Archbishop Joseph Mercieca yesterday called on the state to do all it can to support mothers who choose not to work outside the home to be able to bring up their children.

Delivering his homily during Independence Day Mass at St John's Co-Cathedral, in Valletta the Archbishop expressed concern over the damage done when both parents are constrained to work to pay off debts and as a result are unable to bring up their children properly.

He also cautioned against the creation of a climate where mothers who made the noble choice not to work, in order to dedicate time to their children, were seen as failures.

Mentioning "modern-day dangers", he said the main adversaries nowadays were the ideas, behaviours and lifestyles that pushed God aside.

These weakened the foundations of man's dignity, instilling the mentality that everyone was completely free to decide what was good for one and how best to live one's life.

The seriousness of this threat could be viewed in the pressures people were facing to adopt European norms such as abortion, divorce, cohabitation and same-sex marriages. These, Mgr Mercieca said, were ways of living that vilified the will of God and were making Europe morally and spiritually sick.

This was a time when everyone, especially politicians, were being called upon to show wisdom. Whatever others said and irrespective of the pressures exerted, one had to have the courage to say no to all that could taint and contaminate the soul of the Maltese people.

The present and the future, he said, should be built on the ethical and moral values that had enlightened the Maltese along the centuries.

Before Mass, which was attended by President Eddie Fenech Adami, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and other dignitaries, Dr Fenech Adami inspected an Armed Forces of Malta Guard of Honour at St John's Square in Valletta. The official 42nd Independence Day celebrations yesterday included an investiture ceremony during which President Eddie Fenech Adami conferred honorary membership of the National Order of Merit on three honorary consul generals and an honorary consul for Malta.

Honorary membership in the grade of officer was awarded to Konstantinos Kalogeropoulos, who has been honorary consul general for Malta in Greece since February 1991. He had been appointed honorary consul in July 1987.

Honorary membership in the grade of member was conferred on Niphan Benjavilas (in absentia), Samir Yehia El Alaily and Herman J Stevens. Mr Benjavilas has been honorary consul general for Malta in Thailand since February. He had been honorary consul since January 1992.

Mr El Alaily has been honorary consul for Malta in Egypt since November 1992 and Mr Stevens honorary consul general in the Netherlands since February 1998.

The latter had been honorary consul since October 1992. The four, Dr Fenech Adami said, had contributed to Malta by working to promote its interests.

They had distinguished themselves with their service in several manners, including by helping conclude agreements between Malta and the country falling under their jurisdiction, by promoting and developing commercial links and relations and by helping Maltese persons who found themselves in difficulty while in their territories.

The National Order of Merit was instituted in 1990 to permit the state to pay public tribute to its citizens who distinguished themselves in different walks of life and, through honorary membership, to foreign nationals who distinguished themselves by their service in the promotion and fostering of international relations or who earned the respect and gratitude of the Maltese.

Such honours were bestowed on foreign nations for the first time in 1996. After the investiture ceremony Dr Fenech Adami and Dr Gonzi laid flowers at the foot of the Independence Monument in Floriana.

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