Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/963162
11 maltatoday SUNDAY 8 APRIL 2018 Analysis Therefore while Scicluna's term coincided mostly with a Labour gov- ernment, Bergoglio oversaw differ- ent Argentinian governments. In fact our perception of Scicluna mostly derives from him exclusively shadowing a Labour government. One may have been in a better po- sition to judge Scicluna had he had the opportunity to confront a PN- led government. Bergoglio's incursions in politics pre-date the election of the Kirch- ners. His first speech on being made cardinal in 2001, delivered against a backdrop of vibrant anti-austerity rallies, denounced a national situa- tion in which "there are poor people in the street and rich people feasting lavishly." At the height of a devastating eco- nomic crisis in 2001-02 that plunged millions into poverty, Bergoglio's criticism of those in power was blunt. Former President Eduardo Duhalde sat stony-faced as Bergoglio delivered an unusually harsh homily in 2002 as the crisis raged outside the cathedral gates. "Let's not toler- ate the sad spectacle of those who no longer know how to lie and contra- dict themselves to hold onto their privileges, their rapaciousness, and their ill-earned wealth," Bergoglio said in the televised sermon. In 2011, after a long economic boom, he took aim at Buenos Aires's city government led by the Opposi- tion over the persistent exploitation of illegal immigrants in clandestine sweatshops. "This city has failed and continues to fail in freeing us of this structural slavery," he said. Even after his elevation to the pa- pacy Francis has not shied away from conflict with Argentina's rul- ers. The election of the conservative Macri did not change his attitude to those in power. The difficult re- lationship between Bergoglio and Macri serves as what the Catholic Herald calls "another example of Pope Francis's place in the politics of his homeland: as an internal critic, usually at cross-purposes with the ruling party." Francis even rejected a 16,666,000 pesos (€752,000) donation to his educational foundation Scholas Oc- currentes. "I don't like the 666," he wrote back, according to La Stam- pa's Vatican Insider. The Catholic Herald says the real reason was that he felt he shouldn't be accepting money from the Argentine govern- ment when the population had so many pressing needs. "Macri's own background may have increased the Pope's sense that this money was be- ing used irresponsibly: the President is the son of a million- aire, and he still spends his leisure time at exclusive parties of the wealthy." Macri on his part has tried to woo the Pope, couching the govern- ment's plans to welcome 3,000 Syr- ian refugees in explicit relation to Francis's advice, declaring: "I agree with the Pope." A political papacy Pope Francis has distinguished himself as a politically engaged lead- er. On Twitter, roughly one of every eight tweets tend to reflect a political issue or a politically relevant event. His most politically charged en- cyclical: "Laudato Si" was released after massive 2014 marches for the climate held in London, New York and other places. While Bishop Scicluna has taken the lead of Pope Francis on environ- mental issues, taking a firm stand against the American University of Malta Zonqor development, Sci- cluna has been less pronounced on social inequality. Except for a tweet published in 2016, in which he wrote that it was "shameful" that the General Workers Union would be earning €300 off each worker em- ployed as part of a new government scheme, he was largely absent in the debate on minimum wage and rising rents. In fact, while Bergoglio always struck a chord with the Argentin- ian working class and is widely perceived as a Peronist populist at heart, Scicluna is less keen on social issues which could make him more relevant to working class Labour voters. It was Bergoglio's appeal to the working class which made him a greater threat to the Kircheners than Scicluna is to Muscat. In contrast the Pope has shifted the focus of the Church towards a critique of capitalism and a condem- nation of the "globalisation of indif- ference". In his Apostolic Exhorta- tion Evangelii Gaudium, the Pope referred to "a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power". The Pope also expressed concern about a culture that cultivated global indifference, where according to the Pope, society seems content to be- lieve that poverty is somebody else's problem. For him, the poor are not only exploited but also excluded. They have become "the outcast, the leftovers". Pope Francis also hammers the injustice of growing inequality. He sees this income gap as a "result of ideologies which defend the abso- lute autonomy of the marketplace". He denounces "sacralised workings of the prevailing economic system". Neither does the Pope shy away from confronting global leaders like Donald Trump by suggesting that his recent decision to end a program protecting undocumented young people from deportation contradicts the pro-life values he proclaims. Ironically the fates of the two prelates have been intertwined by one of the greatest scandals facing the Papacy – the alleged cover-up of a child abuse scandal in Chile. The appointment of Scicluna by Pope Francis to investigate com- plaints about Bishop Juan Barros – who has been strongly defended until now by the Pope – confirms the high esteem in which the Mal- tese Archbishop is held by Pope Francis. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt Opposition' 2013 Elected Pope 2001 Appointed Cardinal by Paul John Paul II 1992 Appointed Bishop of Buenos Aires 1973 Appointed Provincial Superior of Society of Jesus 1967 Ordained priest 1958 Joins Society of Jesus as a novice 1936 Born in Flores, a neighbourhood in Buenos Aires 2018 Appointed as the Pope's Special Envoy on an inquiry into a cover-up of sex scandals in Chile 2014 Appointed Archbishop of Malta by Pope Francis 2012 Appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Malta by Pope Benedict XV 2002 Appointed Promoter of Justice at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith 1995 Appointed Deputy Promoter of Justice at the Supreme Tribunal of Apostolic Signatura 1986 Ordained priest 1959 Born to Maltese parents in Toronto in Canada Left: Former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner branded the future pope as his principle political enemy and "the head of the opposition" Major landmarks in the lives of Pope Francis and Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna Pope Francis Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna