Some years ago a big debate raged in our media, and of course in some political quarters, as to whether Malta, having become a sovereign nation on September 21, 1964, should still retain in prominent places (e.g. Queen Victoria's beautiful statue in Pjazza Reġina, Valletta) any symbol showing its history as a colony.

Wise counsel prevailed on the simple and correct logic that we were then, and still are, what we were because of the fact that we were once a British colony. That memory came back to me when I read the media reports about the utterly obscenedecision by the European Court of Human Rights on crucifixes in Italian schoo-ls which, were it to be accepted by our government, would simply amount to the vast majority of Maltese being forced to say "It does not have anything to do with my being Catholic that I am also Maltese", and vice-versa. In simpler terms, we Maltese Catholics - still the majority in this country- will be ordered to deny that our majority religion does not have any say in the total composition of the elements that make us Maltese.

Or, to put it simply, a denial of one's birthright.

Those Maltese who are prepared to deny an integral part of what makes them Maltese - and, whether they like it or not, the Catholic religion and its symbols are part of that heritage - really need our prayers just as all true Maltese Catholics pray for those who have lost or denied their faith.