According to the constant doctrine of the Catholic Church, when discussing and legislating on the adoption of minors, the paramount principle should always be the promotion of the best interest of the child.

The child has the right to know his or her parents and to be brought up by his or her parents: in all cases a man and a woman (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989, art.7, section 1).

In those cases where the child cannot be brought up by his or her parents, the adoptive parents should follow the mother – father pattern found in nature. Adoption by a single parent is an exception.

There is no right to parenthood; there is no right to adopt. There is the right of the child to be cared for.

The Church is against putting children in an environment where the common and natural experience of the conjugal love between a man and a woman is substituted by quasi-marital relationship between a man and a man, or between a woman and a woman. Let us not play with the innocence of our children.

The Civil Unions Bill amends the law on Filiation: the law that determines who is to be considered a parent. It introduces two new sets of legal parents: John & John; Jane & Jane.

What is the say of the child in this issue? Who will choose to give ‘Baby A’ a mother and a mother or a father and a father, rather than a mother and a father? How will this affect the upbringing of adoptive children?

This is a fundamental change in the way Maltese society is set up. We believe that this development is not beneficial to minors and to society in general. This is not about the rights of gay people but about creating a new type of family where the founding principle is not marriage between a man and a woman but any social partnership.

In this context, we support calls for an impact study which takes the Maltese scenario into account.

✠  CHARLES J. SCICLUNA                                     

     Auxiliary Bishop and Vicar General of Malta