Archbishop Charles Scicluna used his Sette Giugno homily on Tuesday to appeal for a fight against the corruption which reflected the "internal rot".

“If we steal from each other, disobey laws, bribe public officials to serve us or to bend the rules in our interest, we would be destroying our core,” the archbishop warned.

He called for everything in society to be done in the open, stressing that when things are done underhandedly, there will be no justice.

The archbishop was celebrating Sette Giugno Mass at the Curia in Floriana. The feast recalls the bread riots of 1919 when four Maltese nationals had been killed.

In an obvious jibe at those called to answer questions at parliamentary committees but opting to keep their mouth shut, Scicluna said these people were taking parliament and the people for a ride.

Malta, he said, is now its own master.

"It had no excuses, no crown, king or queen to blame. We only have ourselves to blame. What are we doing with the power we have acquired,” he asked.

The people, Scicluna said, also had a responsibility to look after what they had been left by their ancestors and should continuously ask “How will we be leaving Malta and Gozo? Will we be leaving them better than we found them? What are we doing to safeguard the environment we received from God and which our ancestors nurtured?”

He warned that the climate of incitement that had existed at the time of the Sette Giugno riots still existed and said it was a major tragedy when social violence came as a result of this.