Mercieca was quick to respond to this unfounded and quite frankly, ridiculous statement on his Instagram story, branding the priest as the “King of Bigots”.

“None other than Fr David, King of Bigots to blame Pride for this happening instead of his own affiliations. No queer killed another person because he was proud of himself, but many have killed in the name of religion,” Mercieca wrote.

Dembska was a Polish national living in Malta who was raped and strangled by the 20-year-old Żejtun resident in the early hours of 2nd January.

She was killed at Independence Gardens in Sliema where she used to feed stray cats.

Father David Muscat is a Mosta resident and priest who has been vocal about his disdain toward the LGBTQIA+ community. 

He has ridiculed the queer community by saying “this minority or whatever it is, don’t think there are people in this orientation who are proud of this LGBT… XYZAB.”

He has also called queerness an “objective disorder” and criticised transgender athletes for being allowed to compete in sports of their chosen gender – so a comment like this came was of no surprise for activists like Mercieca.

Lovin Malta reached out to Mercieca for a comment on Muscat’s unfounded and nonsensical claims.

“I called out Fr David on his comment to show the level of bigotry that is allowed within the Roman Catholic Church. He commented without shame on the attacker’s attire which has nothing to do with Pride (no remote of a rainbow semblance there),” Mercieca explained.

“But obviously the priest is doing this with intent to instigate hate against a whole community while diverting the attention from the people he is affiliated with,” he said in reference to Aquilina’s claims to investigators in which he said that he was a “soldier from God” acting upon the orders of “frequencies”.

Aquilina was also alleged to be affiliated with the River of Love, the Christian fellowship group has since denied this claim.

“This priest has been dishing out controversial statements ever since he was given a platform and will keep doing so,” he said in reference to other comments, for instance when Muscat praised God for the island’s greylisting.

“It’s just disappointing to see the Catholic Church to keep defending this priest which only alienates people further from the issues that matter,” he concluded.

Aquilina is currently in Mount Carmel Hospital and the interrogation has been suspended.

If you or someone you know needs to talk about their mental health, please call national support service 179. Alternatively, visit www.kellimni.com; the Richmond Foundation’s OLLI.chat to get in touch online; or the  Kif Int? website.

What do you think about the priest’s comments?