Archbishop Charles Scicluna: his mission is to foster a moral and just society, not to stay mum when immorality and injustice are perpetrated by the government. Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

On March 24, 1980, Oscar Romero, the Bishop of San Salvador, was murdered in front of his congre­gation while celebrating Mass in the chapel of the Hospital of Divine Providence. He had been warned but recklessly persisted in criticising the government.

Finally, he got what he deserved for meddling in politics, something that no bishop or priest should do, because it’s none of their business. Their mission in life is to prepare their flock for pastures new, where politics is a thing of the past. Right?

I suppose to the likes of the present government, this is more than right. “Hekk sewwa u xieraq”, I believe Glenn Bedingfield wrote lately in one of his twisted blogs, echoing the twisted philosophy of his puppet master at Castille. The Archbishop of Malta, according to them, is no longer a full citizen of this country, just as I shouldn’t be either, since the government imposed on PBS the termination of my programme Madwarna because I dared speak out publicly against this administration.

The only citizens worthy of acceptance are those who bow, without any reservation, to the will and whims of the Big Chief. All others are filthy liars and accursed heretics, who deserve to be burned at the stake or committed to the wilderness, where they cannot be heard or seen. Luckily, the days of the Inquisition are long gone and hopefully, so are the days when the Opposition was beaten into submission by thugs or a politicised police force.

I’m no friend of religions. Being a confirmed atheist, I consider them dangerous superstitions that have caused untold suffering to innocent beings (not just humans, when one considers the thousands of cats executed as witches’ familiars). They upset the delicate balance of reason and breed blind and intolerent extremism.

But still there are instances when an atheist like me can find common ground with religious leaders. As a matter of fact, Bishop Romero is one of my heroes, together with Ghandi and Che’ Guevara. Because at the basis of anything worth upholding there should be one unshakeable moral issue: the safeguarding of the meek and the honest from the greed of bullies.

Irate Labourites have dubbed Archbishop Charles Scicluna “Charlie” (as if calling somebody that is an offence) and “Jude” (which I suppose stands for the apostle who betrayed Christ, not his brother). This is because he has spoken out loudly about his moral concerns, both as a private citizen and, more so, as leader of the Catholic Church in Malta.

I myself have been given the insane advice by many, that since I am a public figure I should not voice my opinion, as if being a public figure makes you a second class citizen with fewer rights than others. This same mentality demands that the leader of one of the largest NGOs, whose main mission is to foster a moral and just society, should stay mum when immorality and injustice are perpetrated by the government or some of its most prominent members, or else...

Their favourite ‘argument’ against this inappropiate meddling is the resurrection of the long-defunct spectre of the politco-religious war of the 1960s, when people who voted Labour were interdicted and prevented from partaking in the Holy Sacraments, during the same period when women were taken to court for wearing a two-piece swimsuit and Peppone and Don Camillo were experiencing the same divisive atmosphere brought on by the Cold War. “Beware Charlie boy, we shall hold you responsible for dividing once more your dwindling flock!”

If there is something that I hateas much as bigoted religiosity is morbid anticlericalism inspired by visceral hate rather than by the wish to promote reason instead of superstition

Clearly, these people have not realised that the Berlin Wall has collapsed and the world has moved on, probably because they are still stuck in the past themselves, unable to overcome their old nasty habit of imposition, as the Church has been forced to do by the onset of secularism.

Another favourite ‘argument’ used to discredit Charlie and put him on the defensive is the epidemic of paedophilia, which has been shamefully left to proliferate among Catholic clergy worldwide. Sure, the Catholic Church is anything but perfect and the handling of this scandal seems to be beyond the realm of the Holy Ghost. As a matter of fact, in many cases I consider the Church the antithesis of the barfeoot rebel from Nazareth, who described the priests of his time as whitewashed tombs.

But if there is something that I hate as much as bigoted religiosity is morbid anticlericalism inspired by visceral hate rather than by the wish to promote reason instead of superstition. Yes, priests deserve more than others to be chastised, because for centuries they claimed to be on a higher moral ground than everybody else, but this should not bar them all, guilty or otherwise, from voicing an opinion as citizens and pastors.

Paedophilia or not, this has no bearing whatsoever on the Archbishop’s claim that greed and deceit are wrong. That the widening of the economic divide is  unjust. That ruining Malta’s heritage is a crime and that the local political class has dangerously lost its path and vision. So bringing up ancient and present shortcomings of the Church as counter arguments only amounts to vicious bullying.

Ironically enough, this attack on the right of a citizen – who happens to be a bishop with a supreme duty to safeguard the morality of his flock by expressing unequivocal views on moral matters such as theft, deceit, injustice and environmental degradation – comes from the Labour Party, which over the years has morphed, without realising it, into a religion or cult. It comes complete with dogmas, saints and martyrs, and an unshakable blind faith that demonises all infidels and objectors, who should be hated and hounded into oblivion forever and ever, amen! It is a religion built on the mythology of an all-knowing, omnipotent and unblemished larger-than-life saviour and his successors, who singlehandedly saved our islands from the evils of a wicked world.

Unfortunately, this is the fate of all political parties whose existence hinges on the worship of a strong, arrogant leader who sees himself as a king rather than as an elected servant of the community. This is a feudal concept grafted onto a modern, fake democratic party, whose weapons of choice are not valid arguments and counter-arguments but ridicule and bullying, to hide the incompetence of a system based on bigotry and cronyism.

If I don’t agree with Mgr Scicluna on eternity or contraception, I do not feel offended if he boldly defends his cause.

Instead, I rebut his arguments, as civilised people do, with other arguments. But not by calling him names like Charlie or Jude to solicit a cheap laugh and prove nothing besides my own shallowness and immaturity.