MALTA
The Malta Independent
January 25, 2020
A float linking Archbisop Charles Scicluna and a Church home to child abuse, caused a whole uproar this past week, with many arguing that it is in bad taste.
The float features the Archbishop, flanked by two babies with devil’s horns and pointy teeth, in front of St Joseph children’s home, with the writing ‘Jude’s hell.’ Jude is Archbishop Scicluna’s middle name. The float also contains a wedding cake with two men holding hands.
Festivals Malta took a decision to ban the float in its current form, and in this newsroom’s opinion this was the right move. While Freedom of Expression is of course sacred, there are defamatory considerations which must also be made. Archbishop Scicluna is a man who has spearheaded the fight against child abuse in the church, and depicting in such a way can be seen as linking the Archbishop to such abuse.
Scicluna is considered to be the Vatican’s main investigator into priestly sexual abuses, with the Maltese Archbishop being sent to countries like Chile and Poland to deal with such cases. He also led a Vatican summit which was aimed to draw up guidelines for the church to tackle this subject.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.