Sometimes, I look at the obituaries and the "In Memoriam" write-ups in local newspapers. Judging by their contents, there are no Maltese people in hell!

The formula never varies. Maltese people die "comforted by the rites of Mother Church", even if this isn't always the case. They go "to meet the risen Lord", even though there's no evidence for such claims.

The inconsistency of Catholic belief regarding their dead is evident in the belief, on one hand, that a dead Catholic "goes to meet the risen Lord"; and the actual practice, on the other hand, of offering Masses "for the repose of his soul", sometimes even decades after his death - just in case his soul is not "reposed" yet!

In the "In Memoriam" write-ups, a deceased Maltese man is invariably described by his friends as "the perfect gentleman", and in the obituaries they are portrayed as having been loving husbands and doting fathers and grandfathers.

Judging by these laudatory obituaries, it seems that Malta itself is Heaven on earth! 

 

John Guillaumier

St Julian's