Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1464183
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 APRIL 2022 OPINION 10 Raphael Vassallo OPINION Faith in God, I can understand. But in Roberta Metsola? LOOK: I know we're supposed to be a very Catholic country; and that the Pope himself just paid us all a little visit last week- end… which naturally means that everyone suddenly remem- bered just how 'very Catholic' we're all supposed to be (only to instantly forget it again, the moment the Papal Plane took off from Luqa Airport last Sun- day…) But aren't we taking this whole 'blind faith' business just a little too far? I mean: it's one thing to unquestionably believe in an 'All-Powerful, All-Merciful Creator', who will one day 're- turn in judgment over the living and the dead', and all that… … even simply because – re- gardless how much 'truth' there is, to that belief-system – we can all plainly see that it does make life just that much slightly easier to bear: at least, for those who are genuine believers. Take this country's experience of World War Two, for instance (this is, after all, the 80th anni- versary of the Malta Blitz). As a non-believer, I myself somehow doubt that the collective mur- murings of thousands of peo- ple, all huddled in their under- ground shelters – with endless exhortations of 'Ora Pro No- bis!', 'Eħlisna mid-Deni!', 'Aħ- frilna Dnubietna!', etc. – would have deflected the trajectory of even a single bomb that was ev- er dropped over these islands, in the course of the entire war. … but that those prayers made no difference at all? That it was all 'wasted breath', that served no useful purpose whatsoever? No, indeed. Even a non-be- liever can fully appreciate the therapeutic value of prayer, at a time like that. Leaving aside the obvious point that… erm… there's not much else you CAN do during an air raid, is there? (Except hope, and pray, that the next bomb won't have your name chalked all over it…) But even without that consid- eration: there is still room to ar- gue that those collective prayers may indeed have helped to 'save' Malta during World War Two. Not, of course, by erecting any protective force-field over the island; but at least, by pro- tecting those believers against a far more treacherous enemy than even Nazi Germany… DE- SPAIR. And that – far more, I would say, than the 'valour' for which we were awarded the George Cross – was what ultimately prevented Malta's eventual ca- pitulation back in 1942. For let's face it: even if the belief itself really is hopelessly misplaced… the hope it offers is undeniably REAL. And if Despair is such a terrifying adversary; what bet- ter ally could you possibly want, than a little bit of – even the faintest trace, if it comes to it – genuine 'HOPE'? Ah, but there are a couple of rather large caveats to all that. To begin with, that sort of ap- proach only works when the situation really is – at the risk of quoting some rather famous last words – 'desperate'. And also, only when your own faith really is… how can I put it?... 'well-founded'. In other words: praying for 'God to save you', during an air raid… yeah, I kind of get that. But praying for 'Roberta Metso- la to save the PN'? (Like Robert Arrigo almost literally did, with his tearful 'Qaddisa Metsola, It- lob Għalina!' tweet)? No, I don't get that at all. Even as a non-believer, I find it al- most… blasphemous, to tell you the truth. But from any other perspective you care to name: it can only be described as de- lusional. Right: I won't even bother with all the logistical complica- tions that would arise, if Robert Metsola were to actually answer all those prayers. (Because it's not just Robert Arrigo, by the way. Even more level-head- ed pundits, like Pierre Portelli, evidently regard Metsola's as- cension to the PN leadership as a fait accomplit – if not an outright 'Article of Faith' – to which they are willingly, or un- willingly, resigned…) I mean: talk about the 'As- sumption of Our Lady', will you? Actually, make that 'as- sumptionS'… because there at least three that I can easily pick out there, at a glance. For starters: everyone seems to be overlooking the teenie-wee- nie detail that Roberta Metso- la is currently President of the European Parliament. So she is more or less 'tied up' for the next two years at least: which could very easily become an- other two years again. (What if she decides to contest the 2024 EP elections, and – following an umpteenth successful outing, to bring out the EPP vote – gets re-elected European President again? It's just another assump- tion, granted… but I wouldn't exactly call it 'unlikely', myself). By my count, then, Roberta Metsola will be in no position to do any form of 'PN-saving', for anything between two and four years, at the earliest. But even that simply assumes that Roberta Metsola would even want to do such a thing in the first place. I mean: she's President of the European Parliament, remem- ber? So not only would it be a calamitous step down the ca- reer ladder, for herself politi- cally… but she also has slightly bigger fish to fry in her current role – and far, FAR more inter- national visibility to achieve, in the frying of it – than as 'leader of the Nationalist Party'… All the same, however: let us assume – while we're in the swing of it – that Roberta Met- sola does actually decide to abandon the dizzying heights of her newfound global stardom, to get herself bogged down once more in the 'Quagmire of Eter- nal Stench' that is Maltese poli- tics. (Hey, you never know: peo- ple believe in all sorts of other, far less likely things…) What makes everyone so cer- tain that she'll succeed, anyway? Not just in 'saving the PN' – to