Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/960495
12 maltatoday SUNDAY 1 APRIL 2018 MaltaToday Survey Political incursions prove toxic for Archbishop Charles Scicluna ARCHBISHOP Charles Sciclu- na's occasional criticism of gov- ernment has often earned him disdain from Labour Party sup- porters and this antipathy has now been confirmed. A MaltaToday survey found the Archbishop to be suffering from a significant trust deficit among those who voted PL in the last election. While Scicluna enjoyed an over- all trust rating of 65%, a break- down of the result by political allegiance showed that the arch- bishop was trusted by only 43.3% of Labourites. More significant was the finding that 41.6% of PL voters said they did not trust Scicluna. But the picture was rosier for the Archbishop among Nation- alist Party voters: 89.6% of those who voted PN in the last election trusted Scicluna, as opposed to 9.3% who did not. The situation was drastically different for Gozo Bishop Mario Grech, who enjoyed a higher overall trust rating at 76.7%. Grech roughly retained the same trust rating irrespective of politi- cal allegiance. Among PL voters, Grech was trusted by 75.9% and among PN voters by 80.5%. The results suggest that ventur- ing into the political realm can be toxic for religious leaders in a polarised country like Malta. Whether it should really matter to them is another matter alto- gether. The regional distribution of trust for Scicluna, broadly reflects the political split that character- ises his trust rating. The Archbishop enjoyed the highest trust rating in the West- ern region (75.8%) and the lowest in the Southern Harbour, where he only just managed an absolute majority of 50.4%. The Gozo bishop also registered his highest trust rating in the Western region with 83.2%, fol- lowed by Gozo with 81.4%. Grech's lowest but still signifi- cant trust rating was in the South East where 73.5% of people said they trusted him. Trust in both bishops increased progressively with age. While Scicluna was trusted by 52.3% of the under-35s, Grech fared better with a trust rating of 60.7%. Among the elderly, Scicluna was trusted by 79.2% and Grech by 90.5%. Trust in Pope Francis soars The survey also asked people whether they trusted Pope Fran- cis, who only last month celebrat- ed his fifth year at the helm of the Catholic church. The findings showed 90.8% of Maltese trusted the Pope, with a mere 5% giving him the thumb down. Trust in Pope Francis was strong among the young (81.9%) and maintained an upward trajectory across all age groups, reaching a climax of 97.5% among the el- derly. KURT SANSONE Archbishop Charles Scicluna Pope Francis Gozo Bishop Mario Grech Methodology A survey was conducted via telephone between Wednesday 21 March and Tuesday 27 March. 553 respondents participated in the survey. Stratified random sampling was carried out in accordance to gender, age and region using NSO data as basis. The margin of error is estimated at 4.2% for a confidence level of 95%. Regions used in the survey The regions are based on the classification determined by the National Statistics Office. Southern Harbour: Valletta, Vittoriosa, Senglea, Cospicua, Zabbar, Fgura, Floriana, Kalkara, Luqa, Marsa, Paola, Sta Lucija, Tarxien, Xghajra. Northern Harbour: Qormi, Birkirkara, Gzira, Hamrun, Msida, Pembroke, Pieta, St Julians, San Gwann, St Venera, Sliema, Swieqi, Ta' Xbiex. South Eastern: Zejtun, Birzebbuga, Gudja, Ghaxaq, Kirkop, Marsascala, Marsaxlokk, Mqabba, Qrendi, Safi, Zurrieq. Western: Mdina, Zebbug, Siggiewi, Attard, Balzan, Dingli, Iklin, Lija, Rabat, Mtarfa. Northern: Gharghur, Mellieha, Mgarr, Mosta, Naxxar, St Paul's Bay. Gozo: Gozo and Comino The results suggest that venturing into the political realm can be toxic for religious leaders in a polarised country like Malta. Whether it should really matter to them is another matter altogether Non-answers and 'don't knows' have been removed in some the infographics, so results may not total 100%