Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/985406
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 23 MAY 2018 6 MARK Montebello is no stran- ger to controversy having been the target of disciplinary action by his order on at least four pre- vious occasions. This time round, Fr Monte- bello has not been disciplined for deviating from accepted Church doctrine but for criticising the Church's approach to IVF legislation as one which al- ienates minorities. Others before him, like the late Father Peter Serracino Inglott, had openly questioned the attribution of full personhood to a zygote and even questioned Papal encyclicals like Hu- manae Vitae. In this case Mon- tebello strayed away from the ethical and moral arguments. Instead he attacked Church strategy for not learning any- thing from the di- vorce referendum and warning that its intransigence on IVF was turning minorities off. This is why the threat of de- frocking Montebello looks dis- proportionate. Still unlike diocesan priests who are accountable to the arch- diocese , Montebello's position is complicated by his member- ship in the Dominican order. For what Montebello says also reflects on the order to which he had promised obedience. Still although the Curia insists that it was not even aware of the threat made to Montebello, the decision to censor Montebello- who is also an eminent philoso- pher and public intellectual, has a bearing on the Church and so- ciety at large. It risked impover- ishing debate in the Church and society at large by silencing an inconvenient voice. The Archbishop's intervention It is in relation to these wider implications which probably led the Archbishop to intervene as a mediator between Montebello and his provincial with the aim of reaching a solution through which the Dominican friar would continue expressing his views "in full loyalty to Church teaching." It is the recognition by the Archbishop that within these boundaries a very wide spectrum of views can be expressed. By not washing his hands off the matter and leaving it up to the order to silence the rebel priest, Scicluna has shown that he is different from his predecessors who prob- ably did not feel the need to stand up for freedom of speech simply because they themselves rarely exercised it. Scicluna may him- self have realised that's what for the goose is good for the gander. Partisan contortions Ironically the social media reaction has exposed partisan fault-lines with some Labour sympathisers rushing to defend Montebello and other Nation- alist sympathisers comparing the Church to an exclusive club whose rules Montebello had vio- lated repeatedly. PL supporters have used this occasion to lash out at the Arch- bishop whom they want to be less outspoken while defend- ing the outspokenness of Mark Montebello, simply because he is perceived as sympathetic to their cause. In this sense their approach is contradictory since what counts for the goose also counts for the gender. PM spokesperson Kurt Farru- gia intervened in the debate by noting that "it seems freedom of speech in Malta is a privilege only afforded to conservatives" thus hinting that the freedom of NEWS ANALYSIS The goose, the gander and Father Mark JAMES DEBONO asks why Labour supporters - who take umbrage whenever the Archbishop speaks his mind - are so supportive of Fr Mark Montebello's right to be outspoken and why Nationalist supporters who normally defend the Church's right to speak out are less keen on Montebello doing the same? Mark Montebello's troubled past 1992 Montebello banned from media by Dominican order for comments made on a radio talk show. 2005 Montebello was banned from speaking pub- licly because he said Pope Benedict's appointment was "a sick joke". November 2009 Montebello is disciplined by his superior for "offending the sentiment of the Maltese" on more than three occasions. November 2010 Montebello is sent to Mexico after being summoned to Rome for a meeting with the head of the Dominican Order, Fr Carlos Aspiroz Costa, in the wake of some comments he wrote in a newspaper. April 2015 The Archbishop requests a meeting with Dominican friar Mark Mon- tebello after he blessed an engagement of a gay cou- ple. No sanctions imposed on Montebello.