Bishop Grech is not a big bad wolf!

My dear readers it is now confirmed in the most official way: Bishop Mario Grech is not a big bad wolf.

And who declared it to be so?, you may ask.

The authoritative daily published by the General Workers Union recently declared so, albeit in a discreet way on one of its inside pages. This is the same l-orizzont that ten months ago had accused Bishop Grech of being a big bad wolf.

If you are confused I do not blame you. Let me give you the background.

On August 1, 2011 l-orizzont published a front page report which I had described in this blog as a "malicious banal lie". Itt accused Bishop Grech of trying to expedite Dun Mikiel Attard's proposed beatification process to prop his sister's, Minister Giovanna Debono, electoral fortunes.

I had written that accusing Bishop Grech of attempting such a thing was tantamount to accusing him of grave sacrilegious behavior. There are very few worse things that a bishop could do!

L-orizzont was not happy with just that. It upped the ante, saying, among other things, that Bishop Grech interfered in the work of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal to give preferential treatment to certain individuals.

Anyone who knows Bishop Grech would have immediately concluded that the story was just a pathetic lie. The only question was why l-orizzont was ready to steep so low. I do not know the answer to that question. However, I was not surprised at all. They had published the mother of all obscene front pages just before the visit of Pope Benedict to Malta. They had the temerity to suggest that the Pope would be benefiting financially from his pastoral visit to Malta.

But now let us go back to Bishop Grech.

Bishop Grech, as he was duty bound to do tried to clear his name by taking the paper to Court. It transpired - no surprise at all - that the paper did not try to bring any proof or justification for its story. It didn't because it couldn't. There was no proof to bring!

It also transpired - once more no surprise at all - that the whole story was totally fabricated. L-orizzont published a statement in which it withdrew every single word in had written about Bishop Grech. I emphasize: they retracted every single word they had written. They said that Bishop Grech was an exemplary bishop, that he never interfered in the beatification process of Fr Attard, that he never interfered in the work of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal and that he never meted any preferential treatment to anyone.

When Bishop Grech went to court to defend his honour his was criticized by the usual clique. What do they say now?

When, last year I came to the defence of Bishop Grech I was accused of meddling in politics. I was and will not be deterred, particularly now that l-orizzont have eaten their words.