Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/963162
10 maltatoday SUNDAY 8 APRIL 2018 Analysis JAMES DEBONO CARELESS retweet? The authors of a petition making rounds on the social media calling on Pope Francis to remove Charles Scicluna from Archbishop for retweeting an opin- ion piece which compares the Mal- tese political system of patronage to the Mafia are making the wrong call: as Archbishop of Buenos Aires and then as cardinal, Jorge Mario Ber- goglio himself was rebuked for med- dling in Argentine politics. The contrast in style between the Argentine Pontiff and Malta's Archbishop is striking: Bergoglio's popular touch has been boosted by optics that portray the Pope wash- ing prisoners' feet or with the media highlighting his austere lifestyle and love of tango – Scicluna on the other hand does not shun the trappings of tradition and retains a princely de- meanour as the leader of the Maltese Church. Yet both hail from humble back- grounds, Scicluna born to Qormi parents who migrated to Canada and returned to Malta when he was just 11 months old, and Bergoglio to an Italian migrant who settled in Bue- nos Aires's working-class quarter. But even more striking are the similarities between two prelates who do not shun from speaking their truths to power. Both faced govern- ments with a liberal agenda which included same-sex marriage and both faced governments facing seri- ous accusations of corruption. Both hailed from countries characterised by open historical wounds in which the Church played a major role. And both are engaging intellectuals who speak with clarity. The battle with the Kirchners Sure enough Scicluna's relation- ship with Labour leader Joseph Muscat is nowhere as bad as that be- tween Bergoglio and the Kirchners. Former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, who died in 2010, branded the future pope as his prin- ciple political enemy: "the head of the Opposition". His wife and successor Cristina never invited Bergoglio to meet with her in the Casa Rosada (Argentina's Government House) even though it's just a one-minute walk across the Plaza de Mayo from the Cathedral. The couple stopped attending the annual Te Deum, a service in celebration of the independence holiday, in Buenos Aires after in 2004 Bergoglio publicly questioned "the exhibitionism and strident an- nouncements" of those in power and denounced "dishonest and medio- cre" politics with President Nestor Kirchner sitting in the congregation for the last time. "Power is born of confidence, not with manipulation, intimidation or with arrogance," Bergoglio warned in 2006. And leaked US cables show Ber- goglio actively backed a coalition that included Catholic Church lead- ers seeking to block an attempt to extend the term of a Peronist ally of Kirchner. Just a year before becoming Pope, Bergoglio denounced that Argentina was being harmed by "demagoguery, totalitarianism, corruption and ef- forts to secure unlimited power". The Argentine Church also ex- posed statistical deceit issuing its own poverty figures showing that the number of poor people was much higher than the Kirchners asserted. Same-sex marriage and more Both Scicluna and Bergoglio faced a push for liberalisation by left-lean- ing governments. In clear defiance of the Catholic Church, the Kirchners pushed for mandatory sex education in schools, free distribution of contraceptives in public hospitals, and the right for transsexuals to change their official identities on demand. Their most public clash was over Argentina's legalisation of gay mar- riage in 2010 when Argentina be- came the first nation in Latin Amer- ica to legalise same-sex marriages. Bergoglio called it "a plan to destroy God's plan". Cristina Kirchner hit back describing Bergoglio's com- ments as "reminiscent of the times of the Inquisition." Neither did Bergoglio spare Op- position mayor and future president Mauricio Macri, who decided not to appeal a judge's decision to grant a marriage licence to the first gay married couple in Latin American history. Bergoglio accused him of having "gravely failed" in the task of government. In many ways one could well con- sider Scicluna's approach on these is- sues far more timid than Bergoglio's. For while sometimes expressing res- ervations, Scicluna seems keener on confronting government on govern- ance and environmental destruction. The bad breath of corruption In a booklet penned in 1991 and republished in 2005 Bergoglio de- nounced the culture of impunity in his country. "A sinner expects for- giveness. The corrupt, on the con- trary, don't because they don't feel they have sinned," he said. Comparing corruption to "bad breath" he noted that "it's always others who notice it and have "to point it out" to the corrupt" and warned that "the amount of built-up resistance is enormous." Bergoglio often referred to creep- ing corruption in Argentina under the Kirchners even if he did not directly single out the couple. Cris- tina Kirchner was herself accused of amassing a fortune while she and her husband were in office. In 2005, Bergoglio was the first public personality to sign a petition for justice in the bombing of a Jewish Community Centre in Buenos Aires, which officially remains unsolved. Ten years later, prosecutor Alberto Nisman was found dead in his apart- ment, the night before he was due to deliver evidence that, he claimed, would show that Cristina Kirchner had conspired with Iran to conceal its involvement in the 1994 bombing of the Jewish Community Centre. Pope Frances had a private audi- ence with the former wife of Alberto Nisman telling her that he prays for Nisman's memory and their two daughters. Since Kirchner left office, federal prosecutors have ramped up an in- vestigation into the activities of a group of businessmen with close ties to Kristina and her late husband. Lázaro Báez, who grew extremely wealthy from government construc- tion contracts during the Kirchners' years in power, was arrested after a former associate testified against him and the Kirchners. Báez has been charged with par- ticipating in a scheme in which hundreds of millions of dollars from government contracts were laun- dered through a complex web of fictitious offshore companies. Mos- sack Fonseca, the firm at the centre of the recent Panama Papers scan- dal, is alleged to have played a role in the laundering scheme. The wounds of the past In Malta the divisive legacy of the 1960s is often invoked as a warning against Church intervention in poli- tics. Argentina had a far more trau- matic experience during the 1970s, during which the Church, including Bergoglio, was accused of remaining silent during the "disappearance" of left-wing sympathisers, including Jesuits inspired by Liberation theol- ogy. Bergoglio has been criticised in particular for failing to protect two Jesuit priests, Orland Yorio and Francisco Jalics, after they were ar- rested and tortured. Bergoglio de- nied the charges but admitted that the Church could have done more to protect those killed. He had bishops issue a collective apology in 2012 for the Church's failures to protect people during Argentina's dictatorship. The apol- ogy blamed both the government and leftist guerrillas for the violence. Since his appointment, Pope Fran- cis has ordered the Vatican to open its files for an investigation into this era, with the goal of discovering the fate of at least some of the estimated 30,000 victims. Bergoglio's consistency One notable difference between the two Church prelates is that while Scicluna served for a long time in the Roman Curia, Bergoglio remained firmly anchored in the Argentinian reality. Scicluna held positions in the Ro- man curia from 1995 to 2012 serv- ing as Promoter of Justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith led by Cardinal Joseph Ratz- inger – later Pope Benedict XVI. Bergoglio was deeply rooted in the Argentine reality serving from 1973 to 1979 as Argentina's provincial superior of the Society of Jesus and becoming the Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998. When Pope Francis was called 'leader of the Opposition' One may have been in a better position to judge Scicluna had he had the opportunity to confront a PN-led government Scicluna retweeted an opinion piece which compared the Maltese political system of patronage to the Mafia