Speaking at St Peter's Basilica in Rome during a Mass of reparation for abuse committed by priests, and for healing within the Church, Mgr Charles Scicluna, who is the Promoter of Justice in the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said that if a member of the Church was an 'occasion of sin', then there was no other choice but to cut this tie. Mgr Scicluna was referring in particular to the great scandal caused by a paedophile priest.

He said 'cut this tie' because Christ himself told us: "If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter (eternal) life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire." (Mark 9, 43)

Besides, Church law is not reticent on such crimes. Discipline of the clergy for sexual offences is not new in the history of the Catholic Church, and canonical structures have long been in place to address the problem.

So, responding to the current crisis, Mgr Scicluna is rightly pointing to commitment to the rule of law as found in Canon law, thereby allowing injured individuals and communities to heal.

From the legal point of view, if paedophilia has been committed in Malta, only the Maltese criminal court can deal with it.

The alleged offender has the right to a lawyer. And only if convicted by the court of first instance, or second instance if he appeals, can be called a paedophile. In the meantime he is to be presumed innocent.

That is why, to date, there is no Maltese paedophile priest.