The news that Pope Francis has appointed the 59-year-old Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta to the position of adjunct secretary at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) did not get as much attention as it might have under different circumstances. It is something worth a closer look.
Archbishop Scicluna’s appointment to the position, announced last week, received only one sentence in the daily bulletin, which specified that he would be keeping his See in Malta as he takes on the new duties. That suggests something of an ad hoc arrangement, with a view first of all to the meeting at the Vatican of all the heads of bishops’ conferences, on safeguarding minors and vulnerable adults, scheduled for February 21-24 next year.
