Christ's teaching on divorce (2)

The interview with Fr Peter Serracino Inglott was a breath of fresh air at a time when Malta is witnessing a series of events where the state is imposing its understanding of morality on its citizens. Unfortunately, the danger of this is compounded when this imposition is being encouraged by certain elements of the Maltese Church.

The separation between Church and state is a fundamental principle which needs to be safeguarded. By this, I surely do not mean that the state should not display crosses in public places or that it should otherwise preclude any manifestation of religious expression; being secular does not mean abandoning religion.

The separation between Church and state means it was wrong, with all due respect, for the Bishop of Gozo to call the police to prosecute people dressed up in religious costumes at the Nadur carnival, it was wrong for the Archbishop to declare a priori that Catholic Members of Parliament should vote against divorce, it was wrong for the authorities to ban the play Stitching, it was sad that the civil courts failed to rectify this mistake by referring to modern legal principles relating to the right to freedom of expression and it was wrong to prosecute the editor and author of Ir-Realtà magazine.

The interview with Fr Peter reminded level-headed Catholics that being a measured secular does not run counter to Catholic beliefs.