The national feast we celebrate in a week’s time commemorates two important moments in the history of the Maltese nation. Known as Il-Vitorja, September 8 marks the lifting of the Great Siege in 1565 as well as the unconditional surrender of fascist Italy in 1943, which more or less brought World War II to an end in Malta.
It is, like so many other aspects of Maltese culture and history, a day that also has strong religious connotations with the Church marking the feast of the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is exemplified by the actual name given to the first building to be erected in the new city by the victorious Knights of St John – the church of Our Lady of Victories, commissioned by Grand Master De Valette to commemorate the victory over the Ottomans.
There is no denying that religion, Christianity in particular, is one of the key ingredients of our national identity. When the European Union was drafting its constitutional treaty in the first years of the second millennium, a whole issue arose on whether a reference to the Christian heritage of Europe should be inserted in the preamble of the treaty.
Malta was one of those countries pushing for such a reference. However, two countries in particular, France and Belgium, were opposed and given that the consent of all member states was required for the text to be approved, what resulted was a watered-down reference to “the cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe”.
The constitutional treaty never saw the light of day following its rejection by French and Dutch voters.
The same debate took place when the Treaty of Lisbon was being drafted. This treaty was meant to salvage as much as possible of the constitutional treaty. Yet again, some countries vetoed a specific reference to the Christian roots of Europe.
Among the arguments that had been brought against was that referring to Christianity would exclude Muslims and Jews. Others stated that a reference to Christianity was inappropriate in what was effectively a treaty regulating secular matters.
France is traditionally very jealous in safeguarding the principle of Laïcité, a core concept of the post-revolutionary French constitutions that represents the absolute neutrality of the State towards religious beliefs, and a total separation of religious and public spheres.
The fine line separating the religious and public spheres in Malta is very difficult to delineate
Those advocating a reference to the Christian heritage of Europe claimed that such a reference, rather than endorsing one religion over others, would primarily be recognising the historical fact that Christianity has been one of the major contributing factors in the evolution of modern day Europe and that the values that Europe considers to be at its very core are, to a large extent, inspired by the basic tenets of the Christian faith – values such as respect for the centrality and dignity of each and every human person and the pursuit of the common good.
It is understandable that Malta was pushing for a specific reference to the Christian roots of Europe. Our Constitution specifically refers to the Roman Catholic apostolic religion as the ‘religion of Malta’ going on to state that “the authorities of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church have the duty and the right to teach which principles are right and which are wrong”.
This reflects the fact that in this country, religion permeates into most aspects of society.
Once the much anticipated process to ‘modernise’ our fundamental law commences, I expect that there will be a debate on whether to retain such a specific reference or whether we should do as the Italians did in 1984 when, following an agreement by the Italian State and the Holy See to revise the Lateran Pacts that had been signed by Mussolini and the Holy See in 1929, the Catholic religion lost its official status in Italy.
The fine line separating the religious and public spheres in Malta is very difficult to delineate. Apart from what should be, there is also a context that seems to continue to cast its shadow despite the progress we have made over many years.
This is clear, for instance, when the Archbishop refers to anything that is not strictly speaking spiritual. Some people automatically start referring to the regrettable politico-religious crisis of the 1960s and attempt to label the Archbishop as being in favour or against this or that political party.
Charles Scicluna has become a good target in this sense since he refuses to be imprisoned in the sacristy and considers that the Church should speak out on other issues that concern society at large.
It’s interesting that, however, the Bishop of Gozo, who is also vociferous in speaking about social issues, is not met with the same kind of criticism. On the feast of Santa Marija, when delivering his homily in the Cathedral in Victoria, Mgr Mario Grech made a very strong statement in which he denounced what he described as rampant drug trafficking at village feasts, terming it as humiliating and diabolical.
I will not go into the implications of such statements particularly what it says about the state of drug enforcement in these islands. There was a reaction by an unnamed ‘senior police officer’ reported in the Times of Malta, August 21, in which he downplayed the bishop’s comments and denied that drug trafficking in Gozo is getting out of hand.
However, Mgr Grech was spared the kind of onslaught his counterpart in Malta receives in similar situations.
Our village feasts are indeed a prime manifestation of the murky situation when it comes to religion and the public sphere. Though originating as religious celebrations in honour of Christ, the Virgin Mother or other saints, what we have today is mostly a secular celebration, often controlled by groups of individuals who are not necessarily fervent Catholics or church-goers.
The highlights of the feast are the outdoor festivities including the band marches. I invite readers to go to Żabbar next Friday evening or Saturday morning and observe how Tal-Bajda and Tal-Baqra supporters pay homage to Our Lady of Graces.
It is, therefore, admirable and courageous that the bishops take the lead even though they may risk becoming unpopular or subject to criticism. Christianity is part of what we are as a country, yet we need to rediscover what this really means and, in so doing, rid ourselves of those caricatures of religion that are actually hindering the Church in fulfilling its apostolic mission.