New archbishop will ‘be kind to the flock, face off the wolf with the crosier’

Mgr Charles Scicluna was greeted with fireworks, plenty of applause and some rain showers as he started his installation ceremony this morning. Starting at his hometown in Lija, the ceremony will ultimately lead to his official installment as Archbishop.

Scicluna was greeted by a small crowd who applauded to the sound of fireworks and applause. Mayor Magda Naudi presented him with a bouquet which he then placed at the statue of the Saviour. Scicluna then led those gathered into prayers.

One of the highlights of the ceremony was the reading of the papal decree to appoint Scicluna as the new Head of the Maltese Church, as well as the presentation of the pallium.

Scicluna entered the Cathedral to choir singing and fanfare, as the procession entered the building. The president Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, and leader of the Opposition Simon Busuttil as well as ministers and shadow ministers were present at the ceremony.

Scicluna’s parents and the parents of Bishop of Gozo Mario Grech were also present at the ceremony. Former prime minister Eddie Fenech Adami, and bishop emeritus Paul Cremona were also present.

The papal declaration officially instating Scicluna was read out first in Latin and then in Maltese at the start of the ceremony.

The president of the College of Chaplains read out an address to the new archbishop expressing the clergy’s desire to follow his lead in fighting for the good of the people and hoping that he would be able to continue his work as a humble servant of God for as long as possible.

During his sermon, Scicluna quoted parts of the evangelical reading which described the event when Christ entrusted Peter with the leadership of his flock, saying that the words were particularly resonant to him on this day.

“This reading reminds me that the basis of all our work is love: the love God shows his people everyday, the love of His sacrifice for all of us.”

“He has entrusted me with the leadership of such a precious crowd of good people, I hope to be a worthy shepherd in caring for His people,” he added.

Scicluna stressed that he understood that his duty was to take care and sustain the people of this church, with all the kindness that Christ had showed in his lifetime.

“I want to lead by example with kindness towards every member of the flock, but to use my crook when faced by the wolf,” Scicluna said in a supplication to Jesus Christ during his homily.

“The lambs and the sheep are not mind but yours, my Lord. You entrust them to me and I have to be accountable to you. Be with me so that they see You in me, so that I am no obstacle but of help and comfort to them.”

“We want to walk behind you in a walk of togetherness, a Synodal route where our the roads we take meet, as a family… You my Lord, are the master of history, the truth.”

Scicluna looked forward to collaborating with the Bishop of Gozo and Bishop emeritus Paul Cremona, who he said, was a good example to follow, a declaration that was met with the sound of much enthusiastic applause from those gathered.

Scicluna praised the work, not just of members of the clergy, but also of missionaries and ordinary people who cherish their families and do their duties while always following the example of Christ.

Coat of arms

His coat of arms is inspired by one that is traditionally assigned to surnames. It includes a prancing horse and a silver half moon over a red background as well as a golden rose surrounded in green.

The red background is meant to symbolise Christ’s passion and his cape covered in blood.

“The white horse is reminiscent of St. John the apostle’s vision of Christ on a white horse,” the Curia said.

The silver half-moon is a symbol of stability and of the Virgin Mary and the Church, and the golden rose is a further reminder of the Virgin Mary.  The coat of arms also features a Maltese cross in the background.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna

Scicluna’s motto ‘Fidilis et Verax’, meaning faithful and true, is taken from the book of the Apocalypse.

Solemn ingress

The Archbishop’s solemn ingress into the cathedral is a traditional ceremony that harks back to a time when bishops used to arrive at their new diocese after a prolonged period. 

After receiving consecration or episcopal ordination, the Archbishop would then take possession of the diocese through a personally elected representative.

The length of time taken by the new archbishop to enter the new diocese would have been determined by various factors like difficulties inherent to travel at the time, as well as issues like benefit accumulations when archbishops were nominated on more than one diocese at the same time.

These abuses have since and continue to be addressed to this day, and all of these factors resulted in the ritual of the archbishop taking possession of a diocese through a selected intermediary.

Although things have changed considerably since then, this tradition has continued to be practised. Following his possession of the diocese, the Archbishop would then perform his first solemn entrance into the cathedral, an act recognised as the solemn ingress.

Ceremony

The ceremony is dictated in the Roman Pontifical or Pontificale Romanum, a catholic liturgical book that contains the rites performed by bishops and the ingress has now become a part of the local church’s imagination and tradition, gaining various local traditions that have become part and parcel of the ceremony along the way.

On the eve of the ingress it is customary for the bishop to spend the night at the Dominican order in Rabat, where he would be invited for a meal. The next morning, the bishop would depart in a procession accompanied by his relatives and move on to the Agostinian order’s convent of St. Mark, where he would subsequently change into pontifical clothing.

The bishop would then walk through the Mdina gate followed by a procession of relatives and other members of the clergy. In the past, this journey was often undertaken on a mare as a clear reminder of Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem on a donkey’s back prior to the passion.

The stational mass or official bishop’s mass is then celebrated. The mass calls back to the earliest celebrations of the church in history, and it has remained the high-point of the whole celebration as it represents the local church at its best, with the faithful surrounding their one shepherd.

The last time this old ingress was completely followed was in the instalment of Bishop Michael Gonzi in 1944, and it has now been simplified following a lithurgical reform, under Pope John-Paul II in 1984. The essential parts of the rite have however all been preserved, and the stational mass has remained the centre of this celebration.

Who is Charles J Scicluna?

Scicluna, son of Emanuel and Maria Carmela Scicluna, was born in Toronto, Canada on the 15th of May 1959. He went to St. Sebastian’s primary school in Qormi, St. Joseph Technical School at Rahal Gdid and St. Edward’s College in Cottonera. Scicluna then furthered his education by studying law at the University of Malta and graduating as a lawyer in 1984 and after the appropriate training, was awarded Holy Orders in 1986.

He has served in various parishes on the island and also held various positions at the Vatican, where he has also been selected president of a Vatican board hearing appeals in clerical sex abuse cases.

Scicluna, 55, served as Auxiliary Bishop since October 2012 and succeeds Archbishop Emeritus Paul Cremona who stepped down last year for health reasons.

Pope Francis elected Scicluna as Archbishop of Malta on 27 February, 2015.