its administration of the property not only left much to be desired but also was characterised with a lot of mismanagement.
I reminded him that he once said he hoped Malta would not come to a situation whereby the introduction of divorce would be necessary. He confirmed this statement and added: "Malta does not need divorce. I am against divorce but I do not exclude - though I hope this will not happen - that there will be a situation where the introduction of divorce will be almost a necessity... I think if the Maltese people abandon their values it could be that the government will have to take certain action."
During the interview, he said that the 'cohabitation clause' in the 1996 PN electoral manifesto was not his proposal but he accepted it because there was a lot of exploitation due to the present lack legal of status governing these situations. No legislation was introduced as, in Fenech Adami's words, several legal difficulties were encountered.
Is Fenech Adami a clerical or a Christian politician? I leave judgment to readers. To listen to the interview, visit the website http://campusfm. um.edu.mt and click on Mħux kelma bejn tnejn. L-intervista tal-BoV.
joseph.borg@um.edu.mt