God, Ferraris, and divorce - top quotes from the Book of Parliament

Joseph Muscat

“It is shameful that people like the Prime Minister tried to depict people in favour of divorce as supporters of abortion, or minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici who claimed the only people who wanted divorce were men who wanted younger women.”

“Divorce is something I believe in because it is part of modernising Malta... irrespective of the result of the referendum, I will be proud to have been on the right side of history.”

“The PN’s social soul is going back 30 years and looking less like a Christian-democrat party and more like Sarah Palin’s Tea Party movement.”

“European values are based on tolerance... and it is tolerance that I think should differentiate us from other societies. Tolerance gives us choice, and choice gives us rights.”

Austin Gatt

“How could we allow people the right to divorce simply because ‘they have had enough of marriage’? It does not justify giving capricious people the right to marry simply because they are capricious enough to do so...”

“We are giving out a right to capricious people to divorce... this divorce allows people to divorce instantly just by spending four years not living with their spouse. The no-fault divorce allows capricious people to go from one marriage to the other.”

“MPs who refuse to listen to their conscience just to be popular or ‘mainstream’ do not deserve our respect... I hope to God we vote according to what we really believe in

“I know there are many among us here who are under pressure to vote with the majority, should the referendum be won by the ‘divorcists’ [sic].”

Mario De Marco

“If MPs wanted to really consult the people… more than one question could be asked. The first question would be one of principle – ‘do you agree or disagree on the introduction of divorce?’ – but the other question would be put to those who declared themselves in favour of divorce.”

“It is a pity that we have not arrived at a common position on what to ask Maltese voters... we could not agree on the most crucial thing, what we will ask them.”

Tonio Fenech

“I am not uncomfortable to express my Christian beliefs here, and when we opened this sitting we made a supplication to the Holy Spirit to open our minds... man is like a beautiful Ferrari, and that Ferrari has a manual, and if that manual says the car needs petrol but you put diesel in the car, that Ferrari is going to stop: the values God gave us were for our own good. He did not give us such values because He is some spoilsport... I am proud to say our society is better because of our values and the value of our family. But destroying these values for everybody to address an issue of some people, is a mistake.”

“Friends of mine have had marital breakdown, but should we therefore break this concept of marriage for everybody by giving them a newly frocked marriage, one that is not permanent?”

“I am hurt by critics who say that those who oppose divorce are necessarily confessionals who are intolerant and want to impose their morality on others.”

Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando

Refers to claims by DJ and anti-divorce campaigner Pierre Cordina that divorce would allow him to leave wife instantly and look for a new partner. “I am sure he had nothing to say... he couldn’t think of anything right to say.”

“Had it not been a private members bill moved by a UK Labour MP, capital punishment would not have been outlawed in MP... Edwin Vassallo’s claim that standing orders, modelled on UK law, did not consider such private members bill from ‘upstaging’ agenda, is incorrect.”

“If we impose our beliefs on citizens we’ll end up worse than Iran, ruled by Ayatollahs...”

“The PN believes in family, but is it just a family that has had a serene history? Or are second families that live in harmony not worthy of this appellation?... Is it just the people who got it right at the first go who are entitled to a family? Are we perpetuating a caste system?”

“Was the rallying cry of Xoghol Gustizzja Libertà (Work, Justice, Liberty) solely reserved for toothpaste and chocolate?”

“I cannot understand how PN after years of accepting political candidates that were openly pro-divorce, took a stand in the executive committee against divorce.”

“Let’s not allow the 1995 Church-State concordat blind us to the human empathy we have to show to suffering couples.”

Addressing Minister Tonio Fenech: “Being a Catholic politician is well and good... but putting the temporal interests of the Church before the interests of the citizens is wrong. I defended the Church’s right to faith schools, but I cannot defend its interest and temporal power in parliament as we did in the Church-State agreement of 1995...”

“This is a discussion that will - God willing [sic] - bring a change to the better for so many suffering couples.”

“The reason MPs are opposing the referendum is because they want to impose their beliefs upon others.”

“No scientific study exists to make a difference between the way civil separations, ecclesiastical annulment, or divorce affect spouses and their children.”