Prime Minister Robert Abela has established a new trend in Maltese which is fast consuming so many that it has now even afflicted the holiest of men. Selling one’s ideals, friends and companions to the highest bidder is the order of the day thanks to Robert Abela and Archbishop Charles Scicluna is making sure he is not left behind.
It is important to remind readers that Archbishop Charles Scicluna became Archbishop after a group of conservative clerics such as Joe Borg and Rene Camilleri bandied together and mounted a coup against Archbishop Paul Cremona for refusing to take positions on politics and current events in the country. Charles Scicluna came to Malta from Rome, rather reluctantly according to those close to him. However, Scicluna fulfilled the wishes of the Curia’s conservative factions swiftly as he began taking positions on politics and current events. Archbishop Charles Scicluna also positioned the Church as a strong government critic in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal.
Eventually, the criticism by the Archbishop stopped and people began asking why. Now, the Archbishop has pushed back and is saying that the Church is not the Opposition. He does provide his political opinion and criticism of the current one-party dominance of Maltese politics, but his audience which follows him well is still stumped with silence by how he has mellowed down his rhetoric and frequency of commentary. Land deals seem to be a priority for the Archbishop, and he can’t have a high moral ground these land deals with the government are keeping him back from speaking frequently and with certain rigour.
The Church is in a deep crisis due to the lack of recruits, but more worryingly, the brotherly and sisterly orders are in a crisis deeper still. While the Church finds problems in finding priests to assign Church and sacramental duties, the Church is accumulating empty and unused properties which is ending up selling to fund itself. It’s quite a bleak scenario when you consider this trend on a long-term and secular basis. The Church can help itself by becoming a more relevant and engaged part of society and the community. It can achieve this by addressing what matters to it through its Christian values.
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