The pro-divorce camp is silencing the voice of children and the Church because it is afraid of the truth, anti-divorce spokesman Arthur Galea Salomone said on Tuesday.

Speaking to a packed hall at the Phoenicia Hotel, Dr Galea Salomone defended the use of children during the campaign, saying that the decision would mostly affect their future. He also criticised those who said the Church should not have a say in the matter.

"They told us Christ might have been wrong. Christ knows more than we could know what is good for society," the lawyer said.

The meeting featured various comments from the floor, with people giving their reasons for voting no.

Sedqa's clinical director George Grech said that where divorce was introduced, social problems increased not decreased, and "whereas now we're picking up the pieces of society, we'd have to start picking up the crumbs".

In another intervention, a young boy, speaking to the audience, said "I'm against divorce because I believe no one can love me more than my mother and father," followed by rapturous applause.

"This is a historic decision – decisions aren't taken in this way. People had this decision thrust upon them without having information given to them," Dr Galea Salomone said.

He said that marriage was more than a contract, but even if one considered it as a contract, divorce would imply that "there are already contracts being broken, but for there to be choice, we're going to introduce a new principle, where people can honour contracts, or else choose not to honour them instead."