From the day Malta voted in favour of divorce, a new generation with bright, progressive ideas took over.

The lead taken by our legislators in introducing civil liberties for LGBT persons in this country has paid.

On the eve of the sex union debate in Italy, when Pope Francis on his return flight to Rome was asked how should a Catholic MP vote, the Holy Father replied emphatically and diplomatically “according to their well-formed conscience”. I have no doubt that when the divorce and same-sex union Bills were introduced, all MPs voted according to their conscience but the intrinsic Catholic ethics therein were conspicuous by their absence.

The legislators catapulted themselves to become darlings of minor sections of the electorate, which admittedly needed to acquire the same rights as heterosexual people, which I am happy to say they now enjoy. But it is not difficult to see why the different situation of co-existence should not have been treated in a similar way as a marriage between a man and a woman.

They should have been strengthening the country’s Catholic fibre. More complacency about our religion and its teachings will further open the floodgates to erosion of our moral structures and what remains of them. Influential people should be persuaded not to pervert any longer the religious ethics they grew up in, before it is too late.