The PN wanted to give free reign to the Church over “the duty and the right to teach which principles are right and which are wrong.” So it does come as a surprise that Ragonesi says “as a principle the PN never wanted for religion and politics to mix.” He does however concede the PN used to have members who mentioned religion during their meetings. Ragonesi continues that Borg Olivier and himself, who always took part in “principal meetings during the elections and even during the integration transition, never wanted to take advantage of the interdett.” But seeing that the MLP leader Dom Mintoff was Archbishop Gonzi’s bete noire, wasn’t it inevitable the PN would gain a considerable advantage? “That Gonzi considered Borg Olivier the designate leader of the Gunta – this I do not accept,” Ragonesi insists. His justification being that Gonzi was always against Malta’s independence. According to his faithful secretary, Borg Olivier never uttered a word in favour or against the intedett: “We always said that it was the church’s business and we would not interfere.” One would be excused for suspecting that the deafening silence from the PN executive and leader only helped pave the way to subsequent electoral victories. It would have logically been against the PN’s interests for the interdett to come to an end.