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13 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 JANUARY 2023 The Orlandi family believes John Paul II was aware of what had transpired in the investigations by Vatican police on the kidnapping, despite his reassurances that the Holy See was doing all its can to solve the case Below: Enrico de Pedis, boss of the Magliana gang, was granted the grace of being buried inside a Vatican city-state basilica, much probably due to the fact that the gang's ill-gotten gains or those of other mafias had been channelled into the Vatican bank through the connivance of senior Holy See clerics. A journalist was tipped off about the resting place, leading to a conversation with De Pedis's fiancé, who admitted handing over Orlandi to a priest in the middle of the night, on orders of the Magliana boss dens to which the city-state's citizens had access to. Had Or- landi been kidnapped to cover up the scandal? Were the girls too ashamed to even report the matter to their own parents? It is this claim that the Vatican's promoter of justice, Alessandro Diddi, will also be investigating. Like many of its shocked view- ers, especially Catholics who see a need for the Holy See's moral unimpeachability in a modern age of global crises, Fr Joe Borg thinks the conclusion reached by millions of viewers will be that "rightly or wrongly... the Vatican was involved and that it is hiding the truth about the kidnapping of Orlandi." "Throughout the docuseries the alleged link with the Vatican is repeatedly asserted. The se- ries then concludes with a very powerful AV montage where several participants allege that every hypothesis involves the Vatican. This is followed by the statement: 'The Vatican de- clined to be interviewed for this series'," he says. Borg, one of the island's vet- eran journalists, knows that the perception of millions around the world of the Vatican – his- torically linked to priestly sex abuse scandals, or the Vatican Bank's money laundering scan- dal – is not a positive one. "The Vatican's refusal to an- swer the questions of the pro- ducers will surely be interpreted by most as a confirmation that the Vatican is hiding the truth. 'Chi tace consente', says an old Italian adage," Fr Borg says. "It is indeed welcome news that now the Vatican has been announced that the Vatican's Promotor of Justice, Alessandro Diddi, 'has opened a file in re- sponse to requests made by the family in various settings.' As they say, better late, than never. Some had justified the original silence of the Vatican describ- ing it as a damage control exer- cise, that is, refusing to answer questions is less damaging than saying the truth. This is a very common tactic in PR and media relations. "But I believe that while the Church should learn from the PR gurus of the world, it should be more guided by its Founder who taught that truth, not se- crecy, sets us free." mvella@mediatoday.com.mt The academic and journalist Fr Joe Borg is one of the few – perhaps only – Catholic voices who expressed a kind of personal concern about the ramifications for the Vatican as this decades-old scandal returns to haunt the Holy See from our television screens. TRUTH IS OF NO COLOUR WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT SUNDAY • 8 JANUARY 2023 • ISSUE 1210 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY maltatoday www.franksalt.com.mt/ftb BUYING YOUR FIRST HOME? save thousands with our offer! PAGE 2 PAGE 8 Labour knows its former chief justice is slow. It allowed him to retire PAGE 3 and EDITORIAL Bickering over Standards €1.95 No controls over free school transport, NAO investigation finds PAGE 4 Money down the bus lane Go on... make us laugh 40,000sq.m Gozo airstrip to be approved without any environment impact assessment in government bid to complete it by end-2023 with 15 daily f light movements from 6am to 1am JAMES DEBONO THE Environment and Re- sources Authority has exempted the proposed "rural airfield" in Xewkija in Gozo from the need of a full Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), after con- cluding that the impacts of the development are unlikely to be significant to the point of war- ranting such a study. Instead of seeking an EIA on the introduction of the fixed- wing service and extension of the airfield, it has called for a separate study on the airfield's noise impact. The EIA waiver will facili- tate the Gozo ministry's 2023 deadline for the completion of the project, which has only had preliminary studies that fall short of an EIA, whose terms must be drafted in a public consultation of residents and NGOs. Gozo airfield to get ok without impact study MATTHEW VELLA THE Maltese government will dissolve a state-owned compa- ny once planned to implement a controversial facial recognition CCTV system in touristic hot- spots, supplied by the Chinese technology giant Huawei. The Safe City Malta project was created by the Muscat administration in partnership with Huawei, but was called out by privacy experts like Prof. Joseph Can- nataci, a special rapporteur for the United Nations. In 2018, the La- bour administration announced that the facial recognition CCTV would be deployed in 'problem areas' like Paceville and Marsa. The surveillance project was to be implemented through a pub- lic-private partnership between Safe City Malta and Huawei. State ditches controversial Huawei CCTV company Actor and broadcaster Colin Fitz INTERVIEW MT2 maltatoday | SUNDAY •8 JANUARY 2023 COMMENT Pope Benedict XVI's legacy MATTHEW SCHMALZ PAGE 12 The Skinny Malta, shrunk down MICHAEL FALZON An air of despondency PAGE 7 SAVIOUR BALZAN Disagreement on standards? Not a good omen PAGE 5 EDITORIAL Deadlocked by political bickering PAGE 2 JOSANNE CASAR You don't have to be a rocket scientist to follow a collection schedule PAGE 6 Benedict XVI's writings will be relevant decades from now, but his pontificate will inevitably be associated with controversies What are we skinning? The unwitting damage caused to a small historic shrine to Our Lady of Sorrows in Sliema, after a wall collapsed due to ongoing works at the nearby St Joseph School. Why are we skinning it? The construction industry leading to the – let's call a spade a spade – desecration of a holy symbol? The portents are slathered on pretty thick with this one. But it was an accident! One among many others, yes. Come on – this is a piece of wood with a picture in it... You can be as nihilistic about it as you like... for many, it is something that should be safeguarded for reasons which transcend monetary worth. But praying to the gods of monetary worth is the construction industry's whole MO. You're saying we should forgive them, for they know not what they do? The problem is that they very much know what they do... But plausible deniability is almost always, apparently, within reach for them. Doesn't God see all things? The same should count for Our Lady of Sorrows, surely... Can't she speak to the nuns at the school about this? You'd think so, yes... I mean not only are they employed at the institu- tion itself, but they also presumably have a direct line to Our Lady. Do you think anything will come out of that? Well, the Building and Construction Authority has moved pretty quick to reassure all and sundry that the shrine will be restored. So they're not completely oblivious to its religious import. I think it's more to do with this becoming a buzzing media story for a couple of minutes a few days back. As for the rest of us... you're right that the little accident sends quite the message. Something-something, old values (literally) crumbling under the weight of the expansive ambitions of the construction industry... But now at least, we can hope that the Church and the Catholic establishment can be counted to take the fight to construction industry, right? Eh, I don't know. They're more likely to blame it on the recently tabled 'abortion' amendment. Do say: "While construction accidents happen all the time, sometimes, sadly, to tragic effect, it's difficult to deny the symbolic weight of a shrine to the Virgin Mary being knocked down as the result of nearby digging and jigging." Don't say: "If the Virgin Mary cried when we introduced divorce, what does she make of the Mriehel Towers?" No. 173 – Malta Desecration Association maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 JANUARY 2023 CLASSIFIEDS & COMMERCIALS ARTS • TV • WHAT'S ON maltatoday Get the critical perspective on politics, culture and society Be the first to enjoy our print newspaper with a subscription When you need to decode what politicians are saying, when you want to understand why Malta's crazy construction industry is impacting upon your life, when you need to step out of the social media and understand the world from a different perspective, our journalists and columnists will provide you with expert reporting, analysis and commentary. Order now at https;//maltatoday.uberflip.com