Cheekily, someone on the social media asked whether Pope Francis will be addressing a mass meeting held to celebrate the election victory when he comes to Malta, just one week after the Maltese decide which political party will lead them for the next five years.

It is a cynical way of seeing things but, frankly speaking, the timing of the election so close to the Pope’s visit does raise questions.

It has been said that the Pope never visits a country which is in an election campaign, so when it was announced that the pontiff will be in Malta in the first week of April, many were those who thought that the election would have been announced after his departure from the island, which would have meant an election in May or June.

But the stories that are emerging in these weeks must have pushed the Prime Minister to choose to anticipate the election. His office’s contract with the Planning Authority as well as his links with a man who is now charged with kidnapping have dented Abela’s credibility and standing, and with surveys showing that the Nationalist Party is catching up, it is likely that he thought it better to have the election now before things get worse.

The Pope’s visit, to Abela, is secondary when compared to his thirst to take Labour into a third consecutive term in office.

As we have always said, the Prime Minister says that the election is held when the time is right from a national perspective, but we all know that the date chosen is one that favours the party in power. This is what happened this time as well.

As such, Abela was compelled to repeat what his predecessor had done – call an election before its time for reasons of convenience. Joseph Muscat had announced an election one year before it was due because of the Panama Papers scandal that had rocked the foundations of the PL (and is still rocking it); Abela called it for three months before the “June” that he had said was his target.

Again, the motive behind the early call was that what is happening these days is not positive for his image and that of his government, and so now he has five weeks during which he will be making promises and dishing out cheques with which he will use the power of incumbency to attract voters. None of us has received the tax refund or €100 gift yet, so it is likely that they will be delivered during the campaign.

What Abela also did like Muscat was that he announced the election date as PL leader during a PL activity, and not as a PM during a government event. For Labour, anything goes.

But, to go back to the Pope, it is probable that the Vatican is not too happy with the way things developed. It is not ideal that the Pope visits a country within the timeframe of an election campaign, but neither is it ideal for him to visit just one week later.

His visit to Malta will be overshadowed by the installation of the new government, and any thought that it would rekindle spiritual sentiment has been lost.