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Showing posts with the label Malta

Ex-gay Christian singer tells ‘X-factor’ audience gay acts are a ‘sin’, Govt. gets involved

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A Christian singer has received backlash from his country's government after declaring in his audition video for a famous television talent competition that he had been inspired by his Christian faith to give up homosexuality and that sexual acts outside of male/female marriage are a "sin." Matthew Grech, 29, a contestant in Malta’s first season of reality TV show “The X-Factor”, disclosed in an official video introducing himself to viewers that he had changed his life radically after finding God (video can be viewed here at top of page). “I was already a bit spiritual, but I was looking for the truth in my life,” he said. “I had a personal revelation of who Jesus Christ is, and I decided to follow Him, I gave all my life to Him. For many years, I focused on my faith. I set aside my ambitions and dreams and said to myself: “This Jesus is so real in my life, that it’s worth it to set everything aside to get to know Him well.” Grech’s next part of his monologue created ...

Catholic Malta legalizes gay ‘marriage’

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Three years after Malta ’s Parliament  legalized same-sex civil unions , the nation's Parliament this evening changed its laws in a  whipped vote  to allow two men or two women to call their homosexual relationship “marriage.” The  amendment  to the country’s Marriage Act and other related laws legalizes homosexual “marriage” by eradicating the words “husband” and “wife” and replacing them with the gender-neutral word “spouse.” The words “mother” and “father” were also replaced by the word “parent.”  “The object of this Bill is to modernise the institution of marriage and ensure that all consenting, adult couples have the legal right to enter into marriage,” the bill states.  The bill also changes the language surrounding adoption so that two persons of the same-sex can easily adopt children. While media hype surrounding the bill focuses exclusively on “equality,” pro-family campaigners note that there will be no equality for those c...

Sacrilegious: Pro-gay group in Malta archdiocese uses rainbow flag as altar cloth

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A homosexual group that campaigns for the Catholic Church to accept homosexual “marriage,” sodomy, and adoption of children by same-sex couples has been given a free pass to operate unofficially in the Catholic Archdiocese of Malta run by Archbishop Charles Scicluna .  Drachma LGBTI , which labels itself “Catholic,” has been  allowed to meet  in Maltese Catholic parishes, retreat centers, and in the Catholic chapel of the country’s only university.  Malta Archbishop Scicluna. (AP Photo/Keystone, Martial Trezzini) While the group has no official status within the archdiocese, this has not stopped Archbishop Scicluna from going out of his way to lend support to the group and its activities.  In 2014, the Archbishop presided at a  Eucharistic celebration  put on by the group aimed at ending “homophobia.”  Stated the group about the event at that time: “The Drachma Community hopes that this celebration can serve as a clear message ...

Malta’s Prime Minister pledges to legalize gay ‘marriage’

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Re-elected Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has pledged to introduce a gay “marriage” law in the predominantly Catholic country within weeks, once Parliament resumes.  "The first law that we are going to put on the agenda — and I hope that it is approved as quickly as possible — is that of the equality of 'marriage,' the Marriage Equality Bill. We will make sure that it will be the first law to be placed on the agenda of the parliament, and that it is concluded," he said after the June 5th swearing-in ceremony. (see minute 5.50 of video below) Muscat's Labour Party won 55 percent of the vote in the June 3 election.  Three years ago the Parliament of Malta legalized same-sex civil unions with similar rights and responsibilities to real marriage. The bill allowed same-sex civil partners to adopt children,  despite  strong public opposition to the measure.  At the time of the bill’s passage, Prime Minister Muscat stated that “Malta is no...

Malta legalizes same-sex civil unions as bill passes 37-0

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VALLETTA, April 15, 2014 – In a vote of 37 to 0, the Parliament of Malta yesterday passed a measure to allow same-sex partners to contract legal civil unions, with similar rights and responsibilities to natural marriage. Despite  strong public opposition  to the idea, the bill also allows same-sex civil partners to adopt children. The entire caucus of the opposition Nationalist Party of 30 MPs abstained from the vote. Maltese President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca , who took office April 4, had pledged to sign the bill. Her predecessor, President George Abela , had  refused to sign a civil unions bill  just last month. Maltese President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca The provision allowing same-sex adoption was particularly controversial. Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil quoted a recent survey that showed 80 per cent of Maltese citizens oppose “gay adoption.” “Malta has not been prepared for such a step,” he said. But Prime Minister Joseph Muscat,...

Maltese president refuses to sign bill allowing gay civil unions and expanding gay adoption

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VALLETTA, Malta , – The president of Malta, George Abela , has created shockwaves by citing “moral grounds” in refusing to  sign a bill  that would create homosexual civil unions and allow same-sex partners to jointly adopt children in the tiny Mediterranean country. Opposition politicians have accused the president of playing “divisive politics,” the  Times of Malta reports . The delay will likely be short, however, with President-elect Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca having already said she will have “no problem” endorsing the bill. The former family and social solidarity minister, she takes office April 4. Maltese President George Abela “I was part of the Cabinet that approved that Bill and I know that it was an electoral commitment made by this government prior to the election so I will have no problem signing the Bill,” she told the  Times . She added that since single homosexuals could already adopt children in Malta, the change in the bill was inconse...

Pope Francis was ‘shocked’ by civil unions/gay adoption bill, urged me to fight it: Malta bishop

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Pope Benedictus XVI (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Malta’s auxiliary bishop says Pope Francis was “shocked” earlier this month when the bishop informed him of the push to legalize same-sex civil unions and homosexual adoption on the Mediterranean island nation. Bishop Charles Scicluna, who is being criticized in the media for defending traditional marriage in his Christmas homily last week, said the pope told him at a meeting December 12th to be vocal in opposing the Civil Unions Bill. The bill is currently being considered by the Maltese legislature and would give same-sex couples the same rights as married couples, including adoption.  “He was quite shocked by the issue of civil unions and gay adoptions in Malta,” the bishop told  The Sunday Times of Malta . “We discussed many aspects... and when I raised the issue that’s worrying me as a bishop [the right for gay couples to adopt] he encouraged me to speak out,” he added. The mainstream media has widely report...