Pulling a Pontius Pilate

The Maltese Roman Catholic Curia has let it be known that it does not consider itself responsible for the acts of Godwin Scerri and Charles Pulis, who abused several boys living in a Church-run home.

According to the Curia, it cannot be held responsible for the actions of its priests. The leaders of the Catholic Church in Malta also believe that they have not been negligent and cannot be blamed for the fact that the priests it appointed to care for the boys abused them repeatedly.

Well, I beg to differ.

The Maltese Curia was most definitely negligent. It acted irresponsibly on not one, but at least two occasions.

Let us start with Godwin Scerri. The man fled Canada in June 1993 after being accused of sexually abusing young boys between 1983 and 1987, when he was working as a priest in Windsor, Ontario. In June 1993 he was charged with sexually assaulting a boy, who was only 12 when the abuse started. The abuse continued for four years.

Instead of staying in Canada and facing the music, the sexual predator got on a plane and flew to Malta, where the local Church authorities assigned him to St Joseph Home, with devastating results for Lawrence Grech, Joseph Magro, Leonard Camilleri, David Cassar, Noel Dimech, Angelo Spiteri, Raymond Azzopardi, Charles Falzon, Phillip Cauchi and Joseph Mangion.

And now they claim that they could not have known that this priest was likely to commit a crime.

Let me repeat that. A priest accused of raping young boys fled to Malta, and the local Curia put him in a position where he had unlimited access to vulnerable young boys. They literally invited the fox into the henhouse and closed the door behind him, and left him unsupervised to rape and abuse his charges.

And now they have the gall to argue that they are not responsible.

I will now turn to Charles Pulis. A social worker reported to the Missionary Society of St Paul that he had walked into a room and found the priest on a bed with an erection and a young boy sitting on top of him. Incredibly, the social worker's accusations were ignored and Charles Pulis was allowed to continue living with the boys he was raping and abusing.

And now they assert that they were not negligent.

In the 80s, a young GP was asked to review the practices at the home. She visited St Joseph multiple times and observed the way that the priests and boys interacted - and then she presented a report to the Maltese Curia, wherein she highlighted the dangers of the arrangement and recommended strongly the introduction of more laypersons and, more importantly, women in running the home.

Not only was the GP ignored, she was shunned and made persona non grata at St Joseph Home. Clearly the predators, who were living in what must have been every paedophile's paradise, did not want 'outsiders' sticking their nose where it was not wanted. That would have cramped their style.

And now they state that they always acted in the best interests of the children.

Well I have news for you, Paul Cremona. You might weasel your way out of doing the decent thing and compensating the victims of your Church because of some loophole in the law, however the price that the Maltese Church is going to pay is one that will haunt it forever.

The actions of the Maltese Curia have exposed the organisation as corrupt and inhumane. Archbishop, you are probably surrounded by sycophants who will not tell it to you as it is, but there is a whole generation of Catholics who are absolutely disgusted by the actions of 'Mother Church'.

Some mother.

I wonder how you sleep at night - are you not haunted by images of Pontius Pilate washing his hands in front of the mob baying for Jesus' blood?

It's going to take a hell of a lot of soap to get your hands clean, Your Grace.