Speculation mounts in Vatican press linking Archbishop Scicluna to major post
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Pope Francis’ visit to Malta could serve as the backdrop for an historic appointment for Maltese clergy, with current Archbishop Charles J Scicluna being touted for an important role in the newly-created disciplinary section in the Vatican that will deal with “grave” delicts, including the sexual abuse of minors. This was reported by Crux, a portal which focuses on affairs related to the wider Catholic Church.
On Monday, the Vatican announced significant changes to the Vatican’s doctrinal office, known as the the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, restructuring the department to include a new independent section dealing entirely with disciplinary matters, including clerical sexual abuse cases.
The congregation will now be divided into two sections: a doctrinal section concerned with promoting and protecting Church teaching, and a disciplinary section to handle crimes committed within the Church, including responding to cases of abuse committed by clergy.
The new law published Monday and titled Fidem servare, or “To preserve the faith,” establishes new administrative structures, that will be coordinated by two different secretaries, both of whom report to the department’s prefect.
This decision came one month after Francis removed one of the CDF’s top officials, Bishop Giacomo Morandi, who will now be taking over bishopry role in Reggio Emilia.
The department is currently handled by a Prefect – Spanish Jesuit Cardinal Luis Ladaria, who at 77, has already passed the mandatory retirement age for cardinals and bishop, and by two adjunct secretaries: American Archbishop Augustine Di Noia and Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna, the Vatican’s top prosecutor of clerical abuse cases.
Despite the introduction of wide administrative and structural reforms, the Pope has refrained from announcing new names for these roles, increasing speculation in Vatican circles that the Malta visit in early April could provide the backdrop for an announcement on Scicluna. While at first media reports touted Scicluna for Morandi’s former Secretary role, Vatican sources have not excluded that Scicluna might be heading towards the Spaniard’s Prefect role.
Archbishop Scicluna has long been the face of the Catholic Church in the fight to eliminate the sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults by clergy and its cover-up by bishops and heads of religious orders, and had also been appointed by the Pope to look into historical abuse cases in South America.
