Former Nationalist minister Dolores Cristina was quoted in a local newspaper as saying: “This principle (the separation of Church and State) poses serious dilemmas, especially to those MPs who value their Catholic beliefs very highly... I have no doubt that several MPs are currently experiencing moral dilemmas as they face a vote involving civil unions and gay adoptions.”

Her comment is a graphic example of Jean Jacques Rousseau’s observation in The Social Contract that the Church claims to be above the state, and is thus a disruptive force, dividing the citizen’s loyalty.

Over the years, during Mass on national holidays, Malta’s bishops urged MPs to legislate according to their religious beliefs. So, it comes as no surprise that several MPs are currently experiencing moral dilemmas - and probably feeling anxious and anguished too!

Malta’s MPs should never allow an auxiliary bishop to threaten them with moral sanctions. Isn’t there a provision in Malta’s statutes that prohibits Catholic prelates from threatening MPs with their self-imposed sanctions and interdicts, as they had done in the early 1960s?

I suggest that Malta's MPs should keep in mind the following paraphrase from President John F. Kennedy's speech: “I believe that the separation of Church and State is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell Members of Parliament how to act... where no public official accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the public acts of its officials.”

John Guillaumier

St Julian's