I refer to Norman Vella’s interesting article For Better Or For Worse (June 29).

He is right to be perplexed as, frankly, it is a historical mistake to interchange religio et patria with Christian Democracy.

Religio et patria dates back to the strong Catholicism to oppose Protestantism as a form of nationalism against the British – the Mizzi origins of the Nationalist Party to whom I give tribute. My father’s uncle, Anastasio Cuschieri, had officiated the inauguration of the bust of Fortunato Mizzi (1845-1905) near his residence in Valletta on December 10, 1922.

On the other hand, Luigi Sturzo was among the founders of Christian Democracy, the Partito Popolare Italiano in 1919. He was a committed anti-fascist who pontificated on the incompatibility of Catholicism and Fascism and was forced to resign as the general secretary of the PPI in 1923 after being unable to obtain the support of the Vatican to continue to oppose Benito Mussolini. So much for Christian Democrats being confessional!

In spite of the closeness in geography and culture, the two movements, though contemporaneous, were not synonymous. In my view, the movements converged in the late 1970s and I, for one, am contributing tirelessly for my party’s democratic and social justice credentials to strengthen rather than weaken.

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