During a visit to St Margaret College’s Senior Secondary School, Verdala, Cospicua, Archbishop Charles Scicluna attended a Religion class for fifth year students and held a question and answer session about Church teaching on a number of moral issues and various themes related to the Church and the Christian faith.

These included voicing the Church’s opinion regarding social and political matters; the Church’s position regarding gays, gay marriage and euthanasia; the issue of living a Christian life without attending Mass on Sundays; the Church’s view about the adoption of children by gay couples, and the recent call for abortion in various situations, such as cases of unwanted pregnancies, disabled children or rape.

At the end of the session the Archbishop said that God’s sixth commandment calls on Christians to control their sexual desires. However, Mgr Scicluna added that “when we fall due to our weakness let us remember that God is always merciful, much more than we think”.

The students were struck by the Archbishop’s friendly and practical approach and felt comfortable during the session. The discussion about these and other moral issues continued during subsequent Religion lessons.

The authors are students at St Margaret College’s Senior Secondary School, Verdala, Cospicua.