Archbishop Charles Scicluna says has been reflecting a lot about the criticism levelled out at him that he has remained silent on controversial political issues.

He says some of those accusations are coming from people who expect him to do the work of the opposition. And he does not like that.

“The Church is not, and should not become the opposition party,” he told Times of Malta in an interview.

“I still speak up on a myriad of issues… But the Church cannot set the country’s agenda. The best way to achieve the broadest common good is by collaborating with the State to provide services for people, irrespective of who’s in government.”

Meanwhile, the opposition lacks effectiveness and must do more, he said.

“I wish for the opposition to become more vociferous. I understand it has a past, but I wish it was more present in the political debate.”

Scicluna said he still believes one of his duties is to provide a voice, and sometimes an uncomfortable one, but he is irritated by how often his homilies and speeches are snipped and taken out of context.

As Malta prepares to celebrate 60 years as an independent country, 50 years as a republic and 20 years as a member state of the EU this year, Scicluna intends to publish a book containing all the speeches and homilies in which he addressed the State and its institutions.

“So yes, I still speak up, even though I’m not on TV as often as I used to be,” he said.

“After all, those kinds of programmes have been largely relegated to a television station – TVM News Plus – that hardly anybody watches.”

Nowadays, he sometimes prefers that the Church speaks through its commissions and lay people, although he insists they should not use language that offends people and should always remain constructive.

‘Parties yet to understand the state belongs to everyone’

However, his collaboration with the government does not mean an approval of all it does. He has concerns over Labour’s leadership and values.

The government has achieved maturity in some aspects but lacks a “sense of State”, he believes. The State is not just the party and its supporters. Serving them should not become the only metric of success, he said.

“We are yet to understand that the State belongs to everyone, not just Labourites. Just because the PL rose to power doesn’t mean Nationalists don’t have a place in the State anymore, and the same goes if it were the other way around,” he said.

“It is a tragedy for the country when the government fills the highest positions with people of its own party because it denies us the chance of having the best people in those positions. The party boys are not always what the country needs.”

The social benefits racket revealed how this mindset works, he said. Labourites were accepting fraudulent benefits offered to them by people in the party because they were under the impression that party supporters could get whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted it and at all costs.

The party boys are not always what the country needs

He also warned enforcement agencies are sometimes stripped of the best people, often rendering them a mere brand that lacks effectiveness.

“And is the law truly being enforced equally for everyone?” he said.

Another “tragedy” happened when the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) was separated from the Planning Authority, he added.

“Consequently, sustainability did not remain an integral part of planning. These are political decisions that can be reversed.”

A moral crisis

Scicluna said greed is breeding a moral crisis that is destroying the environment and young people’s ability to afford a decent home.

“If you have enough money to live, eat and drink, do you really need to build another block of flats and ruin more of the environment? What do you need that money for? Will it add anything to your quality of life or your happiness? And for whom are you building those apartments if you’re tagging them with a price young people cannot afford?”

“If your only yardstick for success is money – and not the common good – then you have sold your soul.”

Sometimes prices rise because developers need to cover increasing construction expenses, he acknowledged, but are the salaries increasing enough to match that?

“Is the new, increased minimum wage enough to make ends meet?”

“Everyone wants to get rich quick (sinjur żgħir), but at what cost? We have people struggling to make ends meet and others who have so much money they don’t even know what to do with it.”

The idea that everyone wants to get rich quickly creates social tension where the weaker people are more prone to fall for corruption, as has been revealed, he said. They see it as a way to achieve the promise of wealth in a system that does not allow them to achieve it in any legitimate way.

What about Church lands?

But the Church also often sells its land to business people for their greedy business ventures, no?

“No”, Scicluna insisted. The Church is merely selling the land, as it has every right to do, to generate income.

It is not doing the business itself and if the authorities responsible for planning, sustainability and the environment are not doing their job to rein in greed, then they should be blamed, not the Church.

“Do not deny the Church the right to make the income it needs from its property because expenses have increased for everyone, even for the Church. When we sell property, it helps us sustain our work and services,” he said.

“And what about the land that was passed to the joint office for social housing? The minister will boast all he wants about opening new social housing, but they never mention that the Church handed that land to the government for €1,000 per tumolo. Try buying a piece of land for that price. Nobody mentions that was Church land.

“Not to mention properties the Church offered completely for free for other social services.”

The Gozo lands quandary

The archbishop is also facing harsh backlash over the Church’s role in a land-ownership dispute in Gozo that was unwittingly sparked centuries ago.

At least 30 families in Qala and Nadur are residing on land that they are told is not theirs, even though they have documents to prove they own it.

In a landmark judgment last month, the court ruled against one of the families and ordered its eviction from a Qala home, potentially leading to the forced removal of dozens of other families.

The issue was sparked in 1675 by a noblewoman who entrusted a multitude of her properties to the archbishop of Malta to ensure the rents derived would cover masses for the repose of her soul.

From time to time, the archbishop was also to appoint a rector chosen by her heirs to administer the lands.

Over generations, hundreds of people owned, leased, inhabited, worked, inherited and administered these lands, and contradicting deeds and documents signed over the decades blurred the lines of who owned the lands.

The families thought they owned the lands and some have land registry documents to prove it, but the noblewoman’s heirs insist the land is theirs because the temporary ground rent had expired, and a court last month vindicated them.

The families have hit out at Scicluna for allowing the land to be snatched from them but the archbishop insisted he could not do anything to stop it because the lands are not owned by the Church to begin with.

The Church did fight for a long time to claim ownership of them but, in 2013, the court ruled they were not owned by the Church.

“We have an invested capital of €200,000 and we use its interests to continue covering Masses for the repose of her soul. We are obliged to do that. So many masses have been said for this woman’s soul over the centuries – if she isn’t in heaven by now, I doubt who could ever make it,” he said half-jokingly.

“Other than that, I have no power over the lands because the Church can only appoint an administrator who is brought forward by her heirs.”

He said one solution to the conundrum would be for the noblewoman’s heirs to offer the families to pay a fair rent to keep living there, avoiding their eviction.

“That is what we do when a similar situation arises with properties the Church actually owns, as long as the family is using the property as its sole residence.”

Gay union blessings

Gay unions have been a perennial bone of contention among Catholics and the controversy resurfaced a week before Christmas, when the Vatican approved blessings for same-sex couples, with caveats.

Scicluna said this does not mean the Church now approves of everything gay people do and this still does not equate to marriage.

If you have enough money to live, eat and drink, do you really need to build another block of flats?

“We’re saying: who are we to say who can and cannot ask for God’s blessing? His blessing is not a value judgment – it is not a confirmation of your perfection. Rather, asking for His blessing is an admission that you need Him, and who doesn’t need Him?” he said.

“This is for couples who are in situations that are not exactly ideal, but when they ask for blessing, they are acknowledging they need God. It is an act of faith in Him and His help.”

Just like with heterosexual couples, if two gay people truly love each other, they have reached the highest possible ideal between two people, he said. Marriage is different because apart from being a union of love, it is also open to life.

“Our teaching is very strong, and I don’t think it’s negotiable. Marriage is between a man and a woman and when it’s open to children. After all, it’s the male and female gametes that create a baby,” he said.

“But that doesn’t mean there aren’t other love relationships which also deserve God’s blessing, and I admire and bless these couples for their efforts to truly love each other.”

In the document approved by Pope Francis last month, the Vatican backed “the possibility of blessings for couples in irregular situations and for couples of the same sex”.

It insisted, however, that blessings must not be established as a Catholic rite nor given in contexts related to civil unions or weddings.

‘Grech would make a good pope’

Scicluna also believes Cardinal Mario Grech would make a good pope if his fellow cardinals were to choose him in the next conclave.

Pope Francis, 87, is struggling with ailing health, giving rise to speculation over a conclave soon, and the 66-year-old Gozitan prelate is eligible for the most powerful seat in the Catholic Church.

His position of general secretary of the Synod of Bishops works in his favour and so could his relatively young age, Scicluna said.

However, it is hard to predict anything with certainty in these situations and cardinals who are touted to become pope often end up not being chosen.

“I think he would make a good pope,” Scicluna said.

“You know what that would mean though, right? It’s a life sentence. There’s a reason popes change their names – because they completely shed their old life. Their privacy is gone, and they can hardly do anything anymore.”

Tearing up during mass

Scicluna often tears up during mass. He says it has been happening to him for quite some time but since television cameras were wheeled into churches during the pandemic to film his masses, he could sometimes be heard and seen quietly tearing up, his voice breaking, and the camera close-ups give it away even more.

“I’m not necessarily sad or worried. Sometimes they’re tears of joy after I’ve seen two young people in love or when I think about God’s mercy. I get emotional,” he said, his eyes tearing up as he described it.

He does have things to worry about, though. He has a declining number of young men willing to become priests and a growing population – a fifth of which only understands English.

“There is a remarkable Catholic community of foreigners in Malta and we aren’t yet equipped enough to cater for them,” he said.

“We must improve to provide spiritual services in a language they can understand, because as it stands, they come to mass and don’t understand a word.”

The declining Maltese birth rate does not help mitigate the lack of clergy issue, he said, and he cannot simply bring over foreign priests, like other employers do when they are short-staffed.

While the declining number of churchgoers is far from ideal, it is not the issue that concerns Scicluna the most. Church attendance is still far higher than other countries and going to mass on Sunday is just a partial measure of a good Christian life, he said.

The last census carried out in 2017 revealed 36 per cent of Maltese still went to Sunday mass.

There has not been another one since and Scicluna said the pandemic might have affected those numbers, although parishes reported they had higher-than-usual church attendance during the Christmas masses.

“What is interesting is the study also reveals 70 per cent said they go to mass once a month,” he said.

“What is more concerning than church attendance, however, is whether or not we’re living according to Christian values.”

Next president and prime minister

Scicluna believes Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti would make an ideal successor to George Vella.

“He is a serious man of complete integrity and impartiality, but the law precludes a chief justice from becoming president.”

The next prime minister, according to the archbishop, should be someone who is not afraid of losing the next election. They must be prepared to what needs to be done for the country, not to win an election.

“As it stands, politicians are too restrained to win the next election, meaning they must constantly keep people happy. To govern, you must take the difficult, unpopular but necessary decisions.”