Many people of good will are getting more concerned not only with the ethical standard of some of the Maltese Sunday magazines but also with that of the adverts. No doubt, the ethical standard has been systematically sinking lower and lower and in some sectors has nose-dived.

Many publishers and contributors are definitely applying the wrong principles in many instances, stressing that "what is legal becomes gradually normative, and what is normative becomes OK... so one can do it".

Many argue that Malta is no longer an island: it should follow what other modern nations accept and follow, stressing that ours is a modern society and what was considered pernicious and immoral yesterday is today seen and assessed in a new light and according to a progressive mentality.

Against these faulty arguments and lame conclusions one has to strongly and clearly state that our true identity does not depend on the values and priorities of modern standards. Moral standards are there for a healthy society and no amount of abuse and permissivity will make a wrong practice or argument become good. This is a matter of an objective judgment and not a selective one.

Many are saying that, against this serious lowering of ethical standards, the Church has to make its voice heard distinctly and boldly: Obviously many are attributing a sort of inertia to the Church, universally and locally, without having read pertinent papal documents, explanations and statements of the magisterium of the Church, including the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994), as well as pastoral letters of our local bishops.

One indeed wonders how many have read attentively the important document Ethics in Advertising of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications (February 1997). It states clearly: "The Church enters into dialogue with communicators. At the same time, she also calls attention to moral principles and norms relevant to social communications, as other forms of human endeavour, while criticising policies and practices that offend against these standards."

This document explains: "Advertising also has an indirect but powerful impact on society through its influence on media. Many publications and broadcasting operations depend on advertising revenue for survival. This often is true of religious media as well as commercial media. For their part, advertisers naturally seek to reach audiences; and the media, striving to deliver audiences to advertisers, must shape their content so to attract audiences of the size and demographic composition sought. This economic dependence of the media and the power it confers upon advertisers carries with it serious responsibilities for both."

As Pope Paul VI had remarked: "No one now can escape the influence of advertising"(L'Osservatore Romano, May 1977). His Holiness deplores those who "without shame" exploit the sexual instincts simply to make money. This is a most distasteful method of advertising.