Pope Benedict XVI has officially appointed Mgr Charles J. Scicluna, the Vatican’s sex crimes prosecutor, as Auxiliary Bishop of Malta, the Archbishops Curia confirmed yesterday morning.

On his Episcopal ordination, scheduled for 24 November, Mgr Scicluna will become a member of the Maltese Episcopal Conference alongside the Archbishop and the Bishop of Gozo, Mgr Mario Grech. The appointment has led to speculation that Mgr Scicluna is poised to become Malta’s next archbishop, but the weight such speculation holds will remain to be seen.

The Pope has also nominated Mgr Scicluna as Titular Bishop of San Leone.

As Auxiliary Bishop, 53-year-old Mgr Scicluna will be called to be the closest collaborator and advisor of Archbishop Paul Cremona, with leadership responsibilities in the Curia and in diocesan pastoral ministry, the Curia said.

Mgr Scicluna is known for his tough line on abusive priests and was brought into the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from the Vatican's high court in 2002 to handle the flood of cases into Rome after the Vatican, in 2001, ordered bishops to send all their abuse cases to the Vatican for review.

As the so-called ‘promoter of justice’, Mgr Scicluna worked directly under then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.

Canadian-born Mgr Scicluna was educated in Malta and graduated Doctor of Laws from the University of Malta in 1984. He was ordained priest in 1986 by now Emeritus Archbishop, His Grace Mgr Joseph Mercieca. Mgr Scicluna graduated Doctor in Canon Law from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, in 1991 and then served the Church in Malta on the Metropolitan Tribunal and in a number of parishes, including his home parish of Lija.

For the past 17 years, he has served the Universal Church, working in the Vatican on the most challenging of cases under the leadership of Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. Mgr Scicluna is a renowned expert in Canon Law, highly respected among his peers around the world for his lecturing skills and his expertise in child protection issues. He is well loved for his amiable personality and his sense of fairness.

The Maltese public would remember his work in favour of the canonisation of Saint George Preca between 1996 and 2007.

Mgr Scicluna was born in Toronto, Canada, on 15 May 1959. The Scicluna family moved to Qormi, Malta, in 1960 and to Lija, Malta, in 1976. Mgr Scicluna was educated at Saint Sebastian Primary School, Qormi, at the St Joseph Secondary Technical School, Paola, and at St Edward’s College, Cottonera.

He entered the Law Course at the University of Malta in 1976 and he graduated Doctor of Laws in 1984. After completing his Seminary studies and a Licentiate in Pastoral Theology at the Faculty of Theology, Tal-Virtù, he was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood by the Archbishop of Malta, Mgr Joseph Mercieca, on 11 July 1986.

Mgr Scicluna was sent to read Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and obtained the doctorate in Canon Law with specialisation in jurisprudence in 1991. Following his studies in Rome, Mgr Scicluna worked on the Malta Metropolitan Tribunal as Defender of the Bond and was lecturer in Pastoral Theology and Canon Law at the University of Malta. He served in the parishes of Attard, Saint Gregory’s Sliema and Iklin, Lija.

He also served as Vice Rector at the Major Seminary between 1994 and 1995, when he was called to the Vatican to work on the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura as Substitute Promoter of Justice. In 1996, he was appointed Postulator for the cause of the beatification and canonisation of Dun Ġorġ Preca.

In October 2002, Mgr Scicluna was nominated Promoter of Justice at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, detailed to investigate and prosecute the more grave crimes reserved to the exclusive competence of the Congregation.

He has also lectured widely on issues concerning child protection in the Church, visiting a number of churches in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Australia. Mgr Scicluna is a Visiting Lecturer in Penal Processes at the Pontifical Gregorian University (Rome) and helps with chaplaincy work at the Convent of the Nuns of Saint Bridget, Piazza Farnese and at the Venerable English College in Rome.