It has long been a tradition in this country that the first foreign visit by a newly-elected Head of State is done to the Pope in the Vatican. And so too is the last visit, as was done yesterday.
This shows respect from the Head of State of a small island whose Constitution states that the religion of the country is the Catholic one.
We report in today’s issue a Vatican-sourced report on President George Abela’s last visit yesterday. One notes that the Pope tactfully did not mention that during President Abela’s tenure Malta adopted a divorce law, much against the Church’s wish, and that it is process of enacting a law that almost puts relations between gay persons on the same legal base as that between heterosexual couples.
This all goes to show that the relations between Malta and the Holy See are far stronger than any non-agreement even on important matters. Keeping those relations between an overly confessional stance and a secularist one is tricky and Presidents, over and above their personal beliefs, have a far more important role than even they may realise.
Outgoing President Abela had introduced a confessional element which even at that time had attracted some, rather muted, criticism when he chose to add to the official ceremonies marking his accession a Mass at St John’s. As far as is known, this had never taken place, not even with deeply practicising Presidents. It was objected this was reinforcing the confessional bent of a State which, as was to be shown in just a few years’ time, did not really see itself as that confessional.
It is therefore with interest that we read that President-designate Marie Louise Coleiro Preca has decided to substitute a Mass at Dar tal-Providenza for a Mass at St John’s on her Inauguration Day.
No doubt, her duties as President will see her leading the congregation at St John’s on other State occasions but that is generally accepted and in keeping with tradition and there is no controversy so far.
Ms Coleiro Preca has every right to her personal beliefs and has attracted the country’s admiration for her unstinted support for the poor and the weak. If the newspaper reports are correct, she is right to insist on cutting down on the pomp and circumstance that surround and envelop a President and to take her Presidency down to the people.
She can do this, and this will be one of the challenges facing the next Presidency, without the cloak of a confessional Presidency and a confessional President.
After all, the substance of a religion is not the cloak of a confessional State but rather the practice of that religion in daily life. And the founder of the Catholic religion Himself said as much so many times in his short life.
We look forward to the time when the new President travels to Rome to meet the current Pope who is, in so many ways, a kindred spirit.