MALTA
Malta Today

Matthew Vella

The Maltese archdiocese has established a board of medical professionals for therapeutic evaluation, in response to the abuse of minors by members of the clergy.

The announcement comes just hours after Malta’s new auxiliary bishop-elect Charles Scicluna, until recently the Vatican’s chief prosecutor of priests accused of sexual abuse, said that it should be the former MSSP priests and not the archdiocese to pay the victims of the St Joseph Home compensation for the abuse they suffered.

The new board, established by both archbishop Paul Cremona and Gozo bishop Mario Grech, was agreed with the conference of superiors of religious orders, as a service offered to victims irrespective of any civil or ecclesiastical proceedings that might be ongoing.

The board’s members are psychologist Dr Anthony Gatt, psychiatrist Dr Anthony Dimech, and social worker Julian Xuereb, who have been appointed on three-year, renewable basis. The…