It has now become customary that, with the advent of the feast of Our Lady of the Nativity at Senglea on September 8, trees are horribly mutilated and butchered to accommodate a banner, artificial ivy and a papier-mâché effigy and, obviously, to give a better view of the statue leaving and entering the parish church. One would be justified to ask: if the trees were not butchered, would Our Lady of the Nativity have been displeased or angry? Has the butchering of the trees in question contributed anything toward a better spiritual respect for and adherence to our religion? Couldn’t the banners and papier-mâché effigy have been moved a couple of metres to save the trees from being butchered? Can the Church authorities intervene to stop this yearly butchering of trees, also in the light of Pope Francis’s encyclical letter on the environment? Or has Pope Francis’s spiritual letter Laudato Si’ been stopped at the Senglea gates? Are these external celebrations contributing to half- empty churches during spiritual functions inside the church? Do the Church authorities in Malta approve the destruction or butchering of the Lord’s creation to accommodate a banner in honour of Our Lady of...