What happened in Malta and Gozo during the religious functions and processions held on Friday 15 April was shameful.

There is no other way to describe the messages which were being passed to the congregations gathered in churches and during the processions.

Archbishop Cremona had stated, many months ago, that he did not want the Church to embark in any crusade on the issueof divorce legislation. He just wanted the Church “to take part in the debate“. This was some “debate” we witnessed on Friday evening.

There have been instances in various villages where parishioners could not stomach listening to certain priests haranguing the congregation, so they walked out of church.

The vast majority of the Maltese were convinced that such happenings as were a daily occasion during the turbulent times of the political-religious dispute of the infamous sixties, were a thing of the distant past. The apology which Archbishop Mercieca made in recent years on behalf of the Church, for the wrongs committed by the Church authorities and members of the clergy and catholic lay organisations, reaffirmed this conviction.

Alas, all this came to nothing on Friday 15 April. Will Archbishop Paul Cremona now apologise for what happened? Or was he aware of what was going to happen and allowed it to happen? Are the bishops afraid to control certain “fundamentalist “elements within the Curia hierarchy, or are they in league with them?

Why are the bishops afraid to take part in a serious and civil debate on the issue of a very conservative and responsible divorce law? While the Broadcasting Authority has issued very stringent regulations on radio and television stations, there seem to be no regulations issued by the Church authorities to regulate what is said and done by priests, parish priests and catholic lay organisations.

Eddy Privitera

Mosta