A Maltese Christian preacher said Catholic priests privately supported his criticism of Islam but were allegedly prevented from speaking publicly by Archbishop Charles Scicluna.
On May 12, Christian preacher Jesrit Angel Camilleri stated in a video published on Facebook by the Maltese conservative party, Ahwa Maltin, that several local Catholic priests had contacted him privately to praise his public defense of Christianity and criticism of Islam. At the same time, he claimed they were unable to speak openly, because Scicluna had allegedly forbidden such interventions. Camilleri’s remarks were later highlighted in an article published on May 16 by a local blog, which linked the allegations to previous controversies surrounding Scicluna’s open support for Islamic religious education in Malta’s schools.
“Numerous Catholic priests have privately contacted me,” Camilleri said in the video. He added that these priests “wanted to speak publicly but were allegedly prevented from doing so by the archbishop.”
No independent evidence has yet been publicly produced to substantiate the claim that priests were formally instructed not to speak publicly against Islam. LifeSiteNews contacted the Archdiocese of Malta for clarification, but received no response before publication.
In April of 2017, Scicluna expressed openness to Muslim religious instruction in state and Church schools for Muslim students. At the time, Imam Mohammed El Sadi had proposed that Muslim pupils in government schools should be able to receive Islamic religious education in a manner comparable to Catholic religious instruction.
According to a report published by MaltaToday on April 5, 2017, Scicluna responded favorably to the proposal and said inclusivity formed part of the Catholic Church’s ethos. The newspaper reported that the archbishop’s reaction surprised even El Sadi himself.
“I was surprised by his noble approval of Muslim students’ right to learn Islam at state schools,” El Sadi told MaltaToday at the time. He also said he was “stunned” by Scicluna’s willingness to consider Islamic education for Muslim students attending Church schools.
The proposal generated criticism among some Maltese parents and administrators of Church schools, according to MaltaToday. Critics argued that Catholic educational institutions should remain focused on Christianity rather than facilitating instruction in other religions. The controversy intensified after an online petition calling for Scicluna’s removal reportedly gathered more than 2,000 signatures within eight days.
The same 2017 report stated that Malta’s education minister at the time, Evarist Bartolo, “cautiously welcomed” the proposal while stressing that, “as in the case of Catholic religion or ethics classes, these teachings in Islam would only be for those who specifically asked to attend and would not be compulsory for all students.”
Bartolo also said that any Islamic studies curriculum would require approval from the education ministry and would need to comply with Malta’s constitutional order, human rights standards, and democratic principles.
Following the controversy, Scicluna responded publicly by saying that his proposal “is not about Islam at all.” In an apparent attempt to calm the situation, the Times of Malta reported that Scicluna “would favor having Muslim children receiving religious instruction in Church schools, seeing it both as an issue of religious freedom and also a human right.”
Scicluna has served as archbishop of Malta since 2015. In previous years he became internationally known for his work within the Vatican on clerical abuse investigations before returning to Malta to lead the local Church by the will of Pope Francis. Debates concerning Islam and religious education in Malta intensified during the 2010s as the country experienced demographic changes and an increase in foreign residents, including growth among Muslim communities.
Malta has become subject to massive waves of migration coming from Africa and the Middle East, as an intermediate stop on the way to continental Europe, particularly Italy, Germany, and France.