The current events in Tunisia remind me of my stay there for 17 years about 50 years ago. Those were hard times as well. I arrived there in 1956. The Tunisians were fighting for independence under the leadership of Habib Bourguiba and we suffered a lot during those times. In the Tunisian mind, all Christians were French.

In 1958 Bizerte was still a French naval base and the Tunisians wanted it. There was fighting between them and the French and the latter nearly arrived at Tunis. During the night we saw many dead being taken to a school near our church at Bab-el-Khadra.

In 1963 the Tunisian government wanted to have a modus vivendi with the Vatican. Mgr Agostino Casaroli (afterwards Cardinal and secretary of State) headed a Vatican delegation. The Church in Tunisia had lost nearly everything. Only three parishes remained in the whole country. Its hierarchy had been abolished. At the time Tunisia held the Primacy of the whole of Africa (Primas Africae sedis) and the Archbishop of Carthtage became a simple Prelate instead of Primate.

Bourguiba wanted to do away with Ramadam because it was causing great loss to the country. They wanted to kill him for it and he himself said it was a miracle he was still alive.

The six-day war was another hard time and the British, especially, suffered a lot. I still remember the British Embassy looking like a skeleton. Only four pillars remained. We had to use the Canadian Embassy for our needs. One could not walk in the streets safely. Though I was at La Goulette at that time, we suffered a lot because though Malta was already independent, they thought we were British.

After those events a meeting for the Maltese was held at the club in Rue de Grece. The British ambassador addressed the gathering saying he was sorry that while other countries were helping their citizens to leave the country, the British government could not follow suit. In contrast, the Italians and the French helped their citizens in the exodus.

Those times reminded me of the psalm of David: “On the river of Babylon we sat crying when we remembered Jerusalem”. Les temps passent, les souvenirs restent. Time passes but memories remain.