Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/931337
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 24 JANUARY 2018 News 2 MARIA PACE BISHOP Sylvester Magro 'was courageous, dedicated and humble', former foreign affairs Minister George Vella said. Bishop Magro died last week, on 20 January, 2018 at the age of 76. He was a Maltese bishop who served as the Apostolic Vicar of Benghazi in Libya from 1997 up until 2016. The Bishop was born in Ra- bat, Malta, on 14 February 1941. It was in 1957, when he joined the Franciscan order, and was ordained a priest nine years later in March of 1966. Magro served as the par- ish priest of Sliema, before becoming responsible for the Maltese and English-speaking communities in Libya in 1991. In 1997, Pope John Paul II ap- pointed him Apostolic Vicar of Benghazi. He was later or- dained a bishop by the Apos- tolic Nuncio of Malta, Arch- bishop José Sebastián Laboa Gallego. He was assisted by Joseph Mercieca, the Archbishop of Malta and Giovanni Innocen- zo Martinelli, the Apostolic Vicar of Tripoli. In 2002, the Bishop was also awarded 'The Cross of the Equestrian Order of Merit' from the Polish President, for his work with the Polish cath- olic community in Libya. During the Libyan Civil War, Bishop Magro was repeatedly told to flee the country for his own safety and because of the area's instability, yet he still remained with the people of Libya, even in the midst of dif- ficult times. Vella got to know Magro af- ter he became a bishop and moved to Libya. Speaking to MaltaToday, Vella said that when they started to evacu- ate Maltese people from Lib- ya in 2011, he contacted Ma- gro to help him leave the area. At the time, Magro was in Benghazi, which was not a safe place. "We were trying to bring everyone back on the island and had a crisis cen- tre set up to c o m m u n i - cate with the people over s e a s ," Vella said. " M a g r o didn't want to come back, he'd tell me, 'You don't even have to tell me, I'm staying here.' yet we constantly tried to con- vince him to come back." For a number of months, Ma- gro lived in poverty in just two small rooms which he never left. He continued to carry out his pastoral mission in Libya in such dangerous situations and was devoted to help the Philippine people in the area, Vella said. "Once, he came to visit me in Malta. I was relieved, thinking he had re- turned, yet he reassured me he had a re- turn ticket and was going back to Benghazi," Vella recounted. Even Monsignor Aldo Cav- alli, then Apostolic Nuncio to Malta would constantly con- tact Vella, trying to get him to convince Magro to come back to Malta, "We tried and tried but he wanted to stay. There was no convincing him." Magro only returned to Mal- ta from Libya in August 2014, on one of the last flights or- ganised by the government at the time. "He truly impressed me, he believed in his work and didn't want to do anything else. He was courageous and dedicat- ed, but he was also humble. I don't know anyone else who would stay there in such a sit- uation," Vella said. On the Bishop's 75th birth- day in 2016, Pope Francis ac- cepted his resignation and ap- pointed George Bugeja OFM, then co-adjutor bishop of Tripoli, as his successor. His funeral, praesente cadav- ere, was held on Monday Janu- ary 22 at the Mdina cathedral. Former Prime Minister Law- rence Gonzi also said that the Bishop was dedicated and one of a kind. "You wouldn't find many people who would risk their life like Bishop Magro did," the former prime minister said. "It really shows what kind of person he really was." "He was a great man who chose to risk his life to fulfil his duty as the Apostolic Vicar of Benghazi." During his funeral, the Archbishop described Bishop Magro as an Ambassador of Christ and of the Maltese peo- ple's big hearts. Archbishop Scicluna said Bishop Magro suffered the consequences of his mission, particularly on a psychological level. The Archbishop added that Monsignor Magro was proof of religious tolerance, and described him as an am- bassador of all that is Maltese. At the end of the Mass Apostolic Nuncio Alessan- dro D'Errico read a message from the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Paro- lin, on behalf of Pope Francis, and another from the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, who both showed their ap- preciation for Bishop Magro's work and dedication to deliv- er the Word of God through his pastoral work in his vari- ous missions as member of the Franciscan Order. Bishop Sylvester 'was a courageous, dedicated and humble man' FORMER FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER GEORGE VELLA: FORMER Labour MP Joe Debono Grech was acquitted by the court in Gozo of having threatened a police officer last September. Debono Grech, 78, had taken issue over a vehicle that was blocking the ramp to the ferry and accused the police officers of not carrying out their duty properly. He had also threat- ened to report the police of- ficers to the minister and the Prime Minister. In court, Debono Grech ex- plained that he went to the police station to complain that a truck was blocking a large number of cars. The truck had an apparent brake failure. The court, presided by Magis- trate Joe Mifsud, said it was not a crime to report a police of- ficer if one thought that he had failed in his duties, or when one disagreed with his actions. The magistrate remarked that Debono Grech was an individ- ual known to take action "so as to put matters in order". As a Gozo Channel direc- tor he had taken action in the public interest by report- ing the fact that a truck was blocking the road, barring some 40 vehicles from pro- ceeding up the ferry ramp. "Police officers should lend an ear to any citizen coming for- ward to ask for help or to report some abuse, whoever this indi- vidual may be," the magistrate said. Mifsud acquitted the former MP. During the sitting, Debono Grech insisted on the case being heard even though a lack of de- tails on the summons could have led to an acquittal. He expressed his wish of being granted the op- portunity to clear his name. Lawyer Anton Refalo was de- fence counsel. Joe Debono Grech acquitted of threatening police officer Court rules that former Labour MP Joe Debono Grech acted in the public interest when he reported that a truck was blocking the Gozo Channel ferry ramp and insisted the police take action Joe Debono Grech being conferred the National Order of Merit last December George Vella (left) said Bishop Sylvester Magro (above) would not leave Libya in 2011