Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1545155
Lorraine Borg: 'A victim is always a victim, regardless of when it happened' The head of Gozo's Church Safeguarding Commission, Lorraine Borg, tells Juliana Zammit how complaints are investigated, why cases from decades ago are still accepted, and what the commission can and cannot do when victims refuse to go to the police 4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 31 MAY 2026 INTERVIEW FOR Lorraine Borg, safeguarding is definitely not a box-ticking ex- ercise—that is clear enough when I sit down with her for this inter- view. As head of the Gozo Church Safeguarding Commission, Borg oversees a structure designed to receive complaints against church personnel, carry out preliminary investigations, and recommend action to the Gozo bishop. She is careful to distinguish what the commission can decide on and what it cannot, and she is candid about the limits of her role. The commission has grown since its establishment, and so has the number of cases it handles. Referrals rose from two in 2022 to six in 2024, a trend Borg attrib- utes, with cautious optimism, to greater public awareness. In most of those cases, she tells me, the incidents happened years or even decades ago. When I ask about a recent Court of Appeal ruling that named a priest who allegedly acted as an intermediary in a rape case, she declines to comment on specifics. "The case is currently being pro- cessed," she says. But she does not deflect from the broader question of accountability, and she is clear that the commission will not close a case simply because a vic- tim does not want it opened.