Raphael Vassallo’s excellent rendition on the subject of truth in MaltaToday of 13 September makes perfect sense throughout, and I am sure that he shall not be among those astonished when he reads what I am about to divulge. Of course he should surely be even less surprised if he were already familiar with this interesting piece of second century A.C.E (after common era) piece of documented Early Church history from the 2nd century on the subject of truth.
A letter written in about 195 A.C.E by the pre-Roman Church Father St Clement of Alexandria and introduced into the standard register of the works of St Clement in 1980, blatantly states that there was a perceived difference between ‘the truth’ and ‘the truth according to the faith’. A fine example of preferred belief as against solid evidence.
So Dr Robert Hewitt of Santa Lucia, please take note: your assumption that “A Christian cannot be convinced that ‘his own truth is simply more true than everybody else’. It is just because that of ‘Truth’ there can only be one” (MaltaToday, Letters, 20 September) is not in accordance with what St Clement of Alexandria wrote in the 2nd century A.C.E, and which by the way, was the accepted Pauline doctrine, and which as far as I can tell is still today part of the accepted canon of the Church.
The Bishops of Malta and people like John B. Pace of Victoria, Gozo surely must realize that if ‘truth’ were to prevail, there would in all probability, not exist for example a Scala Santa in the Vatican, visited regularly by thousands of mislead pilgrims yearly. There would not be a Turin Shroud, another pilgrim bestseller, that has been proved scientifically to belong to the Middle Ages. And if ‘truth’ were to reign triumphant it is doubtful whether Medjugorje, Lourdes or Fatima would today be anything more than just remote geographic place names.
Incredibly, the list of absurd frauds goes on and on, from blood-dripping statues, weeping (inevitably human) blood, to pathetic nutcases rolling in the mud and quite an impressive collection of miracles for good measure.
Despite the evidence (or, should I say, the sheer lack of evidence in the majority of cases), nobody from the Church hierarchy, for obvious reasons, lifts a finger to ensure that truth shall prevail. Apparently, if in the end delusion leads to devotion, truth does not matter at all!
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