Solely about half one million folks dwell in Malta, the tiny set of islands within the Mediterranean that make up considered one of Europe’s smallest international locations.
But a Maltese citizen may quickly be elected pope.
Cardinal Mario Grech, 68, the previous bishop of a Maltese island, Gozo, has emerged as a candidate for pope due to his position as secretary basic of the Synod of Bishops, a Vatican physique mandated by canon legislation to think about “questions pertaining to the exercise of the Church on this planet.”
Pope Francis made the latest synod far more inclusive and participatory, and Cardinal Grech’s position in stewarding these efforts to open up the church stand in distinction to a few of his personal historical past. Whereas he was bishop of Gozo, from 2005 to 2020, he held conservative stances on a number of points, together with homosexuality and the legalization of divorce, which he opposed when Malta held a referendum in 2011.
He modified his tone underneath Francis, who made him a cardinal in 2020, and is seen as somebody who would convey continuity to the papacy.
The synod started in 2021 with discussions amongst native church buildings all over the world on points they felt most urgent, a uncommon opening for all Catholics to assist chart the church’s future.
However synod supporters say it’s the solely method the church can keep related.
The synod’s future and implementation “can be essential for the Catholic Church,” which should change into “extra participatory and inclusive,” stated Helena Jeppesen-Spuhler, who works for a Swiss Catholic aid company and was a synod participant.
Failure to enact actual change, she stated, may very well be deadly for the church, at the very least in Central Europe. “If there aren’t any modifications, will probably be actually difficult, and I feel the cardinals are conscious of this,” she stated.
As secretary basic of the synod, Cardinal Grech emerged as a key determine in that course of. There are 133 cardinals who can vote on the synod. About 60 of these cardinals had been current throughout at the very least one of many synod’s monthlong discussions in 2023 and 2024 on the Vatican, which means that in a Faculty of Cardinals the place lots of them don’t know one another as a result of they’re geographically distant, his position has made him a well-recognized face to many.
Cardinal Grech has additionally taken up international causes that had been near Francis. Malta is a key level of entry within the Mediterranean for migrants arriving from Africa, and Cardinal Grech has referred to as on Europe to open its doorways, not shut them. When the struggle broke out in Ukraine in 2022, he raised alarms that fleeing Ukrainian ladies and youngsters had been liable to being exploited by human traffickers.
Like different senior church leaders over the past 20 years, Cardinal Grech has been accused by a few of not doing sufficient to reckon with sexual abuse that occurred in his diocese. He is among the cardinals singled out on the web site Conclave Watch, which scrutinizes how some cardinals dealt with abuse instances.
As bishop he started a number of initiatives to confront abuse, together with a fee for safeguarding kids and weak adults. However his critics say that he may have carried out extra in particular instances.
Among the allegations in Malta heart on Lourdes House, an orphanage run by the Dominican Sisters of Malta on Gozo. The church commissioned an inquiry into the orphanage, which closed in 2008 and it apologized that yr. Pope Benedict XVI met privately with some survivors in 2010.
Lara Dimitrijevic, a lawyer who represents two survivors in a constitutional case towards the state at the moment being heard in Maltese courtroom, stated the church ought to have carried out extra for victims, together with providing psychological counseling.
“There was such extreme trauma that these moms of their 50s are nonetheless struggling immediately,” she stated, calling the abuse “vile.”
One among her shoppers within the lawsuit, Carmen Muscat, 52, stated she was not happy with the position performed by Cardinal Grech, and wished compensation. “We didn’t get justice and it’s not honest,” she stated. Cardinal Grech didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Matthew Mpoke Bigg contributed reporting.