Vatican Wanted Mgr Scicluna in Rome, Mgr Mercieca Wanted Him Here - Parents of New Archbishop
By Duncan Barry
New Arcbishop Mgr Charles Scicluna had to decide whether to work closely with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – who later became Pope - or remain here at the request of the then Archbishop of Malta Joseph Mercieca. This after Mgr Scicluna ended his studies in Rome back in the 1990s, his parents said in an interview. “At the time, Cardinal Ratzinger asked our son Charles to work at his side but Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Mercieca wanted him here,” his father recalled. But with his legal background, Mgr Scicluna chose to go to Rome, eventually becoming the Vatican’s chief prosecutor in abuse cases when Cardinal Ratzinger became Pope. Speaking to The Malta Independent inside their Lija home before their son’s installation ceremony, his parents - Manwel and Maria Carmela - and their other three children, said that Charles showed interest in priesthood at a very young age.
“Charles would place a table in the middle of the room and would cover it with a piece of white cloth and use the table as an altar. He would then fetch another piece of material and wear it as a cassock. Once the ‘altar’ is set up, he would place a number of candle sticks on the table and mimic a priest,” his parents recalled with a smile. “Apart from the fact that he had a passion for music and loved reading books from a very young age, we noticed his first religious calling when he was 10 years old. “In fact, when he was 12, he joined the Legion of Mary,” his father said. “When he formed part of the Legion of Mary he went to Sicily and his job was to knock on people’s doors and ask them if they were attending Mass.” But it was when he was pursuing his legal studies that it really dawned on them that he wanted to enter priesthood. “He would play Gregorian music countless times and I would ask him, why on earth are you playing the same songs over and over again?” his father said. His father pointed out that Charles never served as an altar boy though. “I always advised him against becoming an altar boy because at the time, altar boys were asked to help carry the deceased,” his father recounted.
After all these years, Mgr Scicluna’s father still has vivid memories of the times he had to carry the deceased when he was an altar boy. He recalled: The parish priest would sit in a horse-drawn black carriage, known in Maltese as a karozella. We altar boys would then proceed to carry the dead person onto a separate carriage and then we would sit inside the karozella with the parish priest. “And this is exactly why I put him off being an altar boy.” Mgr Scicluna was born in Toronto however the family moved back to Malta eventually. “When I was younger, I used to earn good money in Canada but then things changed and we decided to come over to Malta.” Asked if they were excited at the fact that their son was to be appointed archbishop, his parents laughed, and said: “It brings tears in our eyes.” They referred to the many times Mgr Scicluna was away from the family, either studying or working in Rome or when they received the news that he was to be made bishop back in 2012 and now that he is going to be made Archbishop. “Charles was fortunate enough to finish his legal studies while also managing to study to become a priest but at one time he wanted to stop pursuing his legal studies but I convinced him to continue to,” Manwel said.
Mgr Scicluna was ordained priest in July of 1986 but was appointed deputy Promoter of Justice of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith in 1995 and in 2002 as Promoter of Justice of the same Congregation. He worked for 17 years at the Vatican and prior to that, studied for four years in Rome, so he spent a total 21 years away from his family, except for his visits to Malta every so often. “He called us every single day, even if the call would last a few minutes, he wanted to make sure we were fine,” his mother said. His mother recalled that Charles rode a Lambretta in his early 20s. She said that at times he would walk into the house with bruises after a fall from his bike and try to downplay the situation. “He worried me with that bike of his,” she said. Charles’ brother and sisters said that they enjoy poking fun at each other, especially over each other’s weight. “Sometimes we have a problem to all fit in one car,” his sister said. Asked who was the ‘biggest’ problem of the lot, they replied: “good food”. His mother said that the important thing for her is that at the end of the day, Charles unites people who love him and wish him well.
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