Away from the glitz, lights and parties that characterise this time of year, Christmas Day is a time to foster unity with God and each other, Archbishop Charles Scicluna told Catholics in his Christmas message.
In his annual message to the faithful, Malta's archbishop steered clear of controversy or political criticism, instead focusing on the religious meaning of a Catholic celebration that has become increasingly secularised and commercialised over time.
Not so Gozo Bishop Anton Teuma, however, who focused his own message almost entirely on an abortion controversy that has divided the country, saying Malta was on its way to becoming a "cemetery".
Speaking from the Greek Catholic Church of Our Lady of Damascus on Archbishop’s Street, Valletta, Archbishop Scicluna said he hoped everyone could enjoy the sensation of “being drawn to God with love and mercy”.
He shared with viewers a reflection on a 900-year-old icon inside the Valletta church of Our Lady with an infant Jesus embracing her.
“He’s not just holding her, he doesn’t want to let go,” he said. “When Pope Francis was in Malta, he spoke and showed us what the evangelical style means, its mercy, tenderness and closeness. This icon in some what expresses this style,” he said.
This year marks the 100th year since the Maltese national anthem was first played, the archbishop said, as he asked God to “continue to look upon Malta with mercy”.
“God always looked after Malta,” he said, adding that the country had historically always been a place of refuge, “as the mother’s womb must be.”
That was the archbishop’s only direct reference to an ongoing abortion debate that divided the country in recent weeks.
It was important to look upon each other with sweetness even when we disagreed, the archbishop said, noting that the name ‘Malta’ had its roots in honey and its sweetness.
The archbishop also had a special message for Maltese living abroad, urging them to think of their motherland and all it had done for them.
Gozo bishop lashes out at abortion law
Gozo Bishop Anton Teuma issued his own Christmas message to faithful, and his was a more forceful and political one which directly referenced the abortion issue.
Malta, the Gozitan bishop said, appeared to be on its way to “becoming a cemetery of non-viable people and weak babies.”
“I find it hard to urge you to celebrate this year,” he said. “It hurts my heart, and I think others feel the same.”
Had Joseph and Mary not looked after the baby Jesus, the infant would have died, he said.
“A person’s viability – their ability to survive or not – does not just depend on biological factors,” he said, arguing that people needed a loving home and psychological support to thrive.
Teuma painted proposed amendments to abortion laws as “an insult” to doctors, saying the government’s arguments for changing the law implied that doctors had in the past not done all they could to save lives..
Doctors had “rarely, or never” had to directly choose between saving the mother’s life or that or baby, he said, and had always worked to save both.
The Gozo Bishop said his Christmas wish would be for "all those with common sense to stop and think, to discern and see what is best for for the people, not for themselves."
"May God ensure that laws in this country are not guided by surveys or censuses in favour of one party or the other, but rather laws designed to respect humanity," Teuma concluded.