New Bishop for Malta

New Auxiliary Bishop for Malta, Msgr. Charles Scicluna

Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Monsignor Charles J. Scicluna as Auxiliary Bishop of Malta.
The episcopal ordination will be held on November 24 at the Cathedral of St John, Valletta, Malta. Born in Canada in 1959 of Maltese parents, Monsignor Scicluna was educated in Malta and graduated Doctor of Laws from the University of Malta in 1984. He was ordained priest in 1986, and continued his studies abroad, graduated Doctor in Canon Law from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, in 1991 and then served the Church in Malta on the Metropolitan Tribunal and in a number of parishes, including his home parish of Lija. For the last 17 years he has served the Universal Church, working in the Vatican on the most challenging of cases under the leadership of Cardinal Ratzinger, both when he was a Cardinal and prefect of the Congregation of the Faith, and now as Pope Benedict XVI.

Monsignor Scicluna is a renowned expert in Canon Law, highly respected among his peers around the world for his lecturing skills and his expertise in child protection issues. He is well loved for his amiable personality and for his sense of fairness. The Maltese public would remember his work in favour of the canonization of Saint George Preca between 1996 and 2007. The Holy Father has now called Monsignor Scicluna to the college of bishops with the mission to work for the Church in Malta under the leadership of Archbishop Paul Cremona O.P. Ad Multos Annos.