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Church Official In Malta Says Lawyers and Judges Should Not Take Part In Divorce Cases If Law Is Changed

By Howard M. Friedman

Malta is the only European Union country where divorce is banned. In July, a member of Parliament in Malta introduced a bill to permit divorce in the country. Malta's prime minister says the issue should be the subject of a referendum or at least of an election debate. (Times of Malta; PressEurop). Now, according to today's Times of Malta, a high-ranking Catholic Church official in the country says that if the law is passed, any judge who applies it would be committing a grave sin. Judicial Vicar Arthur Said Pullicino, head of the Church tribunals that examine religious petitions for annulments, said in a homily at the beginning of the judicial year, that members of the judiciary and lawyers should refuse to take part in divorce proceedings. He explained: "A lawyer who takes up the case of somebody who files for divorce, the guilty partner, cannot do it. He would be going against God?s law. On the other hand, the lawyer who takes up the case of the innocent party is doing nothing wrong."

Full post as published by Religion Clause on October 08, 2010 (boomark / email).