MaltaToday Survey | Outspoken Maltese archbishop suffers trust deficit among Labour voters

Nationalist Party (PN) supporters are twice as likely to trust archbishop Charles Scicluna than Labour Party (PL) supporters, according to the results from the latest MaltaToday survey.

The results from the survey, published in Sunday’s print edition, show that 43.3% of respondents who said they had voted for the Labour Party in the last general election, said they also trusted Scicluna. On the other hand, 89.6% of Nationalist Party supporters had a positive opinion about the archbishop. 67.6% of AD voters said they trusted the archbishop.  

The outspoken archbishop’s occasional criticsm of government has often earned  him disdain from Labour Party supporters, with the survey’s results confirming this antipathy.

Only yesterday, Scicluna was called out by Labour Party president Daniel Micallef, for retweeting an article comparing the Maltese government to Italy’s Cosa Nostra and Ndrangheta mafias.

“Sometimes we agree, many a times we don’t, but there are thousands of genuine practising Catholics who are often hurt by the way the leader of their church expresses himself,” wrote Micallef.

“Up to him - but what about other members of the clergy? What do they think? Do they encounter as I do, genuine Catholics the majority of them of old age and still with vivid memories of the dark 60s, who are deeply hurt with this attitude? It’s the way these people feel which I’m concerned about - nothing else.”

READ MORE Silence is not an option | Mgr Charles Scicluna

The situation was drastically different for Gozo Bishop Mario Grech, who enjoyed a higher overall trust rating.

The results also showed Grech to be a significantly less polarising figure, with 75.9% of PL voters declaring that they trusted him, compared to 80.5% of PN voters.

Pope Francis was by far the most trusted cleric, with 90.8% of the population viewing him positively. The overall trust in the Pope was higher among PN voters, at 94.8%, compared with 90.7% among Labour voters.