Malta is buzzing with talk about the recommendation of the Police Board regarding the case of a man wrongly arrested, arraigned in Court and who spent a few days in prison although he was completely innocent.

The Board recommended that disciplinary action should be taken against the inspector who arrested the real culprit and not against those who got the wrong man as, in the opinion of the Board, he should have been more forthcoming with communication with his colleagues. The lawyer of the inspector who will now face disciplinary procedures said that the recommendation of the Board turned logic and justice upside down.

I will not go into the ensuing controversy except for one comment. The decision of the Police Board came as no surprise since anyone who follows the pro-government media could easily sense where the wind was blowing.

I will comment though on another very important piece of news – particularly for Catholics - which did not strike the headlines in Malta. I refer to the man who was prophesised to be a pope, and the last pope to boot, but instead made it to the position of Secretary of State. Archbishop Pietro Parolin, 58, has just been appointed by Pope Francis as the Vatican’s Secretary of State, making Parolin the second man in the Vatican after the Pope himself. This is by far the most important appointment made by Pope Francis till today. In secular terms this is equivalent to the choice of a Prime Minister.

John Allen, the influential American Catholic journalist noted in a column today:

"A mini-boom of speculation on the Internet back in 2006 had Parolin in line for an even higher position. A note about the papal prophecies of the medieval Abbot Malachi posted on the Wikipedia website speculated that Parolin might be the Petrus Romanus, or “Peter the Roman”, whom Abbot Malachi predicts will be the last pope before the end of the world. (“Pietro” means “Peter” in Italian.) Whether Parolin will ever be elected pope, and whether that triggers the apocalypse, obviously remains to be seen, but already this particular Peter is now a very big deal."

Let’s wait and see.

Pope Francis, became personally acquainted with Parolin especially in recent years in South America, where Francis was an archbishop in Argentina and Parolin a papal nuncio in Venezuela. Those were the Chavez years which were anything but calm and peaceful for the Church in Latin America. During those years Parolin adroitly worked for the improvement of the relationships between Chavez and the Venezuelan Bishops which had turned very bitter and hostile.

Parolin had fulfilled several other important missions. His work with the Communist government of Vietnam showed him to be a fine diplomat and a true disciple of the Casaroli School (Cardinal Casaroli was the architect of the Vatican’s Ostpolitik policy advocating constructive dealings more than confrontations with the Soviet Union and its satellites.). His work for international nuclear disarmament, dialogue with Iran and North Korea, and the fight against human trafficking earned him, in 2006, the designation as one of the top ten people chosen by the influential magazine ‘Inside the Vatican’. The magazine called Parolin “one of the Church’s most tireless and effective diplomats.”

Parolin is very different from the outgoing Secretary of State, Cardinal Bertone. The Salesian canon lawyer, had no diplomatic or international experience. Bertone, particularly during these last years, was criticised a lot and criticised by many for running the Roman Curia with much less than the efficiency that one expects. (I am being very charitable.)

The diplomatic skills of Parolin will surely be needed at this delicate and tension filled moment in history. The great tension in the Middle East, the possibility of escalation of violence, the precarious position of Christian in several Arab countries, the distancing between the USA and Russia are just few examples one can mention.

Quite naturally the task of Secretary of State goes beyond the diplomatic aspect. The radical reforms of the Roman Curia that Pope Francis is rumoured to be contemplating will also need the help of someone with the refined skills of Parolin.