Marsascala vice parish priest Fr Stephen Attard is insisting he was misinterpreted by a parishioner who publicly accused him of using a homily to spread Islamophobia.

In an opinion piece in Times of Malta today the priest rebuts a Talking Point that appeared last week by educationalist Sandro Spiteri, a Marsascala parishioner.

The young priest defended his homily and insisted he did not generalise about
all Muslims when he mentioned the atrocities perpetrated by fundamentalists in
Iraq and Syria against Christians and other minorities. This was not a figment of his imagination but it was  being relentlessly reported in the media, he said.

Pope Francis himself denounced this systematic persecution of Christians and
other minorities in the region. Did this make the Holy Father an Islamophobe too?

"When confronted with such a situation, I asserted and still do that, as committed Christians, we ought to rediscover the beauty of our faith and live the values of the Gospel and adhere more convincingly to the Church’s teachings. I also said that it is our duty as Christians to transmit these values to
our children"

In an opinion piece in Times of Malta today today the priest rebuts a Talking Point that appeared last week by educationalist Sandro Spiteri, a Marsascala parishioner.

More on Times of Malta and the e-paper on timesofmalta.com Premium.