“A responsible and mature choice”: that’s the hope expressed by Archbishop Joseph Mercieca of Malta, Bishop Nicholas J. Cauchi of Gozo and Annetto Depasquale, auxiliary bishop of Malta in a message issued on 11 January on the forthcoming referendum of 1st May to ballot citizens about Malta’s membership of the European Union. According to the bishops, the referendum poses “two clear and specific duties” to citizens: on the one hand, the duty to be sufficiently well-informed “so that the decision be responsible and mature”; on the other, “to vote for what, on the basis of our conscience, is in the best interest of the highest common good”. “When our country calls us to make a choice of an economic or political nature, the Church does not tell us what solutions to choose or how to vote, unless particular decisions, solutions or proposals are contrary to the faith or to morality”, explain the bishops. Rather, “the Church encourages us to express our choice and to do so in a responsible manner”.
