Archbishop Charles Scicluna became the first in 50 years to retain his seat as archbishop while taking up a new post at the Vatican, influential Vatican correspondent and blogger Rocco Palmo writes.

Describing Malta’s archbishop as the “most dangerous man in the Vatican” for his war against sexual abuse by priests, Palmo says that Scicluna is “coming home to the Holy Office”.

“In a unique arrangement not seen for the Curia in a half-century, however, the announcement added that Scicluna ‘will remain archbishop of Malta,’ where he was recently given an auxiliary to help balance his already increased Roman workload,” Palmo writes.

In his popular blog “Whispers from the Loggia”, Palmo says Scicluna was the “lead prosecutor who oversaw the removal of some 3,000 abusive clerics worldwide once the congregation wrested competence for the cases in 2001”.

His “star has risen even further over the last year after the archbishop led Francis' probe of the roiled Chilean church, whose damning findings saw the country's bishops submit their resignations as a bloc during a May summons to Rome,” Palmo adds.

The blog was written on the day that Mgr Scicluna was named by Pope Francis as a deputy, or adjunct secretary, at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office that processes sex abuse cases globally.

This followed speculation that Mgr Scicluna, in spite of not being yet a Cardinal, could be a potential candidate to be elected pope.

Rocco Palmo's blog can be found here