Bells v. Ballots

Malta is a special landmark in Christian history,* and the Roman Catholic hierarchy has always played a weighty role in the island's affairs (present population: 330,000, of whom 98% are Catholic). But in recent times, as last week's elections again demonstrated, the church's influence has been challenged sharply by the Maltese Labor Party and its leader, Dom Mintoff, a Rhodes scholar who once studied for the priesthood.

Mortal Sin. As Prime Minister from 1955 till 1958, Mintoff advocated policies that Malta's Archbishop, Sir Michael Gonzi, feared would limit the church's control over education, religion and family life. Gonzi protested the importation of badly needed teachers because many were non-Maltese Catholics ("They are born and bred in a Protestant atmosphere, and can never become perfect Catholics").

When Mintoff tried to boost tourism in order to help the economy, hurt by cutbacks at the British naval base, the Archbishop squelched a proposal to build a gambling casino and censured bikinis as immodest. Finally, left-leaning Mintoff threatened to seek economic aid from neutralist Egypt or Communist Yugoslavia. For "grave offenses against ecclesiastical authorities," the Archbishop put the Labor Party's entire leadership under interdict (denying them confession, communion or consecrated burial), made it a mortal sin for a Catholic to support the Socialists.

This feud set the stage for the bitterest election campaign in the island's history. Lined up against the Labor Party were five other parties, all acceptable to Archbishop Gonzi. While Mintoff ran on a hate-Britain platform that urged an independent, neutralist Malta, his chief opponents, the Nationalists, advocated independence within the Commonwealth. (The island currently has self-government except in defense and foreign affairs, which are supervised by a British high commissioner.) But in the months leading up to last week's election, foreign policy issues were overshadowed by the emotional struggle between church and state.

"Open War." Churches drowned out Socialist rallies by loudly ringing their bells for three hours at a stretch. On the narrow streets of Pawla, Labor Party youths and Young Christian workers fought pitched battles with stones and wine bottles. Posters proclaimed: "Every vote for Mintoff is another thorn in the Sacred Heart of Jesus." Maltese spinsters paraded in a pilgrimage of prayer for his defeat, wearing the faldetta, the traditional national headdress. Concluded an English observer: "This is open war."

When the votes were counted, the Labor Party was clearly defeated. Polling one-third of the popular vote, it lost control of the 50-seat legislature, keeping only 16 seats while the combined opposition won 34. Of these, 25 went to the Nationalists, whose leader, George Borg Olivier, will be asked to form the new government. Laborite Mintoff scoffed at the results, labeled the election "the most unfair in the island's history."

*St. Paul was shipwrecked on its shores in 60 A.D. In 1565 the Knights of Malta freed the island from a Turkish siege, and in 1800, sword-waving Maltese priests helped British troops topple Napoleon's rule.

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