Alfred Grixti, a former Labour Party member of the executive and local councillor, was happy to upload a photo that was taken of him with Pope Francis on Facebook, saying that it was a momentous occasion he will treasure for life.

A few days earlier, Mr Grixti, who is today chief executive officer of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, used his Facebook account to launch repeated attacks on Archbishop Mgr Charles Scicluna, while also giving comments to inews.com, a media run by the General Workers Union.

One wonders whether Mr Grixti, apart from telling the Pope about a relative who worked in Chile, had the courage to tell His Holiness that the Church’s main representative in Malta, the Archbishop, is one of his (Mr Grixti's) favourite targets.

On Facebook, Mr Grixti labels Mgr Scicluna as a “parrot”, “populist” and “partisan”, and this after Mgr Scicluna had posted a tweet about a story which appeared in the Sunday Times and which, it was later revealed, contained inaccuracies.

In comments to inews.com, he was quoted as saying that the Archbishop “lacks credibility” and “moral authority”, and is also “immature”.

Did Mr Grixti use the opportunity he had in meeting the Pope to tell him about the way he sees the Archbishop?

Apart from Mr Grixti, other Labour exponents including the OPM chief of communications Kurt Farrugia and Prime Minister aide Glenn Bedingfield - all three are paid by public taxes - take to the social media to attack Mgr Scicluna.