The Church said yesterday the priest who testified in favour of the banned play Stitching left the film classification board after "long cordial discussions" with the Archbishop.
Fr Joe Abela was not fired, a spokesman for the Church insisted, but, following cordial discussions with Archbishop Paul Cremona - who had not read or watched the play - it was decided it would be best if he no longer formed part of the board. When the Church was asked whether this meant that Fr Abela had stepped down voluntarily, the spokesman reiterated this was not what he said and the two sides "arrived at a common conclusion".
When contacted, Fr Abela, who had testified during a court case about the play, declined to comment. When asked when the "long, cordial discussions" had taken place, the Church spokesman said he was "not informed".
The spokesman stressed that Fr Abela was never the chairman of the board, as reported in the media. Fr Abela was one of three priests - the others being Fr Louis Camilleri and Fr Alfred Sacco - within the Church's media centre who had been given the duty of rating films. Their ratings were then printed on the Church's newspaper Il-Ġens and distributed in parishes as moral guidelines. Fr Abela testified last week in a court case about the play Stitching, which has been banned by the state theatre classifiers. He was testifying on his own behalf as a priest who had watched the play. However, he had not informed the Church of his intention to testify.
He said the play should have been classified as 18R to allow mature people to watch it. The play had taught him a lot about the suffering parents went through after losing a child.
The Church publicly distanced itself from those comments and later clarified it was not taking a position in favour or against the ban.
The play, produced by Unifaun Theatre, was banned by the state-appointed Board of Film and Theatre Classification weeks before it was meant to be performed in February. The producers then instituted court proceedings to overturn the decision.
The case continues.