In Malta Roman Catholicism is the state religion with the constitutional right to morally instruct the nation. Therefore the Church felt justifed in lobbying in the 2011 referendum on legalising divorce. However, despite a manoeuvre which disenfranchised the youngest voters, the “yes” vote squeaked through and parliament passed a bill permitting divorce. This brought Maltese law into conflict with the Vatican agreement. forcing the renegotiation of the Marriage Concordat.
Nine concordats are listed for Malta from the two decades since 1985. Four of these agreements are marked "non occorre la ratifica", meaning they were not ratified by Parliament, but simply “sealed and approved” by the Maltese Foreign Minister on behalf of the government of Malta.
Now only the Philippines doesn't allow divorce. Malta's hard-fought referendum in 2011 led to a new law legalising divorce and this forced the Vatican to renegotiate the 1993 marriage concordat. However, it saved a concordat which came into effect without ratification (due to a clause concealed in Latin) and merely removed the priority given to Catholic Church tribunals over Malta's civil courts in annulment cases.
This concordat lets the Catholic Church, not the state set the rules for marriage. Any request for an annulment by one partner keeps the other one from being able to apply to a state court for a separation and now, since the referendum endorsed the introduction of divorce, presumably, for that, as well. (Art. 4.1) The co-presenter of the divorce bill to be introduced on 25 July 2011 says that the concordat should be revised.
