I’ve seen Malta transformed from a stifling, priest-ridden theocracy in the 1950s, under the stern and authoritarian Archbishop Michael Gonzi, to a secular State at the beginning of the 21st century, under the current easy-going, ‘bubbly’ Archbishop.

Malta in the 1950s was a hothouse of repressed sexuality. Sex was considered the chief ‘sin’ and one which Maltese Catholics ‘confessed’ often.

At St Aloysius College, a Jesuit priest used to tell us boys not to wear short shorts not to attract the attention of “certain men”.

Throughout Malta’s churches, priests urged women to dress “modestly” and to “imitate” the chastity of Maria Goretti (who was murdered by an admirer for resisting his sexual advances). Malta’s young women no longer strive to imitate the modesty of Maria Goretti and the word “modesty” itself – as it applies to women’s fashions – is not much used nowadays.

In the 1950s, young Maltese women were not allowed to go out with their boyfriend unless they were chaperoned.

Films with scenes showing prolonged kissing were censored while nowadays you can watch frontal nudity and sex scenes in cinemas.

In an anniversary issue of the Times of Malta, it was reported that the editor received a phone call from Archbishop Gonzi who complained about advertisements for bras in the newspaper. Nowadays, you can see women wearing bikinis in the same newspaper.

In the 1960s, an embarrassing incident occurred in Valletta when a Jesuit priest caused a commotion when he reprimanded a flabbergasted English tourist in front of bystanders for wearing a halter-neck dress in the city’s streets.

Malta has come a long way since the repressed and repressive 1950s. Heterosexual couples can now marry outside the Church or file for divorce. Homosexuality has been decriminalised and same-sex civil unions have been legalised.

The latest triumph of secularism in Malta is the abolition of the religious vilification law.

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