An online petition is calling for the removal of Archbishop Charles Scicluna over comments he never actually made.

The head of the Church in Malta irked many Labour supporters last week when he retweeted an opinion piece which compared Malta’s political patronage to the Sicilian Mafia.

The opinion, written by Cedric Farrugia for The Shift News, was titled ‘The System we created.’ The news portal tweeted the article with the tag line: ‘What in Sicily is known as Cosa Nostra, what in Calabria is known as Ndrangheta, what in Naples is called Camorra, in Malta we call ‘il-gvern’ (the government).’

Archbishop Scicluna retweeted the article on Friday, drawing fire from several Labour officials.

Now, an online petition has sprouted up calling for Scicluna’s removal over comments he supposedly made with regards to the €5 million donation the Prime Minister pledged for Puttinu Cares on the same day.

On Good Friday, Joseph Muscat announced that the National Social Development Fund (NSDF), which holds funds deriving from the passport sale scheme (IIP), were being pledged to the organization that provides accommodation for sick children in the UK.

According to the wording of the online petition, Archbishop Scicluna “retweeted and stated that these funds have came out from Illegal doings, which is false. A few weeks or maybe days ago, the Pope gave an order to all archbishops to not have any say in any political doings, which Charles J. Scicluna clearly broke.”

The description continues: “We want his immediate resignation and would like a proper religious person who can lead the people in their religious ways, one who has no political influence.”

It is clear that the person behind the petition mixed up the two abovementioned events, for the Archbishop never said anything about the Puttinu donation and his last ‘political’ tweet was his sharing of The Shift News opinion piece.

In an explanation posted on the Facebook page of the archdiocese of Malta, Archbishop Scicluna said he makes a distinction between his own tweets and items he re-tweets. He said he retweets articles that could lead to a mature discussion, away from partisan politics, which seek the best interests of society.