It is all about power and control

I watched Louis Malle’s “Viva Maria” (released in the Sixties) for the first time on Friday. It is a bit of a romp, but among the playfullness with the sexy Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau in their youth, Malle includes in his spoof some jibes at the Catholic Church.
Namely, what priests and monks have got up to (historically) in order to retain power, i.e. their support of brutal, exploitative and corrupt dictatorships.

The reason I bring this up is because next morning I read about the result of one court case following the Church in Malta successfully launching a witch hunt against some young revellers, who dared dress up as priests, nuns and even Jesus at this year’s carnival in Gozo.

Of course the witch hunt today is not on the same scale but the motive is still that of retaining power and control. The Church in Gozo can still wield considerable control as has just been demonstrated.
The bishops have gone on record as saying that they want to stamp out the practice forever. “This should not be allowed to happen again” (the dressing up not the witch hunts).

In the movie the name Maria is not incidental. The promiscous, striptease artistes (Bardot and Moreau) are hailed as saints for their part in a revolution.

In the real world, a young man had been charged in court and found guilty of wearing a “sacred habit” without permission. He got a one-month jail-term suspended for 18 months, for offending the State religion by dressing up as Christ during the Nadur carnival last month.

The police said steps were taken after the public statements made by Archbishop Paul Cremona and Gozo Bishop Mario Grech about the behaviour of certain individuals and costumes worn during this year's carnival in Nadur.

Like previous years, scores of revellers dressed up as priests and nuns during the rowdy Nadur carnival.

“Shameful behaviour at Nadur carnival infuriates Gozo Bishop”, who said “society is living under the dictatorship of relativism,” reported one newspaper.
Mgr Mario Grech, the Bishop of Gozo, thought it “very bad taste indeed to hurt religious sentiments by impersonating the holy figure of Jesus and the Apostles”.

He also claimed that is was also illegal and made it clear that he expected the police to act . He was quoted: “one asks where were the police at the time? The culture of making fun of the authorities is rapidly being promoted, calling it maturity. However, is it?”
He said he sincerely hoped that offenders were brought to book.

So it was making fun of the authorities that was really irking the Bishop. It was not the wearing of the vestments that provoked the outrage but the poking of fun at the Church authorities.

In a statement the bishops (I guess that the Archbishop did not want the Gozo bishop to hog all the limelight) called on the authorities to defend the rights of the public, adding that this applied not only to the religious beliefs of most of the people of Malta and Gozo but also to public decency in general.

But public reaction had been very mixed on the issue, it is the Church who is the major complainant.

Carnival is celebrated in many countries, but particpants rarely end up in court because of their costume, In Brazil (where costumes are little more than a g string) and elsewhere carnival behaviour is accepted for its eccentricities, bawdiness and irreverance.

But not on the tiny EU member state of Malta, or rather on the even smaller sister island of Gozo, The Bishops’ hopes were fullfilled. Nine Maltese people aged between 20 and 35 years are now being investigated by the police in connection with alleged offensive behaviour and costumes used during the Nadur carnival.

They will face charges under the Maltese Criminal Code, which bars people from dressing up as priests and/or donning Church vestments or naval/military uniforms without a permit.

But since it was not the wearing of the vestments that provoked the outrage but the poking of fun at the Church authorities, I am not sure whether the Criminal Code covers that.
As a local blogger pointed out, there was no outrage when men dressed as nuns took part in a charity show imitating “Sister Act” on TV. Or indeed criminal proceedings.

Yet, a young man now has a criminal record. And the fate of the other people involved is still to be decided.
The police said they had also filed charges in relation to other contraventions (not specified) during the three-day Nadur carnival.