In Argentina, Belgium, Portugal, Spain and other countries of Europe and North America, it is usually marriage and family equality that see political battle lines drawn between Catholic bishops and other Catholics. In Malta and the Philippines, it’s divorce (and access to contraception, in the Philippines). No longer: the people of Malta have just voted to defy the church, and permit the provision of legal divorce.
Malta votes in favour of legalisaing divorce -
VOTERS in the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Mediterranean state of Malta have voted in favour of legalizing divorce, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi announced Sunday after a weekend referendum.
Gonzi, who campaigned against the introduction of divorce in the last European country where it is illegal, said it was now up the Mediterranean archipelago’s parliament to legalize the dissolution of marriage.
“This is not the result that I wished for, but the will of the people has to be respected and parliament should enact a law for the introduction of divorce,” the conservative prime minister said.
Malta is one of only two countries in the world - the Philippines is the other - that bans divorce. Chile was the last country to legalize divorce in 2004 after overwhelming public pressure.
Saturday’s non-binding referendum asked the island’s 306,000 mainly Roman Catholic voters whether the parliament should introduce a new law that would allow couples to obtain a divorce after four years of separation.
Herald Sun.
Related articles
- Malta votes ‘Yes’ in divorce vote (bbc.co.uk)
- Malta votes yes to legalising divorce (guardian.co.uk)
- “Referendum in Catholic Malta backs introduction of divorce” and related posts (blogs.reuters.com)
