MALTA
Times of Malta
Civil Liberties Minister Helena Dalli yesterday questioned why it should be acceptable for a priest who abused children to be treated differently from another person.
“Why should a priest be simply defrocked while another person is imprisoned?” she asked in Parliament.
She was speaking during the third reading of a Bill to amend the Marriage Act, which will remove the supremacy of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal over the law courts in annulment proceedings and bring about a clearer separation of Church and State.
But one had to ensure the supremacy of the Maltese courts with respect to criminal offences committed by members of the clergy as well, she said.
The fact that criminal proceedings could not be instituted against priests was another anomaly that gave rise to discrimination.
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