Which reminds me about Michael Farrugia describing himself as a Roman Catholic rather than as a lapsed one

I’ve just read this leading article in yesterday’s Times of Malta, and it reminded me that I haven’t said anything yet about Family Minister Michael Farrugia’s response, when asked what he thinks about Joe Debono Grech’s violent threat.

“I am a (Roman) Catholic and if you are a Catholic you have to forgive.”

What sort of answer is that? Journalists were not asking for his religious views, but for his views as a minister of the government. Forgiveness does not come into it where a cabinet minister is concerned.

As for his description of himself as a Roman Catholic who must abide by the rules of the church – oh please, what arch hypocrisy. The religion he claims to espouse also tells him not to abandon his wife for one of his nurses, then leave the nurse for Amanda Mifsud and have extra-marital relations with both (separately).

His religion, though in more oblique terms on the matter of corruption and abuse of power, also tells him not to use his position as a government minister to have his lover appointed to a prominent position at a government agency, Identity Malta.

I can’t stand these pseudo-religious hypocrites and the way they pick and choose among the rules. Forgiveness indeed.

You are not a Roman Catholic, Minister. You are a lapsed Catholic. That’s perfectly fine and nothing to be ashamed of (unlike other things that you do).

The very religious Roman Catholic Family Minister Michael Farrugia, with his girlfriend Amanda Mifsud, who was appointed to a senior position at Identity Malta, with two other Roman Catholics, Joseph and Michelle Muscat.