MEPA gives 5 August deadline for dismantling of Zebbug divorce billboard

MEPA has given the Zebbug parish a deadline for 5 August, to remove an irregular billboard erected on the church parvis that ominously warns churchgoers and passers-by that "God does not want divorce".

The billboard was an early warning shot in the ongoing divorce debate, but the decision to erect the billboard backfired, with the parish priest issuing an apology to the billboard’s official sponsor, Vision Tech. In fact, the advertisement beneath the ominous message – originally featuring the official logos of Nintendo and Sony products such as Wii, Xbox, Playstation and PS2, among others – was painted over at some point since Monday, as the pictures on this page attest.

Zebbug parish priest Fr Daniel Cardona issued a statement to explain that the billboard was in fact part of ‘an ongoing campaign in favour of the Catholic Church’s official teaching on divorce – adding that he “regretted any inconvenience” caused to the “electronic company that helped the parish cover part of the costs of this billboard”.

Vision Tech manager Jason Grech also explained that his company was one of several to have sponsored the Church’s billboard initiative, and that he had no idea what message the billboard would display.

The billboard message changes periodically, and that “the time had come to erect a new billboard.”

But by coincidence, the change in billboard happened to take place on the Sunday of the feast of St Joseph, when Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando – the Nationalist MP who has just presented a draft divorce law as a private member’s bill in Parliament – attended the traditional mass inside the Zebbug band club across the road from the Church.

And the same mass was celebrated by Fr Daniel Cardona. So the initiative was widely interpreted as a political statement ahead of the parliamentary debate on divorce, now scheduled for after the summer recess.