The Church is against shifting to an opt-out system for organ donation saying its position has not changed since the idea was first proposed almost a decade ago.

In a 2015 position paper, the Curia said organ donation is a gift so it must be given in an act of “uncompelled generosity. 

“One cannot receive a gift from the other if the other has not consented to the giving. Without that consent, the practice becomes taking and getting rather than giving and receiving organs. The notion of altruism and of giving organs and tissues is important to preserving human dignity and integrity,” the Curia paper says.

In February, PN MP Ivan Bartolo presented a bill in parliament to amend Malta’s organ law so that anyone over 16 would be presumed to have given their consent to donate their organs unless they had stated otherwise.

As it stands, people need to ‘opt in’ by registering to donate their organs for transplants after they die.

Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela said he supports the bill, and the Nationalist Party has called on the government to give priority to the bill in parliament.

The opt-out system precludes the person from expressing freely his/her decision to donate his/her tissues and organs, thus undermining the dimension of gift that requires the explicit and free informed consent of the human person- the Church's paper

But when contacted, a spokesperson for the Maltese Curia said: “The Church’s position on this matter remains unchanged,” while referring to the 2015 position paper.

The paper was written by a group of experts in clinical medicine, psychology, philosophy and theology, and was presented to then Parliamentary Secretary for Health Chris Fearne.

The idea of introducing an opt-out system was thrown out after a public consultation exercise in 2015 found that just eight per cent of respondents were in favour.

The Church position paper said that organ donation is a gift and “the system that safeguards the dimension of gift in the act of organ donation is the opt-in system.

Thee system that safeguards the dimension of gift in the act of organ donation is the opt-in system, the Church says.

“The opt-out system precludes the person from expressing freely his/her decision to donate his/her tissues and organs, thus undermining the dimension of gift that requires the explicit and free informed consent of the human person,” the church’s paper reads.

The paper says that more of an effort should be made to encourage people to opt in as organ donors.