Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1517916
IF you've been reading this col- umn for a while, you will prob- ably know that – unlike the 1970s disco-pop sensation Hot Chocolate (or the entire cast of The Full Monty, for that matter) – I don't exactly 'believe in mira- cles', myself. It might, I admit, be a some- what boring way of looking the universe: but when people 'mi- raculously' recover from oth- erwise fatal diseases, I tend to ascribe it more to the efforts of all the medical professionals in- volved in their treatment (and yes; possibly, to other factors which we as yet know nothing about)… than to the intercession of various, long-dead 'Saints and Martyrs' (as a rule, 'pur- chased' through the currency of prayer…) Likewise, when countries like Malta are spared the devasta- tion of natural disasters, that wipe out great chunks of their neighbours' populations – like the storm that caused over 4,000 deaths, and 50,000 displace- ments, in Libya last September – I'd say it has less to with 'Divine Intervention', than with what I call the simple 'Luck of Geogra- phy'. In this case, Prime Minister Robert Abela himself comment- ed that the same storm 'only missed us by a whisker'…. which also suggests that – had there been just the tiniest variation in wind-direction, that day – this rock we call 'Malta' might not even exist at all right now, for you to even read this article up- on. Conversely, it also suggests that we might not be quite so fortunate the next time round. Far better, then, to invest our energies in actually preparing ourselves for a possible future calamity… than in praying for a possible future 'miracle', that may-or-may-not actually mate- rialise... But hey, that's just me! (And as I hinted earlier: I'm just a boring old fart, at the end of the day.) Besides: while I still maintain that there will always be a per- fectly logical, rational explana- tion, for even the most bizarre, outlandish phenomena imagina- ble… I have to admit that there one or two things, in the known Universe today, that appear to have no scientific explanation whatsoever. One of them concerns an Oa- sis song by the name of 'Won- derwall': which nearly everyone seems to consider 'the greatest song of all time' (when, if you ask me, it isn't even remotely close to being the greatest song, in Oasis' own back-catalogue….) But I'll save that mystery for an- other time. No, the one that has me more perplexed, right now, is… what the heck happened to Malta's pro-life movement, over the past two years? Reason I ask is that… well, there are quite a few, actually. Taking the most recent first: this morning, The Times carried an opinion piece by Kevin Dingli, under the headline 'No funda- mental right to abortion'. Now: I don't know much about Kevin Dingli himself (other than how he is described in the by- line: as 'a lawyer'). But I do read his articles from time to time, so I am aware that he is very con- sistently, and adamantly, pro- life. No surprises, then, to discover that his latest article would be highly (but HIGHLY) critical of President Emmanuel Macron's recent decision, to enshrine abortion as a 'human right' in France's Constitution. And I could say the same for Bish- op Joseph Galea-Curmi: who likewise maintained the Catho- lic Church's ultra-consistent, pro-life position, by "[decrying] France's decision to make abor- tion a constitutional right, in a mass which marked the 60th an- niversary of the founding of the National Council of Women." Such things are, after all, only to be expected … but, well, that's the whole point right, there. Ex- pectations. OK, allow me to elaborate. Giv- en that: a) the same President Ma- cron has separately vowed to enshrine abortion as a human right, not just in his own coun- try's Constitution, but also the European Charter of Fundamen- maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 MARCH 2024 10 OPINION Metsola's abortion miracle Raphael Vassallo Roberta Metsola