I know it’s unfair to blame the whole institution on the mindless blethering of one of its members, however senior he is, but the remark made by Cardinal Walter Kasper, that Britain is like “a Third World land“ really didn’t do the Catholic Church, exercised as it is currently, any favours.

It is unbecoming a cardinal when he bewails the plight of Christianity in Britain, attributing it to, among other things, the preponderance of multi-cultural inhabitants, which, for some people, though maybe not for the cardinal, is code for people of colour.

The Vatican was commendably quick to offload this clerical gentleman from the Papal entourage that was about to embark towards the Realm of the Defender of the Faith but the damage was done.

It’s not as if there wasn’t enough hostility towards the Pope’s visit already, of course, and it is hardly surprising that there is this hostility. Given Pope Benedict’s position on, just to take a few issues at random, condom use, ordination of women and homosexuality and given the fact that Britain, for all its faults, tends towards the liberal side of the equation, it would have been surprising if there wasn’t any hostility.

There will also be fervent welcomes, of course, which is as it should be, since His Holiness guides the hearts and minds of quite a few battalions: The Catholic Church is a force to be reckoned with, for all that the intellectuals in Britain wish that it wasn’t. As such a force, to my mind, it behooves it to identify certain realities that should be addressed and address them constructively, though there are many who believe that, if you don’t like the heat, you should get out of the kitchen rather than try to turn off the heat.

Not for these last, the dictum of John (14:2) about houses and mansions, according to them, these are the rules and you stick by them or get out of Dodge.

So, for these people, if the Pope says “No, women cannot be priests” then, no, women cannot be priests and there’s an end to it. No ifs, no buts, no maybes, that’s all there is to it. I was tempted to make fatuous remarks at this point, but, seriously, what is there in the priesthood that renders it unsuitable for women, or vice versa? I could have understood this sort of hidebound thinking back in the days when women were seen as the weaker sex but things have changed and the “little woman” is more than equal to the task of ministering to a flock.

If you’ll allow me, I’ll hark back to last week’s column and make a remark about the funerals of the people who died when the Għarb fireworks factory exploded.

Make no mistake, it was a great tragedy, made more poignant by the fact that an entire family was virtually wiped out and the bereaved deserve the support of anyone who can give them such support. In small societies, such as ours, and even more so in smaller, semi-rural societies such as Gozo, friends, neighbours and villagers will rally round and give it.

But did the two political stations really have to transmit the funerals live? Was it because the country’s leaders were there or was it because this was “news”? Or was it because so many people wanted to tune in out of – what? – morbid curiosity?

There’s a fine line between the country showing solidarity with the bereaved and mawkishness, and it’s one I’m not sure I can draw but I can’t help wondering why these particular funerals were attended by certain of the people present.

All deaths, especially in such shocking circumstances and in such numbers, create an emotional response but was it strictly correct for the President, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition to be present in their official capacities?

They didn’t do any harm, of course, quite the contrary, but is there not the danger that precedents may be created that would lead to unworkable situations? Without in any way diminishing the depth of the tragedy, this was an industrial accident, albeit of horrific proportions, and, in a way, it has been taken beyond this to national proportions.

I’m not sure it should have been because this might cloud the aftermath and prevent an appropriate response.

imbocca@gmail.com
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