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TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to Popeular History, a library of Catholic knowledge and insights.

Check out the show notes for sources, further reading, and a transcript.

Today we're discussing another current Cardinal of the Catholic Church, one of the 120 or so people who will choose the next Pope when the time comes.

Mario Grech was born on February 20, 1957, in Qala, Malta, Qala being a small community on the eastern edge of the island of Gozo, Gozo being the *second* largest island in Malta after, well, the Island of Malta, with Malta itself being a small island nation a bit south of Sicily. At a young age, the family moved to Ta' Kerċem, another small community on the same island.

Malta is an outsize name in the history of the Catholic Church, thanks to its hosting of the military order of Saint John of Jerusalem, aka the Hospitallers or more simply the Knights of Malta in the early modern period. Their holding out against Suleiman the Magnificent's Ottoman Empire–who, in fairness, had *successfully* kicked the Hospitallers out of the Greek Island of Rhodes earlier in his career–that success at the Great Siege of Malta was so famous that noted enemy of the Church Voltaire once said “Nothing is better known than the siege of Malta” (Annals of the Empire, 1753)

Also, to get this out of the way, there was recently a Maltese Cardinal by the name of Prosper Grech. I haven't seen it explicitly confirmed that the two Cardinals *aren't* related, but I haven't seen anyone suggest that they are either. So… maybe, but probably not? Grech *is* a common Maltese surname, to the extent that a random third party commenting on the passing of the older Cardinal also had the last name of Grech.

Anyways, let's actually talk about today's cardinal some, shall we? The island of Gozo has fewer than 40,000 people altogether, but in heavily Catholic Malta, that's enough to support a local seminary, which is where Mario went when he decided to start his priestly studies. Unusually, he did both his philosophy and theology studies at that same institution. It wasn't until after his 1984 ordination that he went further afield, being sent to Rome to study both canon and civil law at the Pontifical Lateran University. Following the pattern of some of our more bookish Cardinals, Father Grech then obtained a doctorate in canon law from the Angelicum.

While studying his doctorate and for a span after, Father Grech ministered at the cathedral, at the National Shrine of Tá-Pinu, and also served as a parish priest at the parish of Kercem. You're not going to be too surprised that he also taught canon law at the local seminary and held a number of roles within the Diocese of Gozo during this period as well.

In 2005 his white phone rang and Pope Benedict made him Bishop of Gozo. He was consecrated on January 22nd 2006, with his predecessor, Bishop Cauchi, serving as his principal consecrator. I got curious because by longstanding custom–and, well, canon law–new bishops are consecrated by three existing bishops to ensure apostolic succession, and there's only two dioceses in Malta. It turns out the retiring bishop Cauchi- who had ordained Mario Grech as a priest too, by the way– it turns out he was joined not only by the Archbishop of Malta but also by Malta's Apostolic Nuncio, which makes sense and eventually I'll come to expect that.

Bishop Grech has traveled a fair bit during his tenure, visiting emigrants from Malta living in the USA twice, and Australia once, along with a couple trips to South America.

From 2013 to 2016, Bishop Grech was President of the Episcopal Conference of Malta, which l, I mean, part of me says with just the two dioceses they would have had a hard time getting a euchre game going at their meetings, another part of me says there's probably a few more folks than I'm imagining if you count retired bishops and auxiliaries, and I don't know if they invite senior priests to take notes or what. Someone's got to bring the snacks, is all I'm saying.

Anyways, in 2016, Pope Francis published Amoris Laetitia, a post-synodal apostolic exhortation, in other words a Papal follow-up letter recapping the goings on of a synod, a gathering of bishops. In this case, the synod in question was the Synod on Family and the reason we're talking about Amoris Laetitia is because it seemed to open the door to communion for Catholics who had been divorced and then gotten civilly remarried, at least in certain cases and with careful discernment. That's getting into a theological issue, the finer points of which you could definitely spend a lot more time going into than I will here, but in short most Catholic bishops were and I think it's fair to say still are wary of allowing such an accommodation. I mean, I'm here for it, but I make no secret of being a big old softy when it comes to accommodations in general–and honestly I think it's fair to say Pope Francis has a similar mindset. But again, most bishops are of a more conservative bent. Except for our friend Bishop Grech, who was instrumental in helping implement exactly that sort of accommodation for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics–in certain cases, as specified– in Malta–though it's worth noting he's also on the record as being against divorce generally, which is pretty well expected of Catholic bishops. Just, you know, to be clear.

Anyways, Bishop Grech's time in Malta's surprisingly existent Bishops’ Conference did not go to waste, because he also served on the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and the Commission of Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE). In 2019, he made the big time, being named the Pro-Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops–not for the Malta, not for the EU, but for the whole Catholic Church: a sufficiently big enough job that he stepped down as Bishop of Gozo in order to take it on.

The next year, he was named member of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity and in that same year–2020, if you lost count– he was named full on Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, so the top dog post. A couple months later, Pope Francis gave him his red hat, making him a Cardinal deacon with Santi Cosma e Damiano as his deaconry.

The next year, Mario was also added to the The Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the highest judicial authority in the Catholic Church apart from the Pope himself, should he choose to intervene, which he usually doesn't, but, you know, he could.

As a dedicated Curial Cardinal, Cardinal Grech also serves on the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, as well as the Dicastery for Bishops.

Mario Cardinal Grech is eligible to participate in future conclaves until he turns 80 in 2037.

Today's episode is part of Cardinal Numbers,

and there will be more Cardinal Numbers tomorrow. Thank you for listening; God bless you all! Thanks, Joe!

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