Charles Scicluna sends warning over government’s ‘Orwellian disregard of the truth’

“Governance based on spin, on obscure dealings, and on a constant reticence to allow public scrutiny, is definitely not good governance” says Archbishop Charles Scicluna in Independence Day homily

Charles Scicluna: “Transparency and accountability are values that will make us Maltese truly and rightly proud of our government.”
Charles Scicluna: “Transparency and accountability are values that will make us Maltese truly and rightly proud of our government.”

Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna has delivered his loudest message ever in a plea for good governance in his hard-hitting homily to celebrate a Mass on the occasion of Independence Day at St John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta this morning.

The mass, which was attended by numerous local and foreign dignitaries, as well as Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech and Acting President Dolores Cristina, was followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at the Independence Monument.

Sciculna began as he intended to go on. In his opening prayer, the Archbishop prayed “for the land of our birth, that we may have good leaders who will lead us forward in harmony.”

His homily centred around what he called “the transcendental values of unity, goodness, truthfulness and beauty.”

“In other words, I am proposing the four transcendental values I mentioned – unity, goodness, truthfulness, and beauty – as a criterion for governance, that governance worthy of the human family towards which politics should, and hopefully does, aspire.”

“Policies that are divisive, that are based on the privilege of the few or that blatantly promote loyalty to a political party rather than to the State, are a travesty and a mortal poison to the common good of society.”

Every citizen has a right to the common wealth of the State and to benefit from government, Mgr Scicluna said, irrespective of who they are.

He warned that the State was duty-bound to rein in the greed of the few. “Political systems which purport to shy away from the moral demands of human existence, more often than not end up becoming monstrous caricatures of State government. When the common good is sacrificed to the selfish interests of the few, to a Pseudo-ethos based on the relentless quest for material gain at all costs, then we can say the State is sick.”

The Archbishop chose his words carefully, pulling no punches in his criticism.

“Governance based on spin, on obscure dealings, and on a constant reticence to allow public scrutiny, irrespective of the myriad laws and the solemn promises, is definitely not good governance. Government based on the Orwellian disregard of the truth will one day implode. Whereas Transparency and Accountability are the values that will make us Maltese truly and rightly proud of our Government.”

He also had a strong word about the lack of environmental governance that has become even more pronounced under the Labour administration.

“Is not the uglification of our natural and historical heritage a symptom of a lack of this wisdom of the heart? A Government that continues to restore and protect our heritage, that will energetically defend the pristine cleanliness of our seas, that will only allow sustainable development: that is a Government that takes beauty to heart, that expresses the nation's wisdom of the heart.”