Mgr Scicluna Is the New Auxiliary Bishop

By Mark Micallef
Times of Malta
October 6, 2012

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20121006/local/Mgr-Scicluna-is-the-new-auxiliary-bishop.439805


Mgr Charles Scicluna, a lead figure in the Vatican's investigations into child abuse by clerics, has been appointed Malta's Auxiliary Bishop.

An official announcement is expected to be made by the Roman Curia today according to Italian newspaper La Stampa, which broke the news yesterday taking some local Church officials by surprise.

The Vatican media office would not confirm the appointment, saying its policy was only to discuss official nominations. Similarly, a Malta Curia spokesman said he had no information on the nomination.

Sources, however, confirmed the nomination had in fact been made. Mgr Scicluna, 53, is highly respected and erudite figure who worked closely with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he was nominated Pope.

He will assume the position vacated by the late Bishop Annetto Depasquale, who passed away last November. The monsignor from Lija will be second in command to the Archbishop Paul Cremona, who in recent months has experienced health problems due to exhaustion.

Priests who spoke to The Times anonymously had words of praise for Mgr Scicluna, even if they consistently put in a word of caution, wary of the kind of expectations that followed the announcement of Mgr Cremona's appointment. Almost all of those who spoke to The Times said they saw this move as the appointment of Malta's next Archbishop.

"I think Mgr Scicluna was chosen as someone who could take the front seat if needed," one priest said.

As Promoter of Justice at the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, which was led by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became Pope, Mgr Scicluna had a frontline role in uncovering some of the most difficult abuse scandals that came to light in recent years. Chief among these was the case of the powerful Legion of Christ leader Fr Marcial Maciel Degollado.

"The Legion of Christ was very powerful and had many friends in high places in the Vatican. On the instigation of then Cardinal Ratzinger, Fr Scicluna has proven he has no problem making enemies to seek justice and he must have made a lot of enemies," one priest said, arguing that this attitude could be a breath of fresh air.

The theme of priestly abuse had also placed Mgr Scicluna on a collision course with some members of the local Curia when, in an interview in 2011, he advocated for the Church to compensate Maltese victims of sex abuse.

The Maltese bishops later took a stand based on their lawyers' advice not to issue any compensation to the victims.

"There was a huge backlash and anger internally at his position in the Curia and the Vatican must know this," the priest said.

Mgr Scicluna was born in Toronto in 1959 and was ordained in 1986. He studied Canonical law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

Following a stint back home where he lectured at the University of Malta and served at the Ecclesiastical Tribunal, he returned to Rome to work at the Vatican in 1995. In 2002 he was nominated Promoter of Justice at the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith.