Priests and politics

Labour's EP candidate Joseph Muscat chose to comment selectively (May 21) on points raised by my article (May 18). He failed to comment on the main thrust of a maltastar.com editorial which was that Fr Peter Serracino Inglott's appointment to the European Convention was a clever way of aligning the Church with the Nationalist government's policy of taking Malta into the EU. The fact that I quoted an editorial "which appeared some time ago in maltastar.com" doesn't make the reference any less relevant. Labour was and still is in the habit of making statements for the sake of the party's immediate convenience and then expect us all to forget them.

Mr Muscat has been in politics long enough to realise the difference between an internal election within a political party and an election involving highly charges partisan politics, when the electorate chooses a party and its programme, through its preferred candidate. It is in this context that Fr Colin Apap's endorsement of Mr Muscat is most objectionable. Mr Muscat charges that I seem "to find it difficult to stomach the fact" that he writes in this paper regularly and he feels sorry for me in the bargain.

Was it a coincidence or what that on the same day his letter appeared in The Times a regular contributor to maltastar.com referred to me and this paper in these terms: "On Tuesday a contributor to the fascist English media had turned his focus on Fr Colin Apap and his endorsement of Labour's EP candidate Joseph Muscat". This description of The Times has been a recurrent feature on maltastar.com. Of course, I find it difficult to stomach Labour writers using "the fascist English media" to sell their wares and I hope that Mr Muscat will disassociate himself from this offensive and repugnant comment.

As to Mr Muscat's comment that had he been born in another era "the ilk of Mr Felice Pace" would have suggested his burning at the stake, I doubt very much whether I would have escaped the stake myself, considering my publicised views on ecclesiastical matters, views which must have escaped Mr Muscat's notice.

As for him offering me a regular column in maltastar.com, I appreciate the offer but I don't want to suffer the same fate of writers who dared to criticise Labour's leadership and were stopped from writing.