Archbishop of Malta
Archbishop of Malta from 1976 to 2006, Ġużeppi Mercieca was born in Victoria, Gozo to Saverio and Giovanna née Vassallo. Ġużeppi was educated at the Gozo Seminary and completed his studies at the Gregorian University and Lateran University, Rome, graduating in theology and canon law.
Ordained priest by Bishop Giuseppe Pace on 8 March 1952, at St James’s church in Victoria, Mercieca was appointed chancellor of the Gozo curia. He was also a teacher of theology and canon law at the Gozo Seminary, of which he was also rector for a number of years until his appointment as judge of the Sacred Roman Rota in 1969, where he was mainly involved in deciding on marriage nullity applications from all over the world. He was also consultor to the Congregation of the Sacraments and of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (Pro Doctrina Fide).
On 27 July 1974, he was appointed auxiliary to Archbishop Gonzi and was consacrated titular Bishop of Gemelle in Numidia on 29 September 1974 by Mgr Gonzi. He became vicar general, a post he held until his installation as metropolitan archbishop of Malta on 12 December 1976. As head of the Church in Malta Archbishop Mercieca took the initiatives for the setting up of the Archdiocese’s various secretariats and commissions, the publication of the church’s aggregated financial accounts, and the signing of the Church-State agreements on Church schools and Church property.
In 1984 Archbishop Mercieca led the Church in Malta during a Church-State impasse regarding the future of Church schools and State expectations regarding Church property. Negotiations took a decisive turn towards reconciliation through a fresh personal initiative of Mgr Mercieca.
Mgr Ġużeppi Mercieca is remembered as a humble priest who managed to restore stability in the Church after the bruising political dispute with the Labour Party in the Mgr Gonzi years. He threaded carefully when the new dispute erupted with the Labour government of the 1980s over Church schools and its property. He kept his characteristic calm when he was surrounded by angry mobs twice, in Vittoriosa and Paola, when a bomb was placed outside his residence in Mdina, and when the Curia was ransacked, ensuring to a large extent that the long-lasting divisions of the 1960s did not return.
In 1990 Mgr Mercieca welcomed Pope John Paul II in the Maltese Islands for the first papal pastoral visit in the nation’s history, and led the Maltese in greeting the Pope between 25 and 27 May.
On 11 June 1991 John Paul II appointed Mgr Mercieca member of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura of the Holy See. The Signatura is the highest judicial authority in the Catholic Church.
In 1999, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his episcopate, Archbishop Mercieca launched a four-year Diocesan Synod.
On 8 and 9 May 2001, Pope John Paul II visited Malta for the second time, beatifying Dun Ġorġ Preca (later proclaimed saint by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007), Cleric Nazju Falzon and Sister Maria Adeodata Pisani O.S.B.
On 11 November 2003, Archbishop Mercieca offered his resignation from Archbishop of Malta to His Holiness Pope John Paul II, in accordance with the requirements of Canon Law regarding Diocesan Bishops who reach the age of 75 years. He continued to lead the Church in Malta until 26 January 2007 when Mgr Paul Cremona OP was consecrated bishop by Mgr Mercieca himself and succeeded Mgr Mercieca as Archbishop of Malta. In 2014 Mgr Mercieca published his memoirs: Ilkoll Aħwa fi Kristu Ġużeppi Mercieca Memorji.
In 1995 Mgr Mercieca was appointed member of the Xirka Ġieħ ir-Repubblika and was invested as conventual chaplain of the SMOM. In January 2010 Bishop Mercieca was awarded the ‘Ġieħ Għawdex’.
Archbishop emeritus Joseph Mercieca passed away at 7.20a.m. of Monday 21 March 2016 at a Żejtun private residence, where he was visited late on Sunday by Archbishop Mgr Charles Scicluna, Bishop of Gozo Mario Grech and Mgr Paul Cremona, Archbishop Emeritus. Archbishop Scicluna remained with Mgr Mercieca all night. ‘We have lost a father of the whole people, a humble man with a big heart,’ Mgr Scicluna said soon after the passing away was announced. ‘He showed that reason does not need force, but love,’ he added.
This biography is part of the collection created by Michael Schiavone over a 30-year period. Read more about Schiavone and his initiative here.