Archbishop Charles Scicluna reflects on the role of the Church and the calling of politicians at the end of a year that has put great strain on Maltese society. Interview by Claire Caruana

Christmas this year is in a way rather overshadowed by Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder. What is your message to the faithful in this light?

I think that Christmas this year comes as an opportunity for us to check where our hearts are. I think that it is an extraordinary opportunity to find the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas is more often than not covered in sugar icing, but the Christmas story itself is quite messy. There are different attitudes to the birth of Jesus.

There is Mary and Joseph, this couple who have been invited by God to be part of his plan and to accept this baby, His son born of Mary. But there is Herod, who comes to know that a baby is born, checks where the village is, discovers that it is Bethlehem and does not want to accept this birth.

The Christmas story is messy because Jesus comes into the family of mankind as he finds us. He finds us really in need of an uplift, which we call salvation. He comes as a doctor to heal us. He comes as a shepherd to guide us. He comes in humility because his proposal does not force itself upon us but is a proposal of love, and love has to have freedom in order to be a true response to love.

And I think this is the core message of Christmas which I think we need to rediscover, every year, but I would say especially this year where we find that Jesus is willing to be part of our concrete situation. I feel that our concrete situation needs truth, compassion and justice, and it needs conversion.

2017 has been quite a momentous year. Besides the murder we had the crushing of the Opposition at the general election, the introduction of gay marriage, fierce debates on the rule of law and discussion on the legalisation of prostitution, drugs, even abortion. What is the main focus of your pastoral work at this time, and have these recent developments changed it in any way?

I feel that the service of the Bishop is to be a messenger of the Good News of Jesus Christ, but he has to address his own people. The Bishop is also a shepherd. The Bishop speaks to his people, he needs to speak words of comfort, wisdom and truth that do not come from the intelligence of the grey matter of the Bishop but from the heart of the core message of Jesus Christ.

This is a message of mercy but also of truth and justice. I think that all the circumstances in which we live indicate that there is not only a place for the message of Jesus but also a role for the Church to promote the common good. I think that the word of the Bishop and the Church has to be a word of truth but also of compassion and understanding which promotes the values of life, of the family and of understanding and acceptance: accepting each other in our circumstances of life, sometimes even in difficult circumstances.

It’s not only about speaking a word of wisdom but also about doing and being: being also present where there are hardships. So I am convinced that the word of the Bishop needs to be endorsed; it needs to be confirmed by whatever the Church does in its mission towards those who are in need – drug addicts, homeless people, people who need discernment about their marriage situation, people who need a word of encouragement and people who need to celebrate their faith. There are so many people who come in touch with the Church and make the life of the Church concretely compassionate. That is, compassion for the Church is not simply a nice word, it is about being Christians every day of our lives.

You are often outspoken on political issues, such as recently being critical over the lack of transparency and accountability. Do you see this as forming part of your pastoral work?

It is because the Bishop cannot hide from his responsibilities to promote the common good. I think that good governance is not something that is conceded as a favour to the country. It is a duty of our politicians, who are called to a very high calling.

I like to quote Pope Francis, who said that a politician’s vocation is one of the most concrete vocations of giving one’s life to other people, and I think that politicians that strive in very difficult circumstances to promote the common good are doing an extraordinary service to the country. And so I think that accountability and transparency are not something that we can simply say are optional but they are of the essence of a governance which is based on the principles of democracy and accountability.

The Church is in decline as a force of moral leadership. Why should this worry you when at the same time we are arguably becoming a society that is more compassionate and respectful? Look, for example, at how poverty is in decline and new laws uphold diversity.

I don’t think I should be worried about the fact that the Church is a voice among others. I think that a pluralist society is here to stay, and in the Church’s history we have always been one voice among others. The voice of the Bishop nowadays is a voice among so many other voices. I think that there is an intrinsic wisdom to the voice of the Church that brings hope to people. It also opens people to guidance which is not à la carte.

Cardinal Ratzinger famously said that if you choose your own religion, it’s going to be according to your own image but if you accept guidance, then you may be challenged in some aspects of your life and that will bring true peace and happiness. We need to be challenged by the wisdom of the Gospel, because of the end of the day it is an expression of immense love.

He did not send His son to judge but to bring light, comfort and mercy.

In an interview with the STOM last year you said that you feared we are “in a pickle” and that the only solution is to have politicians who care about the common good. Where do they succeed and where do they fail on this score?

I think that politicians are also subject to restraints and constraints which come from society in general, and it is very easy to blame our politicians, but I think that we need, as a country, as a nation and as a society, to stop and do some soul-searching. We need to understand that we also have the politicians that we choose because they are probably in the likeness of our own self-interests.

Good governance is not something that is conceded as a favour to the country. It is a duty of our politicians

I only have words of praise for those who decide to enter politics, because it is not an easy job. They also know that there is an ethos for the good politician, one that does not choose power for one’s own self-interest but to be of service to the community.

But the community also needs to expect this from its politicians. If we continue to promote a culture of patronage, a culture where it’s not about who you are but who you know, then we are going to have politicians that, despite their own goodwill, because they need to be re-elected, are going to be constrained and restrained in what they can do.

So it’s easy to point the finger at politicians, but I think we need to stop and say: “Are we complicit in a system of patronage that plagues politics all over the world?”

What do you see as some of the major threats facing society at this time, and what is needed to overcome them?

The main challenge we have is as a culture that places the interest of the individual above the common good. True wisdom tells us that if we all strive for the common good, we are all going to have a part in the advantages and welfare that we create. Unfortunately, we’re moving from a paradigm where we were a big family in our home, which we share, to a paradigm where we are in a hostel and everybody has his room, and everybody is vying to have the best room available and to live a comfortable life on their own.

We need to go back to a home environment where everybody is promoting the good of the home because it is the home of everybody. That also includes policies of integration of, for example, migrants. We can welcome them as guests but we can also welcome them as co-workers in building a common home. That will help them belong better and quicker and it will create a paradigm where we are not in competition, one against the other, but we are striving towards the common good.

This is not a question of the welfare of the community living today, but it is something that is transgenerational.

Do you think society is willing to work on all this?

I think that the more we reflect on this wisdom, the more it makes good sense. What we can do together, individuals cannot achieve on their own, and so there is a force in unity, and there is a special perspective in bringing together our skills, talents and resources, and that will create a well-being that is greater than that of the individual. I think that this is the conversion that we need to promote, and we need to do some soul-searching. We need to start talking truth to each other but also taking good care of each other.

The President was very wise and courageous in her Republic Day speech when she stigmatised verbal abuse because this leads to character assassination, and we’ve seen in a very tragic way that is not very far from physical elimination, as happened in the case with Daphne Caruana Galizia.

This year you have also repeatedly spoken out about hate speech, especially following the intense and acrimonious electoral campaign. Have things improved in recent months?

I think that political leaders have done well in distancing themselves from a certain rabid type of hate speech. All sorts of hate speech have to be condemned, because they do not respect the dignity of people they target, as well as that of those using hate speech.

I am worried by a section of the population that think that they can own violence with impunity, and that is a big wake-up call for people who have the security of the population at heart. I think that we need to distance ourselves from pockets of the population coming from all walks of life that use hate speech as a way of owning up to acts of violence, because that is a poison in the well of the common good.

What do you hope to see happen in the coming year?

As a nation we are going to proudly present our capital city as a European Capital of Culture, and that I think is in itself an invitation for us to appreciate beauty as an element of relationships. Beautiful relationships are those built on truth, love, compassion and also justice. True culture promotes beauty, and this special year, where culture is going to be on the agenda of the whole nation, should also be an invitation for everyone to promote and take care of the beauty in relationships and also around us.