Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:8

I encourage all my readers to read this very interesting feature by Mark Laurence Żammit on the current saga on the land in Nadur being claimed by the Stagno Navarras as heirs of Cosmana Cumbo Navarra. The alleged heirs are claiming ownership to the lands of the foundation set up by Cosmana in 1675 prior to her death which was then run and administered by the Church.

Mark Laurence Żammit provides the details to the story concisely and eloquently and he also makes an interesting reference to the events where Richard Stagno Navarra’s request to the court to be recognized as heir to Cosmana seems to have been acceded to by unusually lighting speed by Carol Peralta when he was magistrate. A magistrate is not in a position to fully understand such documents in 24 hours: it is impossible. The Land Registry also seems to have been exceptionally and speedily reciprocal to the Stagno Navarra’s when it approved their requests to register lands in their name against these alleged court approved “historical documents.”

Archbishop Charles Scicluna has shown a startling and surprising amoral indifference to the whole issue, despite the fact that he is often very vocal and outspoken on greed, indifference and amorality. The Archbishop is not a fool or a sheep. He is one of the most intelligent persons on the island, and a personal friend of the Pope. He who was also demoted from the Vatican and made Archbishop of Malta simply out of lack of alternatives for the post after Pawlu Cremona was ousted as Archbishop by the hardcore conservative faction of the Church. Since then, Archbishop Scicluna has constantly preached values of political accountability, environmental conservation,  and social justice.

Scicluna is also an expert on Mortmain’s Law and the legal situation of the Church’s real estate having done his thesis on this subject. He is an excellent candidate to act as a defender of his flock against dubious claims on Church administered property. It baffles me why an intelligent wolf like Scicluna would be so willing to risk his reputation by easily acceding to the demands of the Stagno Navarra’s and washing his hands from the issue by leaving it up to the courts and the government.