Unsubstantiated generalisations and analogies are best avoided (1)

Echoing Archbishop Paul Cremona's earlier observation in a recent interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, on April 26, President George Abela drew on the same analogy of St Paul (in the Acts of the Apostles) with the unprecedented mass illegal immigration to Malta organised over the past years (April 27).

Without wishing to detract from the Maltese hospitality justly shown to St Paul and to his shipwrecked mates - or to anyone else who deserves it today and with all due respect - this analogy is historically inaccurate and strained.

St Paul, a proselytising Christian in the pagan Roman Empire, was not and had no intention of being a migrant.

His was not a self-seeking or survivalist escape at all; on the contrary. Here, you had a one-off accident at sea where a shipload of ordinary travellers were caught in a storm and made shore temporarily.

They were on a voyage to Rome, of which St Paul was a citizen, and it was to Rome that they all duly repaired as soon as they could do so, without let or hindrance.

Clearly, pastoral comparisons may be tempting. By the same token, well may Our Lady have been shedding tears for her son's loss on the cross or indeed for humanity's woes, which are many and varied, but here again emotion-laden analogies and similes from the scriptures should be seen in context and kept within perspective. Although, undoubtedly with praise-worthy intentions, generalisations not substantiated by empirical evidence or written record are best avoided.