Let me start out on a personal note: I am proud to call Daphne Caruana Galizia, Lou Bondì and Richard Cachia Caruana my friends.

You may ask why I am making this statement of the flippin' obvious (at least, it is to anyone who knows me) and I will answer.

It is because that paragon of journalistic and linguistic virtues, maltastar.com, has - for reasons known only to itself and to whoever runs the Labour Party's sorry excuse for public affairs - decided to rehash that old chestnut that people like yours truly and the other two opinion-makers mentioned are coordinated in some dastardly fashion by "he who is known by his initials".

Nothing could be further from the truth - it is a fact that, often, Mrs Caruana Galizia and I write about the same things and our opinions are not many miles apart (see, for instance, my current blog on that silly prank about having a referendum on the Piano Project and hers, written virtually concurrently and with absolutely no coordination between us) but this is because we are inspired by a similar lack of tolerance for mediocrity and hypocrisy.

Insofar as concerns Mr Bondì, our interests coincide in the field of rock music and we enjoy a good gossip on occasion, especially while getting ourselves a superb Indian meal, but that's as far as it goes.

And as for that ludicrous notion that Mr Cachia Caruana tells me what to write, well, if you have a small, nay tiny, brain, you can think or say that, but the fact is, we communicate rarely and bump into each other even less often, and have (not) done for the last 10 years or so. We also both have little time for mediocrity and incompetence, however.

The thing is, of course, that the people behind maltastar.com might not be capable of thinking for themselves, so they assume no-one else is: by my own measure shall I calculate your worth, or so it goes, loosely translated.

It's Holy Week and a happy confluence of the National Day celebrating the end of the Brits' lease on certain prime portions of real estate and the Easter weekend has made it possible for me to have a Northern escape of almost a full week. Sadly, an influx of relatives for Sunday lunch will mean that I will have to forego the weekly excursion to the Basilica of San Ġorġ, where a combination of a superb choir and an erudite celebrant have made the 11 o'clock mass a fixture.

Clerical gentleman of a different stripe, though, have been in the news for many months now and for all the wrong reasons.

It is unfortunate that the criminal antics of too many, but still relatively few, have given a bad name to the priesthood. It would be almost redundant for me to remind you how many good priests there are and how much good work they've done: think about St Patrick's in Sliema, for instance. If you're from the area, and even if you're not, you know how valuable the Salesian Brothers' service has been, but it is in the nature of the beast that bad news outstrips good news, always.

Especially when everyone and his brother have access to the 'net and can pump out information as quickly as they can type.

Let me not be misunderstood: the priests who abused the vulnerable in their care are despicable criminals who should be forced to face the full rigours of the law and if anyone has covered up for them, from a simple parish colleague all the way up to the pinnacle of the Vatican, then the same fate should befall them and no two ways about it.

The Catholic Church has always been very good at running its own affairs, and I don't mean this in a particularly complimentary way. Historic and social forces have combined to ensure that for many, many, many years, civilisation, at least as we know it, was governed by the same people who governed the Church and this privileged position, hardly one aspired to by Jesus, has led to a certain impression of arrogance being disseminated that is not without justification.

In other words, for much of the time, the men who run the Church have got away with being able to assume, and act as if, their word is law. They're still doing it, unfortunately, though more fortunately with less chance of getting away with it, given that many of us prefer to live as we think a good person should live, not the way a "Prince of the Church" thinks we should.

I wonder if the Pope will be given as much of an adulatory welcome as his predecessor when he visits the country soon.

On a happier note, when in Gozo and in need of a light meal, might I suggest you seek to come across Mo's Deli, in Victoria, at the top of the road leading away from Arkadia across the Tiġrija (or whatever it's called)? The sandwiches and salads are excellent, you get an enormous smile however picky you are and the owner is a Chelsea man - who, by the time you read this, will probably be in a good mood because, one hopes, Rooney is resting in advance of his national duties.

imbocca@gmail.com

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