Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1519224
4 NEWS 4 MATTHEW AGIUS magius@mediatoday.com.mt maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 17 APRIL 2024 KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt FR Joe Borg is one of eight inter- national media experts appoint- ed by the Vatican to study the Catholic church's mission in a digital environment. The Maltese priest, who until a few years ago headed the Mal- tese church's media arm, was ap- pointed to one of 10 study group set up in the wake of last Octo- ber's Synod. One of the 20 chapters in the synod's synthesis document re- leased last year was dedicated to the church's mission in the digital environment. It proposed the creation of collaborative net- works of digital missionaries. Subsequently, last month Pope Francis decided that some of the most controversial issues raised at the first assembly of the Synod of Bishops will be examined by study groups. These include issues such as women deacons, the involve- ment of laypeople in the choice of bishops and a greater acceptance of LGBTQ+ Catholics. These groups are expected to present preliminary reports by October during the synod's sec- ond assembly that will be held in Rome and are expected to final- ise their work by June 2025. The groups are coordinated by different offices of the Roman Curia. In a letter to Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the synod, Pope Francis said the 10 study areas he chose were important for the church and re- quired in-depth analysis to help inform decisions taken by the synod. The study group to which Fr Borg was appointed is being coordinated by the Vatican's Dicastery for Communication headed by Mgr Lucio Ruiz. Fr Borg has been active in the media for almost 50 years and was responsible for the local church's media policy document The Digital Face of the Lord. He also chaired the Public Broadcasting Services editorial board and headed the Universi- ty of Malta's Campus FM radio station. Fr Borg is currently a visiting senior lecturer at UOM's Fac- ulty for Media and Knowledge Sciences and chairs the Rich- mond Foundation, an NGO ac- tive in the mental health sector. Fr Joe Borg appointed to Vatican study group Accused says he proposed to Sandra Ramirez weeks before murder Maltese priest appointed to one of 10 study groups the Vatican has set up to examine several issues that emerged from the synod's first assembly Fr Joe Borg 43-year-old Sandra Ramirez was murdered in Sliema on 13 January A man accused of murdering his partner in a frenzied knife attack told police that a few weeks before the murder he had proposed to the victim while on a trip to Paris. The 43-year-old Colombian, Fabian Eliuth Garcia, is denying charges of having murdered San- dra Ramierz inside a rented apart- ment in Sliema in January this year. Ramirez died on January 13, 2024 after being stabbed and slashed 26 times with a knife that Garcia is believed to have purchased from a supermarket a day before. Garcia turned himself in to the police soon after the murder. Dur- ing his arraignment, the court was told that he confessed to killing through a mobile phone trans- lation app - a detail reiterated by Inspector Michael Vella who testi- fied about the investigation as the compilation of evidence against Garcia continued before magis- trate Monica Vella on Tuesday. It also emerged from Vella's testimony that when Garcia was searched at the police station, soon after his apparent confes- sion, he was found to be carrying the victim's mobile phone on his person. Officers had gone to the victim's apartment, finding Ramirez's body in the bedroom, covered with a sheet. CCTV footage from the area had helped the police es- tablish that only the victim and the defendant had been in the apartment, he said. The police had also gathered a number of sworn statements dur- ing their investigation, which had indicated that in the month before her death Ramirez had been un- happy with her relationship with Garcia, and had started meeting up with a Palestinian man whom she had met on TikTok. The witnesses had told the po- lice that the victim and defendant would often argue over the fact that Ramirez taught English in Malta, but would never have time to help Garcia learn the language, a skill which would have enabled the man, who had been working as a dishwasher at a cafe at the time, to find a better job. They had also recounted to the police how, on one occasion, Gar- cia had come back home from work to find Ramirez in the com- pany of her new boyfriend. But when Garcia was asked about his relationship with Ramirez, during his police inter- rogation, he had claimed that they were "the perfect couple," very happy together and very much in love. During their last holiday to- gether, in Paris a few weeks before she was killed, he had asked San- dra to marry him, he said. When asked about the knife and other items found in the apart- ment, Garcia confirmed that he had bought them, adding that he had bought the knife because Ramirez had needed a good kitch- en knife. The compilation of evidence will continue next month. Lawyers Ramon Bonnet Sladden and Kaylie Bonnet from the Attor- ney General's office are prosecut- ing, together with police inspec- tors Michael Vella and Wayne Camilleri. Lawyers Josè Herrera, Matthew Xuereb and Yanika Bugeja are assisting the defendant, whilst lawyers Arthur Azzopardi, Jacob Magri and Frank Tabone are rep- resenting the victim's family in the proceedings.