The bishops issued a letter in which they apologised to all those who were “hurt” by the way the Church treated them during the referendum campaign.

An apology is an admission of guilt, and in this respect it must have taken the Church a lot of thought before they decided to go public with such views.

What I contest is the timing of the letter, which was to be made public after the voting time came to an end, although a news portal broke the embargo.

I think it is rather cheeky that the Church chose to apologise after the vote. It would have been more appropriate, first of all, to adopt a less confrontational attitude during the campaign and, secondly, to apologise before the people voted.

But then, I guess, the difference between the two sides would have been much greater.

Paul Galea

Sliema