I  could not understand how so many people were surprised that heaven and earth were moved to save the five people caught in a submersible near the Titanic while no similar efforts were made to save the hundreds who were on a ship having navigational problems off Greece. Facebook was full of comments and punchy cartoons.

Do not misunderstand me. I share the disgust shown at the different treatment given to the victims of both tragedies. In the Titan case different countries were providing all sorts of assets, though not legally obliged to do so. In the case of the asylum seekers European countries, including ours, continuously invent all sorts of excuses to avoid their legal obligations. What astonished me is that people were surprised that this happened. Is it not obvious that in our culture the lives of five multi-millionaires are more valued than the lives of 500 poor asylum seekers?

Worse than that, we have built a culture where not all lives matter. The lives of white people are more important than the lives of black people (e.g. blonde Ukrainians are more welcome than black Africans). The lives of the rich are more esteemed than the lives of the poor. The lives of those who have been born are more cherished than the lives of those humans who have not been born.

I am certain that all readers heard of Madeline McCann, the sweet British girl abducted in Portugal in 2007. But probably only a handful of readers (if any at all) remember the saga of the 234 Nigerian girls who in 2014, in the middle of the night were kidnapped by the Boko Haram terrorists.

Like McCann they just disappeared into the night. The media gave – and from time to time still gives – blanket coverage to Madeline but very little coverage to the Nigerian girls. We, creatures moulded by the media, remember the first but not the second.

Pope Francis gave other examples that not all lives matter. In June 2013 he said:

“If in so many parts of the world there are children who have nothing to eat, that’s not news, it seems normal. That some homeless people die of cold on the streets is not news. In contrast, a ten-point drop on the stock markets of some cities, is a tragedy.”

In Malta we have just lived the controversy where the pro-abortion lobby wanted the health of one human being (a woman) to trounce the life of another human being (an unborn baby, perhaps another woman to be).

The capitalist system thrives on the economy of exclusion. Pope Francis frequently speaks of the “throwaway culture,” which is an attitude and a reality that goes beyond mere exclusion. It goes beyond the idea of producing consumer products that one uses once and then discards.

In the throwaway culture, as explained by Francis, humans are considered consumer goods to be used and discarded if they stop being productive or useful. Humans are not treated according to their dignity as children of God but according to their worth as producers.

Our humanity should make us rebel against an economy and a culture which dehumanises and excludes people- Fr Joe Borg

In his Sunday Angelus address on January 29, 2023, Pope Francis said:

“The throwaway culture says, ‘I use you as much as I need you. When I am not interested in you anymore, or you are in my way, I throw you out.’ It is especially the weakest who are treated this way – unborn children, the elderly, the needy, and the disadvantaged.”

He continued:

“But people are never to be thrown out. The disadvantaged cannot be thrown away. Every person is a sacred and unique gift, no matter what their age or condition is. Let us always respect and promote life! Let us not throw life away.”

The irony of the Titan controversy is that one of the persons turned out to be someone who bought a Maltese passport.

We had welcomed him because he had a fat chequebook and we helped him to cut corners of the scheme which prostitutes our national soul and which is administered by pimps called auditors, accountants and lawyers. Those who come in run-down boats do not have fat cheques and are consequently thrown into squalid detention centres.

What is interesting is that the Maltese feel that this is a dubious scheme which does not make you Maltese. Were one of the victims in the Titan a true Maltese the reaction of our population and government would have been enormous. It wasn’t as the people and the government know this is a phone citizenship.

Many among us feel that the lives of the poor and the homeless are less dignified than that of the rest. Many believe that it is the poor’s fault that they are poor. Many do not believe that the official statistics (just published by the NSO) register that 100,000 are at the risk of poverty or social exclusion. (In 2011 the number of people in the same category was almost 70,000.)

One-third of the population over the age of 65 is at risk of poverty or social exclusion. Forty two per cent of those over 65 living alone are at risk of dropping below the poverty line.

This is an almost seven per cent increase over the previous year. Forty three per cent of single-parent households also face the same risk. Women are more likely to be at risk of poverty or social exclusion across all age groups. The fact that the number of those in the risk of poverty has decreased by 0.2 per cent amounting to just 200 persons does not make us proud.

Our humanity (let alone our Christianity) should make us rebel against an economy and a culture which dehumanises and excludes people. We are duty- bound to defend the rights of the weakest, bearing in mind what Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi frequently said “the rights of the weak are not weak rights”.