The Church on Friday slammed blogger Simon Mercieca, accusing him of false and defamatory allegations about members of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal.

It also expressed concern that the claims were made by a history professor at the University of Malta who failed to verify facts before penning an article about the marriage annulment of former PN MP and minister Jason Azzopardi.

In a statement, the Archdiocese of Malta said Mercieca makes several incorrect and defamatory remarks about members of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal, in particular the president of the Regional Tribunal of Second Instance, Mgr Joseph Bajada.

"Among others, Mercieca alleges that Mgr Bajada influenced a decision to grant Dr Azzopardi an annulment due to Mgr Bajada’s association with Dr Azzopardi in other matters.

"The allegations made in the article penned by Simon Mercieca are false, untrue, factually incorrect and defamatory."

The Church explained that Mgr Bajada presides only over appeals of the Regional Ecclesiastical Tribunal. This is separate and distinct from the Metropolitan Tribunal.  

Neither Mgr Bajada, nor his chancellor, has any involvement, let alone any say, in cases of first instance, such as Dr Azzopardi’s, it said, adding that such cases fall under a separate tier of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal, headed by the Judicial Vicar of the Metropolitan Tribunal of Malta.

"While members of the Church have consistently sought to promote and protect journalistic principles, articles posing as journalism - whose authors make no attempt to verify the facts; and worse, employ the use of untruths to make defamatory allegations - are unreservedly condemnable.

"Such a situation is of even graver concern when the author, Simon Mercieca in this case, is a Professor of History - a subject in which factual verification is paramount - at the University of Malta."