The brief participation by Bishop Charles Scicluna, Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Malta, on Xarabank is just one indication that he really means business when he says that the Church should adopt an attitude of zero tolerance to sexual abuse.

Bishop Scicluna has spent more than a decade fighting against sexual abuse by the clergy in several parts of the world. He did this with great courage and personal peril, but with the constant support afforded by Pope Benedict.

In the light of this fantastic record on the subject and in the light of the strong words he used during the Xarabank appearance, the spin given by some to the first couple of sentences by Mgr  Scicluna boggles one’s mind. The spinners said that the bishop had said that he had never heard of the allegations against Fr Charles Fenech and that he only came to know about them through the media a few days earlier.

This spin is simply absurd.

It should have been clear and obvious to all that Bishop Scicluna had known about the case for a long time given that he had said that the Response Team of the Archdiocese had been investigating it for many years, a length of time he described as unacceptable.

He knew about it but could do nothing as he had no jurisdiction to force the Response Team to move one way or another. Instead of supporting him and his frustration at what happened some unjustly tried to blacken him.

[In my commentary to The Sunday Times of last Sunday I asked for the resignation of the person responsible for the Response Team as this delay is simply scandalous.]

It should have been very clear that when he was expressing his shock during Xarabank at learning about the case through the media, he was referring to the criminal case filed before the Courts and the fact that the priest had not appeared in Court on three occasions, an action of the priest for which Bishop Scicluna expressed his anger .

Moreover Bishop Scicluna emphasised that hiding such cases is shameful and appealed to all those who had any information to report it to the relevant authorities.

While mentioning the criminal case against Fr Fenech should one not mention also his presumption of innocence?

This is a basic tenet of the administration of justice in a democratic society. The media do not respect this basic tenet by throwing all sorts of mud but then hiding themselves behind the term ‘allegation’. May he be punished if found guilty after a due process of law but it is not right to lynch him without such a fair and due process.

Many lines have been unnecessarily crossed in the reportage by some media houses that are filling their space with all sorts of salacious details that satisfy nobody’s right but just whet the appetite of the curious.

Happily no such salacious details filled the space occupied but this news website and the other media of the organisation that runs them.

But about that some other time.

 

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