I am glad that the recent appointment of our Gozitan priest Mgr Alfred Xuereb as Delegate to the Commission for the reform of the Vatican Bank has been very well received in Italy and I am sure in Malta and Gozo.

This very important and delicate appointment is a manifestation of the total confidence which Pope Francis, like his predecessor Benedict XVI, has in Mgr Xuereb. It seems that the Pope wants to have direct, honest and objective reports on what is being done to reform the Bank, whose past reputation in official financial circles has not been a worthy testimonial of a Christ like Church.

The question is whether to keep, close or expand the bank. Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiago, head of the eight Cardinals appointed as advisers to the Pope, stated recently that he sees no reason why the Church should own a bank.

Mgr Xuereb’s role is not just to be the ear of Pope Francis, but also to give a transparent feedback of the various solutions proposed. It will, in the end, be the Pope and the eight Cardinals, after wide consultation, who will take a decision in the light of the recent Apostolic Letter where the Pope, without mincing his words, speaks for the poor and against the current economic powers.

The Pope and all those who help him in this task, like Mgr Xuereb and the Maltese president of the Vatican Financial Commission Joe Zahra, will need our support and prayers as they will encounter many difficulties.

The well known progressive theologian Hans Kung (incidentally ordained with me in Rome 59 years ago this coming December 8) has written a front page article in the secular national paper La Republica (November 27) about the difficulties the Pope faces from inside the Vatican curia.

Kung mentions the reform of the Vatican Bank and the opening through God’s ‘misericordia’ (mercy) to divorcees’ reception of the Eucharist.

The major opponent is Archbishop Gerard Muller, appointed for another term by Pope Francis as prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine on the Faith, who in a long article reproduced in the Vatican Osservatore Romano upholds that ‘misercordia’ does not suffice.

While thanking Pope Francis for the confidence he has shown in Mgr Xuereb and Mr Zahra, we should promise them our modest support and prayers for the important mission they have in the reformation of the Church.