Cracking Dan Brown’s code

Bishop Emeritus Nikol Cauchi today finds more time to complete the books he started, but says he sells far less books than Dan Brown whose Da Vinci Code is simply “full of idiocies”

At 77 years of age, Mgr Nikol Cauchi is no longer at the helm of the Gozitan diocese but in his new role as Bishop Emeritus he is still reading the signs of the times. According to Cauchi, persuasion rather than condemnation is the key to open the hearts and minds of those who have drifted away from the church. Yet he is also firm in condemning the lethal cocktail of hatred and fear which has erupted in episodes of racism and violence in recent weeks.
With the movie version of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code being screened in Malta for the first time during the weekend, Cauchi says he will not play Dan Brown’s game by instigating more controversy on this matter.
“I doubt whether this Dan Brown has written anything of literary value but I am sure that he is a capable businessman. Maybe he expected Catholics to make a greater fuss than they have actually done. Maybe he wanted to generate controversy in order to sell more books.”
According to the shrewd bishop, Brown’s sales campaign was impressive but still, he claims the Church was intelligent enough not to put more petrol on the fire. So will he watch the film?
As it happens, Cauchi says he rarely watches films, let alone this one, but he is well informed on Dan Brown’s book on which he has gathered a lot of information, despite not reading it. His verdict is clearly negative: “it’s full of idiocies,” a judgement shared by secular historians who dispute the claims made in this mosaic of esoteric claims and pop history. But should this deny us of the pleasure of reading a silly book while dosing in the summer sun?
“When one buys an objectionable book or pays to watch an objectionable film, one is only making its author richer,” Cauchi says. And yet not all Maltese Catholics have shown the same restraint shown by the church hierarchy. Some embarked on a crusading mode. Were their worries justified?
“Had every Catholic been mature enough and able to discern the truth we would not have had any problems. The Church would have stayed quiet.”
What he is worried about is in fact the impact of the film on those whose convictions are not strong enough. “Ideally Catholics who decide to see the film should simply stand up and leave the cinema hall if they feel offended by the film.”
Cauchi however recognises the church had tried this approach in the past and failed. “Very few people have the courage to stand up to be counted when their conscience is touched.”
But should Catholics watch the film? “I think it’s up to the individual whether to decide whether to watch the film or not. One can ask for the advice of a spiritual director to clarify certain issues raised in the film. Those who have strong convictions have nothing to fear. But it can harm those whose faith is weak.”
According to the Gozitan bishop those most at risk are those who rarely attend church, those who rarely read religious books and whose catechism stopped on confirmation day. “One cannot quantify the moral harm of this film but I am sure that certain harm will be done.”
So how should a good Christian react in front of this new menace? According to the Bishop condemning, boycotting or organizing massive demonstrations against the film will not achieve anything, although people are free to organise demonstrations. Yet he insists that the Church should not be involved in such demonstrations.
“Any protest should be legal, non-violent and those organising such protests should not involve the church or use images and statues of saints.”
In 1988, Martin Scorcese’s cinematic edition of Nikos Kazantzakis’s Last Temptation of Christ was not even screened in Malta. But Cauchi is aware that the times have changed. “Nowadays, we should use persuasion not repression. Sheer condemnation does not work. A peaceful and civil dialogue can be much more instructive. Today we have the Da Vinci Code, tomorrow we might face other books and films. I think that at the moment, the greatest need is to instil more maturity. People should grow up and decide for ourselves.”
In a world marked by pluralism in the media, Cauchi insists on maturity and responsibility. Surely he would not turn the clock backward. But for Cauchi the media “is an ambivalent sign”. So is the media a threat to the church?
“The media can do as much harm as it can do good. But we must always remember that any medium is based on dialogue between those who are sending the message and those who are receiving it. The important thing is that these receiving the message are mature enough to discern and are not gullible.”
Cauchi does not absolve journalist from being responsible. A case of irresponsibility was the depiction of Muhammad as a terrorist by Danish cartoonists. “The Danish cartoonist was inviting trouble. One should consider the consequences of treading on dangerous ground. If he had some sense he would have realised that Muslims are very sensitive.”
Some of those objecting to the Da Vinci Code have observed that Catholics should defend their faith as energetically as Muslims. The Bishop Emeritus acknowledges that Muslims unlike many Christians show a great respect for the sacred. But still Cauchi judges the reaction in the Muslim world as being exaggerated and violent. Cauchi notes that violence is not always physical. “There is also moral violence. Even offending a people’s sense of the sacred is an act of violence.”
Racism and violence are also very much connected. In the past days, the church has issued a clear condemnation of racism. Was the church condemnation too late in the day?
“In Italian we say ‘meglio tardi che mai’. But I think that the condemnation was timely. The struggle and tug of war with racists has only just started. We are far from the final phase. We are still at the initial phase of the problem. Now we are facing a different phenomenon. Holding a racist opinion is one thing, expressing these ideas through violence is another matter. Violence is a very ugly phenomenon. In this sense the pronouncement of the bishops was very timely. It was made in the most appropriate time.”
But words are not enough according to the Bishop. “If needed these pronouncements will be repeated. But words are not enough. Those in authority are duty bound to exercise their authority. The thief must be caught and punished.”
But is racism compatible with being Christian and a part of the church? “Racism contradicts the precepts of Christian charity thought by Christ. Christ made it clear: you will be recognised as my followers if you love each other. Christ made no distinction. Like St Paul, one cannot make a distinction between gentile and Jew. Not everyone is the same but we must love everyone. Whoever excludes others by saying I love some people excluding others is already contradicting Christ. Whoever hates a category of people does not deserve to be called a Christian. Racism is a mixture of hate and fear which is condemnable.”
According to the Bishop one of the roots of the problem is ignorance. “When one does not know enough about the other side one ends up imagining and inventing things.”
But some refuse the racism label while warning that illegal immigration poses a serious threat. “When one says that immigration is a problem, one is not a racist. But we also have to recognise that immigration is a global problem. Just look at the way the United States is sending troops to the Mexican border.”
Blocking borders and shutting migrants out is not the way forward for Cauchi who regards regularising migration as the main solution – even if Malta cannot do this alone.
“This is not something we can do alone as Maltese. It is something that all European countries must do together. Immigrants only use Malta as a stepping-stone to Europe. Europe has a moral obligation to solve this problem.”
Cauchi also sees regularised immigration as an opportunity. “In a number of European countries the population is decreasing. They need the injection of new immigrants. For them this could be helpful. In many European countries people are unwilling to do certain jobs. In the UK it is thanks to the people from the former colonies that certain work is still done.”
Cauchi also observes that the Maltese should remember that many of their relatives had to leave everything behind to settle in other countries. “We Maltese should be the last ones to justify racism and xenophobia. This defies our history as a people who migrated to other countries who opened their arms to us. There are more Maltese descendents in the United States, Canada and Australia than Maltese living here. What future did they have in Malta? They would have ended up eating each other.”
But Cauchi observes that unlike the immigrants crossing the Mediterranean nowadays the Maltese had all their documents on them and passed all the tests and examinations to which they were submitted. “This shows the importance of regularising migration. It would be a great injustice if Europeans do not help us in this.”
Two years after Malta joined the European Union some feel that their expectations have not been matched by reality.
“We are still experiencing teething troubles. There is no piece of meat without some bones. What is important is that the bone is not greater than the meat. Yet we are already benefiting from certain advantages. In the future these advantages might become clearer,” says Cauchi.
Pope Benedict XVI has placed rechristianising Europe on top of his agenda. But in so doing the new Pope has defied the expectations of those who expected to be a disciplinarian. In fact he has turned out to be more of a conciliator. Nikol Cauchi insists that mental categories dividing people into rigid categories like progressives and conservatives do not apply to the Church. Cauchi only knew Cardinal Ratzinger through his books. He admired his intellectual prowess and his ability to explain complicated matters in a simple way.
“The Pope is a profound theologian. This was not a surprise. He is also very prudent. He is a present given by God to the church”
Surely, debate in the church is still alive with Cardinal Maria Martini saying that the use of contraceptives is a lesser evil in countries where AIDS is rife. But Cauchi is wary of extrapolating a moral principle out of a declaration, which many have taken out of context.
“One cannot take words out of context and turn them in to principles. A lesser evil is still an evil. One is duty bound to combat both the lesser and the bigger evil. The lesser evil solution only applies to individual cases, it cannot be proposed as a general rule ”
He also contends that Martini was not saying that contraceptives are acceptable. “He was saying that they are a lesser evil. If someone comes to you armed asking what do you prefer blowing your head or just your ear. The answer is obvious. Yet one would still try everything possible to save one’s ear.”
One thing, which is surely evil, is child abuse. Cauchi agrees even if he would not comment on alleged child abuse in a Gozitan home exposed on TV programme Bondiplus.
During the past years the Church has set up its own response team to deal with cases of priests involved in alleged child abuse. But does it make sense in this day and age for the church to act like a state within a state by investigating these matters internally? Cauchi insists that the church is not unique in holding its own internal investigations.
“The idea of a cushion between the state and the individual is not unique in the church. Even in other institutions like banks, hospitals and schools before the matter is referred to the police one finds internal investigations.”
While condemning all sorts of abuse, Cauchi insists that in these cases one should be wary of frame-ups. “I always insist on proof. Throughout history there were people condemned to death simply because they were accused. The church is not a state within a state. It only respects human dignity. In the absence of proof nobody is guilty.”
Cauchi explains that the Church has a structure, the response team, which gives victims the chance to tell their stories while giving the alleged abuser the chance to tell his version. But why not report these cases directly to the police?
“Whoever wants to report these cases to the police is as free as the wind. We make this clear to anyone reporting abuse.”
Why not report the abuser after the Response Team has established his or her guilt? “We always leave it up to the individual who makes the denunciation to decide whether to report the case to the police. But we also have a procedure based on directives from the Vatican on what to do in these cases. When the Response Team issues a report showing that there is proof that the abuse occurred, we refer the matter to the Vatican and we act according to the instructions we receive.”
If a mother whose child had been abused by a priest, would the Gozitan bishop advise her to go to the police or to the response team? “I would not send anyone to the police but I would not keep anyone from going to the police. We never pressured anyone from taking his or her case to the police,” answers Cauchi.
The environment is another controversial issue in the sister island. The Bishop Emeritus thinks that it is still premature to comment on the latest plans issued by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, revising the 1988 temporary boundaries.
“What I am sure is that demands made by the church were not accepted. We were not demanding anything extraordinary, a place for a car park and just a small plot near the Ta’ l-Ghonq church to be used as a sacristy…”
Yet a number of Gozitans were overjoyed when they learned that the government had included a number of plots sold by the church to individuals before 1991 when the church disposed itself of lands not needed for its pastoral needs. “Yesterday evening I learned that most but not all those who had acquired these plots had their lands included in the scheme. These people had been waiting for ages and we were happy for them. But these lands do not belong to us anymore.”
According to Cauchi when these plots were sold, the church had informed buyers that they could not develop them until permits were issued. “These were sold at a pittance. A few of them were sold on a condition that if a permit is granted the buyer would pay an extra sum. Whoever bought plots outside development zones was told that he was buying land in a green area. In such cases the price was cheaper.”
Cauchi also says that the amount of plots sold to private individuals was only a fraction compared to the land transferred to the government, which was intended only for development of a social nature.
Since the appointment of Mario Grech as Bishop responsible for the Gozitan diocese, Cauchi’s daily routine has not changed radically.
“As Bishop Emeritus I do not have responsibility for the diocese but I still have to follow my programme. I still dedicate the same time to prayer. I still allocate time to study. I follow the news to adjourn myself constantly.”
Surely he is finding more time to complete the books which he had already started, including a book on liturgical life and another one on the church’s mission to teach. Jokingly, Cauchi admits that he sells far less books than Dan Brown. But still the Gozitan Bishop remains a steady rock in the most Catholic country in the European Union.