Archbishop visited ‘irregular’ Mdina museum year before reporting abbess to Vatican

Archbishop Charles Scicluna visited St Peter’s Monastery in Mdina in July 2024 and toured the museum, now said by the Curia to be “irregular”, set up within the historic complex, The Shift has confirmed.

The Archbishop’s visit has raised fresh questions within Church circles about the timeline that led to the Vatican’s recent decision to dissolve the Benedictine Monastery and remove the Abbess from the multi-million-euro, centuries-old property.

Curia insiders have told The Shift that by 2023, Archbishop Scicluna, who resides in Mdina, was already aware that the Abbess, Mother Maria Adeodata Dei Marchesi Testaferrata De Noto, had entered into what they described as an “irregular” 50-year lease agreement with property developer Neville Agius, known to be close to the Archbishop.

The deal made in October 2020 led to the opening of a private museum within part of the monastery.

Sources insisted the Archbishop not only knew about the arrangement but visited the museum in 2024, praising the way the premises had been transformed.

Yet when the Abbess entered into another lease with a different company, the Archbishop reported her to the Vatican.

The Archbishop only decided to take action and report the Abbess’s “irregular” contracts last December, weeks after a second similar contract was entered into with Castagna Group, who wanted to turn another part of the monastery into what it claimed was “a religious retreat accommodation”.

Contacted by The Shift, the Archbishop admitted that he had visited the museum more than a year before he reported the Abbess on a different contract, but denied any delay or inaction of the first contract, insisting he could not act without seeing the contracts.

“The Archbishop was invited to the museum by the resident nun only once, in July 2024,” the Curia told The Shift in reply to questions. “During the visit, he asked to see a copy of the lease contract. She did not accede to this request, despite several reminders.”

According to the Curia, it obtained them in December 2025.

This timeline suggests that while no action was taken on the 2023 lease with a property developer close to the Archbishop, despite its “irregularity”, a second 50-year lease signed in November last year was somehow obtained within weeks, and prompted the Archbishop to act.

The Shift is informed that the second agreement, drawn up by Notary Sam Abela, is very similar to the first agreement, drawn up in 2023 by Notary Margaret Haywood.

It was only after acquiring documentation relating to this second lease that Archbishop Scicluna formally wrote to the Holy See, requesting intervention.

The Vatican subsequently dissolved St Peter’s Monastery, ordered the Abbess to vacate the premises, and transferred administrative and legal representation control from the Archdiocese of Malta to the Abbot Primate of the Order of Saint Benedict in Rome.

In its statement, the Holy See accused the Abbess of having “unilaterally signed, without authorisation, two 50-year leases on the property to private individuals, each for less than €2,000 per month,” and of failing to seek approval from the legally appointed administrator.

Senior clerics have acknowledged that the Archbishop was justified in intervening over the lease contracts. However, questions persist about why similar steps were not taken earlier, on the first agreement concluded years earlier.

Sources told The Shift that while the Archbishop may have turned a blind eye to the first contract with a “friend”, he only acted when a second lease contract was signed. The Archbishop denies the claim.

Archbishop Scicluna did not reply to The Shift’s questions about his relationship with the property developer involved in the earlier lease. Yet questions abound about whether the Archbishop acted to protect the interests of Agius (husband of PN CEO Sabine Agius Cabourdin), involved in the first lease, who may have wanted to extend his involvement in the monastery on a commercial basis.

The latest controversy adds to growing scrutiny over recent Church property agreements involving the Archbishop directly, several of which were concluded without public calls or tender processes.

Meanwhile, the Archbishop is armed with a PR agency, a very close personal adviser and a network of power, while the elderly Benedictine nun has so far not spoken.

St Peter’s Monastery in Mdina, a Benedictine cloistered convent established in the 15th century, was traditionally supported by noble Maltese families, funding their daughters to live in strict, secluded piety.