Church State Relationships in Malta

Title: The whole episode of Church State dispute during the Gonzi Mintoff period is characterized by a continuous process of stating and denying who and why the source of legitimation is. Discuss The Catholic Church has enjoyed a privileged position in Malta at least since the days of Roger the Norman. The Catholic Church established itself as a well established society side by side with the temporal authorities. It eventually became itself a temporal power, taking over the affairs of State after the fall off the Roman Empire. The Church and Maltese Society During the Gonzi-Mintoff period, Malta held strong religious traditions, perhaps one of the most homogenously strong traditions in Christendom (Vassallo, 1979). Religion is part of their daily life. They make, in their own minds, little separation between the religious field and the secular, between Church and State. Religion is not a specialized activity (Boissevain in Vassallo, 1979:96). The Catholic Church was too influential to be treated like any other institution or even like any other Church (ibid, p 20). According to Troeltsch (1992), the Church is that type of organization which is overwhelmingly conservative, which to a certain extent accepts the secular order, and dominates the masses. In principle , the Church, is considered universal and it is seen in how it yearns to cover the whole life of humanity. Troeltsch further argues, how the fully developed Church utilizes the State and the ruling classes, and weaves these elements into her own life, thus becoming an integral part of the existing social order, making itself an indispensable social condition (ibid, p 331). In addition, the Catholic clergy, operating as they do as officials of an ideology that has turned into a Church, and one which, through its structures of communication and control, seeks to perpetuate itself indefinitely so as to remain coterminous with society (Vassallo, 1979). The Rise of a New Leader At 22 years of age, Mintoff was already showing that he will be a prominent figure in the history of Malta when he said, Malta is in desperate need of new men Dorianne Borg Page 1 of 13

Church State Relationships in Malta with new ideas, men who amidst the universal decay and degeneration into Fascism will group the progressive elements together and change Maltas medieval social system into something for all the world to envy (Mintoff in the Daily Chronicle, 1938). The Church-state dispute during the Gonzi-Mintoff period started when Mintoff proposed Integration with Britain in order to terminate colonial rule. Mintoff started using slogans such as the famous Malta lewwel u qabel kollox, a battle cry which would be used endlessly in the years to follow. Mintoff would also emphasize the struggle for Maltese national liberation as he saw Malta being exploited by Britain. He would state that Malta should be either like the British or not with the British and that we will never be slaves and servants in our own country (Briguglio, 2001). Integration would imply complete parity in welfare programmes with Great Britain. Integration with Great Britain implied a departure from traditional insularity to direct participation in the fate of a larger nation (Vassallo 1979:42). What the Church was questioning was, what would happen to the Catholic-inspired and controlled institutions such as marriage and education once Malta would become part of the United Kingdom?. Hence, rather than verbal assurances, the Catholic hierarchy demanded written guarantees about the Churchs future. Because of its decision, the Church was constantly being attacked by the Labour Party, as the Church was considered to be working against the interest of indigenous population and their demands for political freedom. The Threat - Mintoff What Archbishop Gonzi feared was not the British Government, but that at some future date some progressive Malta government would introduce such changes as civil marriage. And despite the fact, that Mintoff did all in his power to reassure him, it was quite obvious that Gonzi was avoiding giving his blessing to Integration (Alexander, 1996). In fact, in a radio broadcast Archbishop Michael Gonzi made it clear, that Integration was a threat to the Catholic faith and morals. And thus he could not advise the people to support it (Pirotta, 1991: 159-60). Moreover,the quarrel between Mintoff and the Church became increasingly bitter, when in March 1961, there was a party policy statement that attacked the Archbishop and the Maltese Clergy. The clergy were the natural leaders of the people in the very large part, and Dorianne Borg Page 2 of 13

Church State Relationships in Malta the Church was the nursery of the indigenous intelligentsia. Since the Church was coterminous with society, it was considered a threat if you go against its teachings (Vassallo, 1979). The ecclesiastical penalty of interdiction was imposed because the church didnt want to become one off the many (like a sect) and this is why she used all means possible such as labelling and stigmatization. The Malta Diocesan Committee instructed its members not to join or vote for the Labor Party in view of the tremendous harm being caused by the Labor Party to Maltas religious life. It further layed emphasis, that Mintoff had hightened the situation by allegedly affiliating the Labor Party to the Afro-Asian Peoples Solidarity Organization, a tool for the propagation of Communism, and had ignored warning to withdraw the Party from the membership of the Socialist International (Alexander, 1996). In February, just before the election, a pastoral letter was read in all Churches in which Archbishop Gonzi and Bishop Pace called on all the Roman Catholics, to make sure that what happened to the Catholics in Cuba does not happen to us and that no-one can be a good socialist and a sincere Christian at the same time. They themselves, both as spiritual leaders and citizens, desired Maltas constitutional and social progress but if anything is proposed under such a guise which is not in conformity with Catholic principles, then we cannot but condemn it. Mintoff could not have a stronger opponent in any shape or form, and he was perfectly aware of it. The Church had defeated the powerful Lord Strickland and now it confounded Mintoff. After his defeat in the elections 1962, Mintoff accused Archbishop Gonzi and Bishop Pace of having exercised the most barefaced moral pressure on an all- Catholic population by proclaiming it a moral sin to vote Labor, adding that for Labor to have polled more than thirty per cent of the votes cast is no mean feat. Mintoffs main objective was to secularize Maltese society and to reduce the Churchs influence over social institutions, an influence which untill then had been all-pervasive. At that time, Socialism was deemed to be the first step towards communism, and what was feared the most, was that Malta could become a second Cuba. The affiliation with the AAPSO, further complicated matters. Mario Vassallo holds that between the 1950s Dorianne Borg Page 3 of 13

Church State Relationships in Malta and the 1960s the Church was determined to keep Mintoff out of power especially due to his socialism and secularist plans (Vassallo, M., 1977: 238). If traditional standards were to be safeguarded, the Malta Labor Party was not to be given the chance to rule. Mintoff Ideology Vassallo holds that Mintoffs plan was to secularize Malta and to diminish the power of traditional structures such as the Church and try to mark a time of distinction between religion and politics (Mintoff in Daily Chronicle, 1939). Mintoffs leftist tendecies can be traced back to his university days, where he gave Marx and Christ equal status. In Malta, religion was the surrogate for political identity. The Church considered Mintoffs teaching as a threat towards religious values in the Maltese society and saw Mintoffs affrontation towards the Church, not as as an affront to its material power but to its religious ideology (Vassallo 1979:18). The Church made this effort to continue to occupy the social space. The reform in Church-State relations in Malta, during the sixties, was based on the principle of a net separation between temporal and spiritual powers, meaning, a free Church in a free State, each enjoying freedom in its proper sphere. Mintoffs political life is punctuated by episodes of conflict with the Catholic Church, in Malta. He regarded the position of the Church, and even some aspects of the Catholic religion as practiced in Malta, particularly the hold which priests had over the population, as a legacy of the middle ages which in Malta had lasted too long and which could not be tolerated any further. In fact, this can be traced back in the Daily Chronicle, when Mintoff was a just 23 years old, when he said Malta needs new members with fresh ideas which could unite all the progressive elements and transform the medieval social system into a system which would be envied by the rest of the world (A.A. and E.C.,1971:88). The Interdiction The notorious interdett is part of a tragic episode in the Maltese history when the island was split between the competing aspirations of the Malta Labour Party and the Catholic Church, between Mintoff and Mgr Gonzi, for the future of the island beyond colonialism. This was the second use of the nuclear option by the Church in the space of less than 30 years (during Strickland). In an attempt to wield its power over the god Dorianne Borg Page 4 of 13

Church State Relationships in Malta fearing masses, what the interdict said was: This means no one, without commiting a mortal sin, can print, write, sell, buy, and distribute these [Labourites] newspapers (Scicluna in The Malta Independent, 2011) With the interdiction, the church separated those who were not part of the creed. Looking from the perspective of labelling theory, deviance was not inherent to an act, but instead focuses on the tendency of the majority to negatively label the minorities or those seen as deviant (Labour members) from the standard cultural norms (the Church) (Mead, G.H, Becker, H.S, 2011). Gonzi - Protecting the Church I do not wish to be misunderstood or misinterpreted in being positively biased towards Mintoff because it would be completely out of place. The way he dealt with the Church was the same way for all those who dared to oppose him, very often smacking of intolerance, showing little regard for the law and even resorting to violence if he considered that to be necessary to reach his goal. More importantly, he was a socialist and pledged to the political faith of most socialists. In Malta, that was enough for the Church to consider him an enemy and Monsignor Gonzi lost no opportunity to brand socialism as anti-catholic and to condemn it outright. The quarrel therefore was not one sided. Both sides used questionable methods against the other. The main difference between the two leaders was that whilst Gonzi was fighting for the Churchs position of influence it had managed to achieve over the centuries, Mintoff wanted to assert the rights of the individual to filfill his civic duties without pseudo-religious interference (Mizzi, 1995). Mintoffs tendencies to laicism and secularism emerged in the guise of the Sitt Punti (Six Points), which the MLP was fighting for in 1961. The Malta Labour Party favoured complete separation of Church and State; equality before the law; a break with the traditional state of affairs in which religion was not merely a private affair but was to be maintained in an institution of necessity recognized by the State in the planning and organization of society. In an announcement dated May 22, 1963 (a couple of months before the Independence Conference), made by Mgr. E. Galea, Bishop of Tralles and Vicar-General on behalf of the local Curia, lists the six MLP demands for peace. These were: the separation of Church and State; the State should be "secularist" and should treat all religions equally; acceptance of Civil Marriage; Dorianne Borg Page 5 of 13

Church State Relationships in Malta "Privilegum fori" should be limited; censorship of films and books should be carried out exclusively by the Government; and the Church should be unable to interfere and in certain cases violence is admissible. It seemed evident that with the Sitt Punti (Six Points), traditional patterns of life were being disrupted by the carriers of new social ethos (Vassallo; 1979). Power The battle between Mintoff and Archbishop Gonzi (and Strickland and Archbishop Caruana of the 1920s and 1930s and between Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici/Mintoff and Archbishop Mercieca in the 1980s) were battles for only one prize: Power. Max Weber defined power as the chance of a man or a number of men to realize their own will in a communal action even against the resistance of others who are participating in the action (Weber in Gerth and Mills, 1948). Gonzi wanted to sustain his archbishopric as a feudal prince who had free reign over Malta whereas Mintoff envisaged a country unshackled by archaic values (Vassallo. 1979). This is not to say that all the opponents did not consider their struggle as being beneficial for Malta. They did. But the arguments each side used in defence of its case reveals that the respective ideologies served as a convenient frame of reference in the battle for power over the Maltese people and social space. Weber theorizes that the conflict between legitimized authorities was the source of social change. When the conflict is caused by the charismatic leader, the change is often more abrupt and revolutionary. Dahrendorf, was another sociologist who theorized that conflict between authority figures has a major influence on societal change. Charismatic Leadership Power stemmed from two opposing sources of legitimation; the charismatic authority of Mintoff and the traditional authority of Archbishop Gonzi. Montgomery describes charismatic leader as the emphasis in charismatic leadership is essentially on personality-based leadershipCharismatic Leadership is also based on the leaders passion, confidence, and exceptional ability to persuade and sway people. But these same abilities may also predispose the leader toward a variety of dysfunctional behaviors over time (Montgomery Van Wart; 2005, Ch 11). Vassallo argues that Mintoffs leadership style could also be described as that of an Dorianne Borg Page 6 of 13

Church State Relationships in Malta autocratic leader. He further argues, that both as party leader and even more as Prime Minister, Mintoff always took decisions by himself because he projected himself as having total authority, despite the fact that he often referred to shabi [colleagues] when discussing future decisions. At times, this appeared to have been used by Mintoff to allow for an escape route should circumstances demand it. On the macro level, Mintoff created an aura of excessive self assertion and deeply seated fears among those working beside him. It was very dangerous to even offer alternatives to the views he used to express. We can see that other than principles, electors are often drawn by the leaders charisma and by their deliverables. The adoring public frequently endow secular leaders with pseudo-religious traits. For instance under the leadership of Dom Mintoff Labourites (known as Mintoffiani) attributed him with distinctly divine connotations as Salvatur ta Malta (Maltas Savior) (Sammut, 2007). According to Bass, charismatic leaders articulate an appealing vision of the future, challenge followers with high standards, talk optimistically with enthusiasm, and provide encouragement and meaning for what needs to be done (Bass, 1990:6). On the other hand, Weber viewed the rise of such a charismatic leader as a definite and intense threat to the stability of society. Traditional Leadership The type of authority exercised by Archbishop Gonzi could be described as traditional, that is power legitimized by respect for long-established cultural patterns. For Weber, traditional authority is a means by which inequality is created and preserved, and if no one dares to challenge this type of authority, then the leader is likely to remain dominant. Marx might argue that there are economic reasons for such dominance, but Weber would be more likely to claim that commonly accepted customs or religion constitute the underlying source of such authority. Status honour is accorded to those with traditional forms of power, and this status helps maintain dominance. According to Ritzer, this is the type of authority where the traditional rights of a powerful and dominant individual or group are accepted, or at least not challenged, by subordinate individuals (Ritzer & Goodman, 2003). In addition, Marx holds that when the current distributions of power, status and money appear, not just natural but God-given, authority becomes sanctified and social control becomes easier. Dorianne Borg Page 7 of 13

Church State Relationships in Malta

The events of the sixties would re-carve Maltese society as Gonzis holy soldiers battling Mintoffs evil soldiers of azzar. The Malta Labour Partys continuous insistence that it was not against the church and that its social policies were synonymous with Christian beliefs, were to no avail. Lorry Sant, a militant tradeunionist, editor of Labour newspaper The Struggle and future Minister, was given the Interdict by the Church authorities for criticising the Archbishops pastoral letter in one of his articles. Eventually, during 1961, the Church imposed the Interdict on all members of the Party National Executive for allegedly swinging the Party too much to the left. During the interdiction, one can see that both Mintoff and Gonzi had the ability to get their way even when others were opposed to their wishes. Labelling The Maltese did fear the wrath of Archbishop Micheal Gonzi and his God. The Church refused them absolution in confession, they could not receive Holy Communion or be buried in hallowed ground. Priests were only allowed to forgive peoples sins if they were sincerely repentant for having voted for the party which was hostile to the Church. And as the letter issued on the 7th March, 1961, the confessor had the obligation to change the persons view with arguments on how grave it was to vote for these parties. The extent of the Churchs power was so strong that it was not possible to have a civil wedding at the time. They had no option but to accept the condition imposed by the Curia. In one of Joe Micallef Stafraces interviews, he recounts how he had to enter the Church from the side entrance and endure their wedding rites to be celebrated to a dimly lit sacristy. A good number of people didnt attend the wedding party because they were scared their attendance would be interpreted as political. (Muscat, 2005). The social stigma for believers was enourmous. One of the most strongest and effective weapons used by Mgr Gonzi and the Church, was to be buried at the Mizbla. The Church was by law (when it was built in the late 1860s) given the right to determine who could be buried at the Addolorata Cemetry and who could not. It was by law reserved for the burial of corpses of persons belonging to the Roman Catholic Church and which according to the laws of the said Church may be buried in a consecrated place. It was yet another source of power, Dorianne Borg Page 8 of 13

Church State Relationships in Malta which the Maltese feared. Those who died during that time, by just siding with the Labourites, were not allowed to be buried on sacred ground. The Mizbla was a small stretch of wasteland adjacent to the cemetry, attracting dumping of foliage and rubble on the ground which symbolized the extent to which the Maltese Church would go in order to single out the people it feared was plotting their downfall. Former labour minister Joe Micallef Stafrace says the so called Christians came up with the word mizbla to describe the area where the labourites were buried.(Malta Today). Guze Ellul Mercer was amongst those who was buried at the Mizbla. Social Control Being buried at the Mizbla was both upsetting and disgraceful. This was how the Church maintained social control, by inducing fear that you will be punished even in the afterlife. Burial not only shows respect for the body but it also symbolically anticipates its future, in the resurrection, just like Jesus which further gives reassurance to the believer. Looking at labelling theory, the behavior was not intrinsically deviant or normal but was defined and labeled that way by people in charge of defining and labeling, where in this case it was the Church leaded by Archbishop Gonzi. Bronislaw Malinowski argues that situations in life produce strong emotions of anxiety and tension which tend to disrupt social life. Malinowski notes that in all societies these life crises are surrounded with religious rituals. He sees death as the most disruptive of these events and argues: The existence of strong personal attachments and the fact of death, which of all human events is the most upsetting and disorganizing to mans calculations, are perhaps the main sources of religious beliefs. (Malinowski, 1954). A funeral ceremony expresses the belief in immortality, which denies the fact of death, and so comforts the bereaved. Other mourners support the bereaved by their presence at the ceremony. This comfort and support check the emotions which death produces, and control the stress and anxiety that might disrupt society. Death is socially destructive, since it removes a member from society. At a funeral ceremony the social group unites to support the bereaved. This expression of social solidarity reintegrates. Therefore, by forbidding the Labour members a proper religious ritual, the Church was inflicting this social pain.

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Church State Relationships in Malta The Church acted as a mechanism of social control in Malta. As a matter of fact, Pope John XXIII was declaring it no longer a sin to vote for the communists, it was Mgr Gonzi who was declaring it a mortal sin for socialist material to be read and propagated. Mgr Gonzi attacked Mintoff by using forces at all levels to not let him hold power. The Curia was convinced that Mintoffs socialism was a Trojan horse for communism. At the climax of the cold war, the extreme sense of paranoia had found its breeding ground amongst Maltas most conservative echelons. Guido de Marco notes that the strong conviction which both held did no ease the tension. He adds that, They were alike headstrong personalities who believed that they had to use extreme measures to get their point across. Not all the MLP supporters were prepared to risk raising the ire of God and suffer the eternal damnation of hell. So the cleavage between the Church and the MLP grew deeper by first interdicting the leadership and especially then after forbidding people to read the papers. Within this particular aspect, I think that the church shot itself in the foot. It deprived thousands of devout church attendees from receiving the sacraments, insulting them and of course alienating them. Lino Spiteri uses an analogy to describe the implications of the interdiction. Most people were catholic, and Labourites were no less catholic they participated in religious activities, feasts and organizations. Then all of a sudden a scythe tore our society apart (Muscat, 2005). During one of Boissevain field trips in Qala, the anthropologist bumped into Labour MP Guze Ellul Mercer. He quotes the prophetic remarks Ellul Mercer had made when they discussed the interdett: It can only get worse before it gets better. The Bishop is making an anticlerical party out of the Labour Party. An anticlerical party of a group of people who are and who wish to remain practising Catholics. (Muscat, 2005) In 1968, Archbishop Gonzi removed all religious restrictions from Labour Party members. And in 1969, a formal agreement was reached in which Archbishop Gonzi acknowledged that In a modern society it is necessary that distinction be made between the political community and the Church. The very nature of the Church demands she does not interfere in politics. The Church authority has the duty and the right to safeguard her spiritual and temporal interests, whenever need arises, to teach which principles are correct and which are wrong. The Church does not impose Dorianne Borg Page 10 of 13

Church State Relationships in Malta mortal sin as a censure. The Church and the political community were henceforth recognized by both parties as being mutually independent and self-governing, each with a particular mission in the service of man. Social Change and Secualarizarion Mintoff believed that once the interdett was lifted and there was a dramatic decrease of the Churchs influence, Malta started becoming more secularised. The definition of secularization was that of a process whereby religious thinking, practice and institutions lose social significance. Once the Church ceased to be the symbolic agency of nationalism, by attaining national autonomy, the way was open for a process of erosion of its role. The state ceased to be subservient to the Church and its laws, and in temporal matters generally, the Church and its members became subject to the law of the land as enacted by the civil authorities. Mintoff and Gonzi were very similar. They both held the value of legitimation, meaning, they were both recognized and accepted by their respective groups as right and proper. Both Gonzi and Mintoff were men of vision but whilst Archbishop Gonzi wanted to keep the status quo, Mintoff wanted a revolutionary change within the traditional patterns of Maltese society. As a matter of fact, charisma was one of the most influential revolutionary forces in society. Gonzis attempt to fight the secularising trends of Mintoff could be interpreted as an attempt to retard social change. Mintoffs socialist onslaught on tradition intensified the rationalizing effect of his activity. Conclusion To conclude, the struggle between the two sources of legitimation, paved the way to a new way of thinking among the Maltese society. In other words, the traditional leadership of Mgr Gonzi and the charismatic leadership of Mintoff, led to the erosion of traditional procedures to a more rational way of thinking. Although, this episode triggered new ways of thinking which have manifested in the extent to which rational orientations have replaced traditional patterns of thought, the Maltese can still be said to remain a profoundly religious people.

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Church State Relationships in Malta

References:
A.A. & E.C., (1971): Il-Qawmien tal-Haddiem Malti Storja tal-Partit Laburista 1920-1970 L-Ewwel Volum 1920-1955 (Freedom Press, Malta) Alexander, J. (1996). Mabel Strickland. Malta: Progress Press Comp Limited. Bass, B. 1990. From transactional to transformational leadership: learning to share the vision. O r g a n i z a t i o n a l D y n a m i c s , Vol. 18, Issue 3, Winter, 19-31. Briguglio, M. (October 2001). Chapter 3: The Malta Labour Party in Perspective 1920-87. Instab mill-gdid 16 ta' May 2001, minn Micheal Briguglio Web Site: http://www.michaelbriguglio.com/theses.html Bryan R. Wilson, J. C. (2001). New Religious Movements: Challenge and Response. New York: Routledge. Labeling Theory: Social Constructionism, Social Stigma, Deinstitutionalisation, George Herbert Mead, Howard S. Becker, Labelling. (2011). General Books. Mintoff, D. (16 ta' December 1938). I Challenge the Students Representative Council. The Malta Chronicle and Imperial Services Gazette . Mintoff, D. (9 ta' January 1939). Old Fashioned Tricks. The Malta Chronicle and Imperial Services Gazette Mizzi, E. (1995). Malta in the Making 1962-1987: An Eye Witness Account. Beck Graphic Limited. Muscat, M. (4 ta' September 2005). The Unholy War. Malta Today. Nye, Joseph S. 2008. The Powers to Lead. Oxford: Oxford University Press Pirotta, J.M. (1991): Fortress Colony The Final Act 1945-64: Vol. 2 1955-58 (Studio Editions, Malta) Ritzer, G., & Goodman, D. J. (2003). Sociological Theory, 6th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill . Sammut, C. (2007). Media and Maltese Society. Lexington Books. Scicluna, M. (1 ta' May 2011). Part I - Divorce and the history of Church-State relations in Malta . The Malta Independent . Thurston, H. (1908). Christian Burial. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved March 28, 2012 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03071a.htm

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Troeltsch, E. (1992). The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches, Volume 1. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. Vassallo, M. (1979). From lordship to stewardship: religion and social change in Malta. Zabbar: Veritas Press.

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