Rome has of late been the focus of our attention and it is sometimes difficult to remember that this unique city is the capital of Italy and not the seat of the popes and the focal point of what is probably the most influential of world religions.
Both the Pope and our new Prime Minister have centuries of tradition and prejudice to overcome
Visually, one can, with apologies to Voltaire, easily say that had Bernini not existed it would have been necessary to invent him as so much of the glorious city we see today is a product of his genius and the political shrewdness of the popes who patronised him.
Can one imagine a Rome without Piazza Navona? Can one imagine a St Peter’s Square without the circular double colonnade? The very idea of incorporating the Egyptian obelisks in a baroque setting tells about the universality of the Roman Catholic religion that incorporated all previous religions and did not shirk using what was considered to be pagan symbolism to achieve its ends.
Glorious and triumphant Rome emerged from the dust and ashes of the Reformation in a building boom that was probably only rivalled by Augustus, who had hitherto transformed the city of brick into one of marble.
We now have a new Pope: one whose papacy promises to be the total antithesis of that of Pius IX who, in 1871, was turned out of his city and became the ‘prisoner in the Vatican’ leaving the House of Savoy to contend with the spirits of all those popes who collectively created what today is modern Rome.
The transition from sovereign prince to global spiritual leader was only fully achieved in the late 20th century and, today, in the aftermath of what some Catholics still view as a questionable conclave, the focus of world attention is the new Pope Francis whose choice of name and disposition appears to pinpoint to the demystification of Roman Catholic Rite and the final dispensing of medieval trappings.
The questions are on everyone’s lips. Will Francis, for instance, dispense with the Swiss Guards whose uniforms were designed by Michelangelo? Will he, like his namesake the Poverello, sell the treasures of the Church to sustain the poor of the world? It all remains to be seen.
Change is a very strange thing. We all want it; in fact, we yearn for change and, yet, we are terrified of it.
Malta, like the papacy, is getting its act together after one of the most fraught elections in its history and, like the cardinals, the Maltese electorate gave an overwhelming majority to a party that promised political peace after decades and decades of polarisation.
One can have as many erudite analyses and forums as one likes but I firmly believe that it was the glimmer of hope, that it was Joseph Muscat’s vision of a Malta devoid of divisive politics, that won him a 36,000-vote majority, far more than the electoral promises that are part and parcel of the package.
There is an ever-increasing number of people who are sick to the teeth of being labelled this, that and the other and just wish to get on with it in a ‘Maltese’ and not necessarily Labour or Nationalist scenario.
This is what Muscat has which the other political party hadn’t and it was the greatest tactical error on the part of the PN to dwell on precisely that divide and to base its campaign on fear: fear that the PN electorate would lose its pre-eminence; fear that the pre-1987 era would return with a vengeance.
For one thing, the PN forgot that, for a huge chunk of the electorate, 1987 was as remote as the War of the Spanish Succession but, anyway, moving swiftly on, it is a lesson to all of us that we cannot continue to survive within an EU context and in this present global climate with this divisive attitude, and this is what gave Muscat the edge throughout the electoral campaign.
What do people want at the end of the day? They want a good standard of living to start with and the economic framework within which they can thrive and will reward those who work hard. They want peace, not only with the rest of the world but with their neighbours too and an end to exclusion or inclusion according to political colour.
The PN claims that they practised this, however, the party never declared it and that is half the battle lost. It is only now that leading lights within the PN are declaring that the negativity of the Nationalist campaign, along with its systematic character assassinations and fear-mongering, was a terrible mistake.
It is not going to be easy because both the Pope and our new Prime Minister have centuries of tradition and prejudice to overcome before their dreams of a reformed Catholic Church and a reformed Malta are realised.
Let us all put our baggage aside and see what we can do to help make these dreams a reality.