Despite the fact that there are people who wish to delete the three clauses in our Constitution that give the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church inalienable rights over each and every one of us, I can assure you that there is no party that will ever have the temerity to carry such a thing through. The electorate is far too strong in its belief and no politico, no matter how determined, can override this fundamental tenet in the Maltese character to remove the following statements.
I quote: Article 2 (1) The religion of Malta is the Roman Catholic Apostolic Religion; (2) The authorities of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church have the duty and the right to teach which principles are right and which are wrong; and (3) Religious teaching of the Roman Catholic and Apostolic Faith shall be provided in all State schools as part of compulsory education.
The duty and the right to teach which principles are right and which are wrong is a very onerous responsibility in Malta today. This constitutional clause cannot be taken lightly and it obliges the head of the local Church to speak out when the nation is swayed by ideologies and forces that make a mockery of the message of Jesus Christ. Do not get me wrong. The last thing I am is a Catholic fundamentalist. However, if both the Church and the state wish to retain these three clauses in the Constitution, then both must live up to them.
Flouting the Constitution is a criminal offence and, therefore, no matter how loud people are going to holler about freedom of expression, should that freedom of expression lead to breaking the law, both civil and moral, then it becomes heinous and must be prosecuted instantly. Should this same freedom of expression go against the tenets of the Church then, according to the Constitution, that same Church has the duty to point it out. Ergo, failing to do so gives the message to the rank and file of Malta that such wannabe politicians like Norman Lowell could be right, or "could have a point after all", for, as the Duchess said in Alice in Wonderland, "everything has a moral as long as you can find it!"
Apart from the inexplicable silence from the Attorney General's Office, I am mystified at the attitude of the Church itself to what amounts to a public declaration that if and when Mr Lowell will take Malta over he will introduce abortion of defective foetuses, infanticide for defective babies and a fate not to be imagined not only for those not of the same Caucasian ethnicity but also for all those Maltese who had the temerity to adopt babies of a different ethnicity. Both children and parents will be sent to some island off Africa, there to live in their natural habitat!
There was more, however, than on just these three points and, because at every turn the fire of racism can be fuelled, the Attorney General and the Archbishop should have acted and, to date, have not. Therefore, am I to understand that they tacitly agree with these enormities?
The proverbial ostrich attitude simply does not work in a country that each day sinks to new depths of moral degeneracy.
The ability to distinguish right from wrong has become a dead letter. We have, during and after the Pope's visit read about the most absurd theories and the extent of Roman Catholicism a la carte was far more mind-boggling and widespread than I ever imagined.
It started with the invitations issued by persons unknown to MPs and spouses not partners to attend the Papal Mass on the Granaries and was further exacerbated by the confusion caused by what Fr George Dalli declared on Xarabank about cohabitating couples and Holy Communion. The hoohah that ensued clearly indicated that, for most people, attending Mass and receiving Communion is a not an act of faith but a social nicety!
We occasionally have these religious blow-ups. I recall the absurd notion of placing the supreme religious symbol, Jesus Christ, on our euro coin in order to "restore Catholicism in Europe" as the Maltese coins, like talismans, circulate from Malaga to Prague and from Copenhagen to Palermo! Now that we have the cross of the Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta the compromise has been found, yet, has anyone ever stopped to think that this same order is still a powerful international body with observer rights in the UN? What a joke!
Another storm in a teacup happened after the European Court ordered the crucifix to be removed from Italian state schools because of the objection of a Finnish woman.
Malta and his wife went into panic mode and declared, in what amounted to a hysterical public outcry, that the cross was there to stay irrespective of the European Court's ruling; not for a moment bothering to look up article 2 (1, 2 and 3) of our Constitution, which makes such removal impossible.
Is the image of Malta Cattolicissima that Pope Benedict so admired just a sham? Is it no more than a show to put on every so often when the Pontiff comes to visit us? Does it reduce parables like that of the Good Samaritan to something with less meaning than Puss in Boots? Do we fail so spectacularly in recognising the Pharisee is us? For centuries, we have, Sunday in and Sunday out, flocked to the 365 churches that dominate our landscape listening to scripture, yet, we remain by and large a people that is spiritually infantile with the moral fibre of jellyfish!