How liberal and progressive: kissing the Pope’s ring
When Prime Minister Gonzi, in his capacity as head of the Maltese government, went to see the Pope, in his capacity as head of the Vatican State, and kissed his ring, I went ballistic.
This is not because I am anti-Catholic or anti-religion (I’m not; my views are liberal and I believe in freedom of religious belief and expression).
I wrote a piece describing why the head of our government should not be kissing the ring or making any other gesture of submission towards the head of another state.
That was one point, the most important.
The other point was that the Pope is not just a head of state but also head of the Roman Catholic Church. Kissing the Pope’s ring is not just a gesture of submission to the head of another state, but also a gesture of submission to the Catholic Church.
A man is free to do that if he represents nobody other than himself or a Catholic organisation. He is not free to do that when he is the head of a government which is expressly NOT – or should not be – submissive to the Catholic Church.
Now we have had Prime Minister Muscat and his crawling wife doing exactly the same thing: kissing the Pope’s ring. The wife, strictly speaking, was free to do so, because he is not the prime minister herself. But more correctly, she shouldn’t have done it, because she was part of that official delegation not as Mrs Michelle Muscat the private citizen and apparently fervent Catholic (this is news to me), but as Mrs Muscat, the Prime Minister’s wife.
Did anybody bother telling the Prime Minister that kissing the Pope’s ring is not some kind of strange ethnic etiquette, like rubbing noses or whatever, but the age-old European protocol used when a KING or princely RULER grants an audience to one of his SUBJECTS?
Knowing this and going ahead with it, as previous prime ministers of ours did, is bad enough. Not knowing it to start with, as I suspect is the case with Muscat, is much worse. That level of ignorance is just unforgiveable.
So now we have liberal and progressive Prime Minister Muscat, campaigning on a platform of the decriminalisation of anal sex in 1974 and Joanne Cassar (“dik it-trans”, as she has become known, thanks to all the daft propaganda) in 2013, going on about divorce and civil unions, bowing to the head of the Catholic Church and kissing his ring in a gesture of submission.
It beggars belief.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjXJ_gtuZ80
No kissing of rings, fingers or hands. A cool head is what’s needed especially if Catholic marriage laws will eventually be changed.
Taqbadx ma Joanne it-trans ghax jigi ghalik Kurstin u l-aqwa kunjata tad-dinja. U Kurstin rega beda training issa u qed jinbena.
[Daphne – Oh, so you had a look then. Now you know why he never figured in Labour’s propaganda.]
Joseph Muscat made the submissive gesture to the Pope for propaganda purpose only. He doesn’t respect anybody. He lives with the motto: The end justifies the means.
Exactly. It’s all for show and/or worse, to take a piss at Gonzi by doing the same thing himself that he did as Prime Minister. Or it’s a tactic for him to – probably unsuccesfully – open negotiations with the Pope on a ‘good note’, only to be ready to stab him in the back later the first chance he gets.
The constitution states that Malta has a religion, the ‘Roman Catholic apostolic religion’. Could that have anything to do with ring kissing, Muscat representing Malta?
[Daphne – No. Prime Minister Gonzi did it because he couldn’t distinguish between his personal religious beliefs and his role as head of the government. And Prime Minister Muscat does it because he thinks it’s what you should do and doesn’t understand the symbolic significance of the gesture.]
Daphne, he either cannot distinguish, or else, if he does he thinks: the die-hard Catholics will like me for this, the others will not really care.
PR. Just PR.
Reminds me of Gonzi and the divorce issue.
I have nothing against the kissing of the Ring of the Head of the Catholic Church and feel that all leaders should do so if they feel it right.
But Josephmuscat.com was all about separation of church and state – and what does he do on his first chance to demonstrate that? Submit to the Catholic Church as a State. As I said, I personally agree with that – but that is not what he promised the 36,000 who foolishly voted him in.
“All leaders should do so (kiss the Pope’s ring) if they feel it right.”
No, please. Let’s think and act straight. I too, am not anti-Catholic or anti-religion but we should read the blog-post again.
Let’s grow up and start giving God and Caesar their separate dues.
Ibuslu idu ghat television biss dak ta Dafni, mhux inhallu lilu u lil ta madwaru jghidulna x ghandna naghmlu fit 2013, bhal
Gonzi, the last of the mohicans hhahahahaha
Imhatra ma tafx min kienu l-Mohicans, Mario?
I disagree, Mrs. Caruana Galizia, not with your opinion about whether a head of state or a head of government, should kiss the Fisherman’s Ring (Pope’s ring), but on matters of diplomatic protocol.
A Catholic monarch has always historically kissed the Pope’s ring, and so does his or her spouse, and their family. It is a clear indication of that monarch’s beliefs and the beliefs of the majority of his subjects, that he submits his temporal authority to the supreme authority of God, represented by Christ’s Vicar on earth, the Supreme Pontiff. That is Catholic custom.
Look up audiences with the King of Spain, the King of Belgium, the Prince of the Asturias, and other Catholic monarchs, such as the Sovereign Prince of Monaco, on You Tube or their official websites, etcetera.
When monarchies became republics, it has remained the custom for Catholic heads of state and government to (by personal choice) kiss the Pope’s ring; this is true of all Catholic countries, and the ones that don’t are the exception to the rule, such as atheist and socialist Jose Luis Rodrigues Zapatero (Spain’s former PM) and Hugo Chavez and such like.
It is not grovelling – it is age-old protocol.
HOWEVER, it is absolutely hypocritical for Dr Muscat to be swiping away at the Church’s teachings and trying to appear Catholic-friendly by running off to the Bishops and the Pope whenever he is about to deliver an anti-Catholic policy. At least, Mintoff and Sant didn’t usually do that, and you knew where they stood.
This man is a career Machiavellian. Or so he thinks.
Joseph Muscat is not a Catholic monarch. He suffers from enough delusions of grandeur already. Please do not give him any more.
He’s the Emperor.
I am not a religious person and yet I do not find anything wrong with this. The gesture may be archaic but then so is the whole protocol within the church institution. I see it more as a sign of reverence towards this very particular statesman rather than anything else.
Most of the Maltese Catholics would have considered it faux pas had the Prime Minister chosen to just shake his hand instead; with the more devout ones probably thinking that he was verging on defiance. The rest of us don’t really care. Nothing useful ever comes out from these kind of visits anyway.
I agree with you. Perfectly said.
Visiting a religious leader to discuss a purely political decision (family law) is in itself an act of submission to a religion. Politics and religion are not bed buddies.
Needless to say, this was just a holiday for the Muscats and a bunch of friends and an opportunity to add some more snaps to the family album. Does Muscat carry his kids and wife with him to every political meeting he attends?
Muscat is simply vile, imbecilic, low, opportunist and a damn liar.
Protestant Henri of Navarre is known to have said,”” what’s in a mass?” and conveniently converted to Catholicism in order to be crowned King of France.
Joseph Muscat kissed that ring out of convenience, because it suits his own personal agenda. The only God he adores is himself.
Wara l-laqgha mal-Papa hargu 2 verzjonijiet differenti ta’ x’intqal, totalment oppost ta’xulxin.Tghid min qed jigdeb, il-Papa?
Daphne, I agree with you that Joey would kiss the Pope from head to toe if necessary, as a vote-catching gesture and nothing else.
However I certainly do not agree with you that a Catholic PM, President or whatever should not kiss the papal ring because that is a gesture of submission by one head of state/government to another.
It is a time-hallowed mark of respect by a Catholic individual to his Supreme Pontiff as head of his Church and certainly NOT as ruler of the Vatican State.
This is simply universally accepted protocol within the Catholic world.
Joe Biden was the most recent and notable exception I know of.
One swallow does not a summer make, though.
[Daphne – Heads of government should not follow Catholic protocol, but state protocol. They should also be aware at all times that they represent not themselves but the people of their country, and their country itself. Joe Biden and Nicolas Sarkozy are right. Ours are wrong. There is a strong, distinct correlation between the nature and strength of a country’s democracy (and democratic thinking) and the propensity of its leaders, when Catholic, to kiss the Pope’s ring. I have no doubt at all, even without looking for video footage, that Silvio Berlusconi – for example – will have kissed that ring.]
The Pope is in a unique position.
He heads a State and a Religion/Church.
I firmly believe that anyone is justified in kissing his ring as head of a Church of 1.5 billion people rather than as head of a State of 800.
This is simply my very strongly-held personal opinion.
After all the Duke of Norfolk, representing George VI, did kiss the ring of Pius XII at his coronation in 1939.
The Fitzalan-Howards are the premier earls (and also earl marshals) of England and concurrently the leading Catholic family (and recusants) for seven centuries of that country.
[Daphne – That was in 1939, Anthony. Not exactly a great year for European democracy.]
I think your somments only show your anti-Catholic bias. A Catholic should show respect to Christ’s representative on earth if he is convinced of his beliefs. I have seen an old photo where Mr Mintoff kissed the ring of Archbishop Gonzi.
You are right that leaders represent thier people. Now the vast majority of Maltese are Catholics. So the PM is not just showing hid beliefs but those of the majority of the people. The example of Cameron is different as most British people are non Catholic or anti-Catholic while an Italian Prime Minister would not probably be criticised for kissing the Pope’s ring. The King of Spain and even non Catholic Arafat have kissed the Pope’s ring.
[Daphne – I am no more anti-Catholic than I am anti-gay, David. Live and let live, that’s my approach to these matters. The majority of Maltese are not Catholic. They say they are, and they probably think they are, but that’s where it ends. Catholicism is a religion, which you have to espouse in every way, and not a badge of identity. Any moment now and you’ll be telling me that Silvio Berlusconi is a Catholic.]