Archbishop caught using phone in church, but there’s a perfectly good explanation

Archbishop Charles Scicluna was last week snapped by one of our readers using his mobile phone in church. But there is a perfectly good explanation, according to the Curia.

The reader, who said he took the picture on Friday at St Helena’s Basilica in Birkirkara ‘during the installment of the new Provost Archpriest’ said the Archbishop was contradicting a message by Pope Francis, delivered on 8 November: “I tell you, it makes me sad when I am celebrating here in Saint Peter’s Square or in the Basilica to see many cell phones lifted up, not only by the faithful but also by some priests and even bishops! But please! Mass is not a spectacle: it is going to encounter the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord. This is why the priest says: “Lift up our hearts”. What does this mean? Remember: no cell phones.”

The reader said the head of the Church in Malta should “lead by example.”

But a reply sent to this newspaper by the Archbishop’s Curia shows that people are sometimes too quick to judge.

A spokesperson said the Archbishop was actually using an app called Breviarium to pray the evening prayers of the Church. He clarified that the photo was not taken during mass, as can be seen from the Archbishop’s vestments.

On the Pope’s November speech, the spokesperson said: “Pope Francis was speaking about people, priests and bishops included, taking photos of him during Mass, coincidentally as your reader did to take the photo of the Archbishop before Mass.”