The Maltese crib at the centre of the Bernini columns in St Peter's Square occupied pride of place during the Christmas 'Urbi et Orbi' blessing by the Pope and all ceremonies connected with Christmas.

It was a very good effort.

But it was practically wasted.

Because, as astounded Maltese pilgrims wrote back, there was nowhere in or around the Crib to tell visitors this was a gift from Malta.

The link with Malta was made in the many newspaper articles at the time of the crib's inauguration but then many people hardly read papers or remember them between the reading and the seeing.

One cannot know why this omission occurred - maybe there is some Vatican rule about such things.

It is a great pity this has happened, for without an explanation, many of the Maltese features in the crib remain unexplained.

The building on the side, with the Maltese cross on the balcony, the Maltese Muxrabija on the side, is inexplicable unless one understands the Maltese connection.

So too the dghajsa with the eye of Osiris and the fishing nets.

So too Dun Gorg Preca and the Christmas Eve procession with the Child Jesus.

Without someone to explain all this to the average viewer, all this gets lost.

That is why the good effort, the hard work, put in, went over the heads of the many thousands who went to see the crib at close quarters.

It could have been an opportunity to explain the long, close, link between the Maltese and the crib, the link between the Maltese way of building houses and what difference (if any) between Maltese and Palestinian ways of building houses across the centuries, etc.

If one is to criticize further and deeper, even if one understands all the Maltese context, this hardly goes further than linking  the various aspects to the Maltese scene. In a way, therefore, it does not lead viewers to the central mystery of the Incarnation but only to the Maltese cultural scene.

There was an attempt, it is true, to link the dghajsa to the migrant crisis but it was just a rather far-fetched link at that.

Having been given the great opportunity to speak to the world, all we seemed able to do was to speak about Malta.

Or rather, about Gozo, for there are Gozitan undertones all over the place, from the name Santa Marija inscribed on the boat's prow to the clear resemblance to the Dar tal-Kaptan just outside Victoria.

It is indeed a pity that whoever was in charge, during the planning and the commissioning phase, did not exert enough pressure to get the opportunity to tell the world something more valid.

Unless of course, but we do not want to believe this, the whole point was to be there at the inauguration and meet the Pope.