“Please be informed that if and when the Archbishop has anything new to pronounce on the matter it will be communicated to all the media,” Curia public relations officer Charles Buttigieg told The Malta Independent on Sunday.

On Thursday evening, the Archbishop’s Curia issued a statement saying that Mgr Mercieca “could not approve that a priest acceptes such a post”.

The statement also revealed that Fr Borg had not sought permission from Mgr Mercieca before accepting the post and that the Archbishop had learnt about Fr Borg’s appointment from the media.

The Curia statement explained that “the Church’s directives do not permit a priest to accept a similar post”.

On his part, Fr Joe Borg told The Malta Independent on Sunday: “I would like to thank the Archbishop for finding time on Friday to discuss this matter at length with me.”

“I respect the thoughts that motivated his decision and I understand the spirit with which he took the matter as much as I am sure that he understood my motivations.

“I feel that the years of work with the Church”s media, under instructions from Mgr Archbishop, will help me in this new work I will be carrying out, which is, in substance, no different from what I used to do at RTK.

“This is due to the fact that both at RTK as well as at PBS in the last three years, I was guided by a sense of social justice in the light of Catholic teachings,” Fr Borg said.

Mr Buttigieg told The Malta Independent on Sunday that the involvement of priests in public life is governed by Canon Law.

Mr Buttigieg also quoted from the provisions about “Political and Social Obligation” in the Directory on the Ministry and Life of Priests: