This is why logical thought is so important.

‘The’ in ‘The Madonna’ is part of the name.

Some other examples:

The Times (the name of a newspaper)
The Sun in Splendour (the name of a public house)
The London School of Medicine and Dentistry (the name of a medical school currently in the news)
The Rt Hon. The Earl of Strathmore (the name/title of a Scottish nobleman)

And so on.

Santa Cruz is Spanish, not Maltese or English. And it is equally unsuitable.

The hospital didn’t need a name at all because a simple descriptor suffices. As with the airport and the university, neither of which has a name because they don’t need one, it’s Malta’s only general hospital.

One of my main issues with the Maltese version of the religion and the way it is taught is that it militates against rational and organised thought, your repeated retorts being one such example.

No, it is not acceptable to name a state general hospital after an icon of Roman Catholicism or any other religion, for that matter.

Had the hospital been named that way before the Second World War, then the name would have historic and traditional resonance and would be acceptable for that reason.

But naming the state hospital Mother of God Hospital in the 21st century is most definitely not acceptable. The decision is symbolic – and I don’t think you quite understand how much subliminal damage a decision like that will have caused the government which took it. It all added up.

If there is nothing wrong with naming the state general hospital Mother of God Hospital in the 21st century, then you will see no problem with renaming Malta International Airport Sacred Heart of Jesus Airport.

But clearly, there is a problem with that.

Sit down and quantify it. Work out what it is.

‘State religion’ and ‘official religion’ do not mean the same thing. Malta has an official religion but it does not have a state religion.

Having an official religion does not mean religious imposition or in-your-face attitudes, which is why Heathrow Airport is not called Christ on the Cross Airport, for instance.

These are, above all, matters of simple good manners. You might feel perfectly comfortable with the idea of a state general hospital called Mother of God Hospital, but would you feel the same about a state general hospital called Mohammed the Prophet Hospital?

Well, exactly.

And no, the name Mater Dei Hospital makes no linguistic sense. It is perfectly obvious that the Latin was used because English and Maltese would have exposed the name for what it is: ridiculously unsuitable.

I would have called it ‘Santa Cruz’ instead, in respect to the original name of the area where it was actually built, namely Sqaq is-Salib.

General hospitals elsewhere, like airports elsewhere, are named because they need to be told apart.

We only have one airport, which is why it is called ‘the airport’ and officially, Malta International Airport.

Gozo’s hospital is Gozo General Hospital, and there is no reason on earth why the hospital on the main island shouldn’t have been Malta General Hospital – because that is exactly what it is.