A national census is being organised. It seems that the collection of the questionnaires is still half way through. Yet the director of the National Statistics Office has already gone on national television and given indications of the trends emerging from the information collected so far.

Mr Camilleri said that the data are being inputted and that several indications are becoming clear. Among these he mentioned that Maltese families are getting smaller. Another important indicator he pointed out was that our society is witnessing the emergence of different forms of families, including homosexual couples. When all the data are inputted and analysed, trends will emerge more clearly. The full results are expected within three months. These results will then help policymakers to take the right decisions. Church leaders should find them equally useful.

Two Sundays ago another census was held. This gauged Sunday Mass attendance. This year the census was held in such a way that much preliminary work was done at the parish level. On Sunday evening each parish was responsible for the totting up of its own results.

Quite naturally this is only a minor part of the whole exercise, but it is important enough to give a clear indication of the final figure of those who hear Mass on Sunday. This figure can then be compared with the result of the previous census. We are disappointed that this figure has not been published yet.

We hope that these preliminary results will be published as soon as possible and that these will be eventually followed by a full, detailed result.