Edwin Vassallo’s recent comments on the plight that faces Catholic politicians intrigued me. I think that it would be worthwhile to further discuss this issue, as it has important ramifications.

Let us start with examining the state of Maltese politics today. Mud-slinging has become part and parcel of everyday politics. The two major political parties have become experts at this. One party hurls accusations at politicians from the opposing party, and the other party retaliates by attacking leading political personalities on the other side.

We are also seeing the emergence of several budding politicians whose sole aim in life seems to be acquiring power and making money. Furthermore, today the main aim of a political party seems to have become to simply win at all costs. This means that sometimes upholding Catholic moral values becomes a political liability.

However, it is pertinent to point out that the political situation in Malta has always been like this, albeit to a greater or lesser extent, in the past.

What is worrying today for Catholics is that there are some politically involved people whose hidden agenda is that of completely destroying the influence of the Catholic Church in Maltese society. These are people whose sole aim is to push the principle of the separation between Church and State to its extreme limit.

Thank God that at the moment, we are still far away from such a situation, and we have to ensure that we remain so. However, some people are already discussing hot issues such as the introduction of abortion and euthanasia. Obviously, the major political parties have thousands of supporters, and one will find a certain number within both who will support such measures. Still, their number is bound to be small.

Much more worrying and a real threat are a few individuals with a totally secular and anti-religious agenda who are seeking to put pressure on the main political parties to enact measures which hit at the very roots of Catholicism in Malta.

We are also seeing the emergence of several budding politicians whose sole aim in life seems to be acquiring power and making money

Unfortunately, some of these are in an influential position in society and present themselves as the paladins of liberal reforms. For instance, I am really angry to note that people who have no official position in the Labour Party and who were nowhere to be seen in the years before 2013 now feel confident enough to tell the Labour government that its liberal reforms are not enough and that it needs to go beyond.

Members of the Catholic Church also have to be very careful not to unwittingly provide fertile ground for the anti-religious people I have alluded to. One of the reasons for the backlash against the Catholic Church is the behaviour over many decades of Catholics who allocated to themselves the task of “policing” how others lived.

For many years, we have had some Catholics telling us what we should and should not do, interfering in matters which are the personal responsibility of an individual and nobody else. This is something very negative, which we should strive to eliminate from Maltese society.

Otherwise, some individuals will exploit this interference in the private lives of others to provide justification for anti-religious measures. Crusades to influence people’s choices also have no place in modern society.

The idea of forming a new party based on Christian principles has also been bandied about by some people. I am totally against this. This is obviously a proposal coming from people who have no idea of present-day politics in Malta. Do they think that we are still in 1961, when the Christian Workers’ Party was set up?

It would be insane to create such a new political party, the height of political folly. We need to fill the major political parties with more Catholic politicians and not empty them of those who are militating from within.

Furthermore, what chances of success would such a new political party have at the next general election? Almost nil.

The days of the politico-religious dispute of the 1960s are long past, and the influence of the Catholic Church in Maltese society has waned.

To conclude, the issues I have raised and the questions I have asked have only one simple answer: Catholics involved in politics have to remain true to what they believe in, make no compromises with their principles and strive to influence policies within the political parties in which they militate.

This could come at a cost, perhaps even a heavy cost, such as being pushed to the peripheries of power within one’s party.

It is a price they must be prepared to pay.

Desmond Zammit Marmarà is a Balzan Labour councillor.