We cannot come to grasps with the Malta Divorce Issue (or the lack of it as some conjecture ) unless we marry the Divorce Debate with the Religious - Political networking of yesteryear. The PN made it in Government in the early sixties with the explicit assistance of The Maltese Catholic Curia under TheoAutocratic Terror Dictator Mikiel Gonzi with the Vaticanesque title of Archbishop of Malta,then a manipulated devil-frightened, mortal sin interdiction-threatened, British Fortress Rocky Island.

As the unopened written anals of history will reveal, an agreement was reached in our Independence Talks that the British Government which could no longer afford us while sensing that its Empire Days were an occurrence of the Past, would grant Sovereignty and Independence to Colonized MALTA under certain conditions,one of them being that in matters of religion the Catholic Church would be given total control:this meant that issues that relate to THE FAMILY such as Marriages, Annulments, Births, Deaths, Catholic Education and the like would be under the total control of the Catholic Curia.

This condition suited perfectly the late Prime Minister Giorgio Borg Olivier & his Independence Cabinet some of whom are still alive. It would naturally mean automatic political backing for the PN by The Curia who always made it a point that in some way or other meddles in our Political Campaigns in Malta's 44-year existence as an Independent State. This Agreement incidentally was very similar to the one made by Archbishop Caruana when negotiations were taking place for Malta to become a British Colony in the early nineteenth century following the sacking of the French towards the end of the eighteenth century.

Malta's main three exponents (British Government {Duncan Sandys}, Partito Nazzionalista {Borg Olivier} & the Malta Curia {Mikiel Gonzi}) at the Independence negotiations all had a common objective, namely not to create the slightest opportunity for Labour Pary`s Dom Mintoff (now 92 years old ) to be Malta`s First PrimeMinister of MALTA INDIPENDENTI u SOVRANA. The stage of course had been set with the Interdiction debacle thanks to which the downward trend for Malta`s Curia actually begun: the dagger that we subterfuge for others eventually returns on our own back !

Facts to back this up are Mintoff`s famous SIX POINTS, The Interdiction Imposition, The 62,000 Labourites who defied publicly the infamous Gonzi Interdiction, and the fact [ within our parameteres ] that no Marriage Law was even contemplated for Malta by the Nationalist Government. How can you build a Nation without its people having the legal means to be able to form a Marital Union? The latter of course was not missed out, but was regaled to the Curia for the latter to remain "spiritually" in control of Malta's soul !!!

Hence The Church always had a major investment to protect, naturally officially for the common good but in reality effectively for its own welfare at the expense of the Maltese People. Hence why Divorce has been so vehemently opposed both by the PN and by The Curia over these years. Those who dared defy this Creed would be outcasts in their own society and possibly deprived even of a living: all these can be attested to by a number of personalities still very much alive humanely.

It took our Independent Country eleven years following Independence when thanks to a Labour Administration under Mintoff [who eventually made it to PrimeMinistership in June 1971] , the Marriage Act was enacted on August 12th, 1975, with much furor by the Curia lists who once again were warning one and all that Divorce was now behind our doors. This had led Deputy Leader Anton Buttigieg ( later President of the Republic ) and Minister for Justice Guze` Cassar ( both lawyers now deceased ) to publicly declare that the Labour Party had no intention to introduce Divorce although this Law in the interests of social justice would recognize Foreign Divorce Decrees & Judgements via then Article 21 of Act XXXVII OF 1975.

Civil Annulments were however introduced giving our Sovereign Courts jurisdiction to hear and determine Civil Annulments. This situation obviously did not go down well at all with The Malta Curia who avowed that come the right time,they would revert the situation back to pre August 12,1975.Thanks to the European Union Malta objectives, fortunately for the Maltese this never occurred. However, an atrocious deed happened on March 1,1995, this time under a Nationalist Administration when secret negotiations by the famous five in the early nineties [ the PN was returned to Government on May 9th, 1987 ] led to the Marriage Act being emended once again so that the Curia would again regain supremacy over our Sovereign and Independent Courts in Civil Annulments vis -a`- vis Ecclesiastical Annulments: this is a legal monstrosity that has to be remedied as it violates our Constitution and the European Convention besides going against European Legal Principles on the Private and Personal Rights of Individuals.

So when the Church and its diabolic diehards clamour about Divorce, it is not the so-called Christ`s teachings that they actually have in mind, but more down-to-earth privileges that they do not want to part with: otherwise why bother since it was dear Christ who taught that one`s will was free and not to be interfered with?

It is no wonder that when recently our courageous JOHN DALLI spoke out loudly relating to bringing up the issue of Divorce for discussion at Cabinet level,preceded by Labour`s new Leader Joe Muscat that a Labour Administration would introduce a Divorce Law, and both were followed by a Prime Minister back from Bastille Day that the time was ripe for a Public Discussion on Divorce to be made,that knees at the Curia were rocketing all over! What the Curia believes is her business but it is not her business to interfere anymore in the private and personal rights of individuals whose marriages have long ceased to function in accordance with their original intended objective.

So next time that all the nonsense that is communicated as to why Divorce should not be introduced is meted out, kindly reflect on the religious-political background in connection with the material fears of the Malta Catholic Curia ,namely that with Divorce in, the position of the Maltese Catholic Church would be no better off than that of the Islamic Community in my country for whom I equally have the highest of reverence.

In the meanwhile, without more ado, let us simply emend once more our Marriage Act [it has already been emended eight times since its inception ] to the effect that as we have recognized foreign Divorces since 1975, we will now have the legal means to obtain our Divorces here in Malta and not have to go to another EU Member State to obtain it from there, as a number appear to have effectively and successfully done since 2004: vide Austin Gatt`s recent Parliamentary Statement on the subject.


Yours truly :
Emmy Bezzina
Alpha Liberal Democratic Party