Only a few months after the death of our mourned brother Cardinal Prospero Grech, the Pope has graciously given the Church on our Islands a new Cardinal, Mgr. Mario Grech, Emeritus Bishop of the Gozo Diocese and Secretary of the Synod of Bishops in Rome.

In a message posted on social media, Bishop Grech thanked the Augustinian Family, and particularly the Prior General and the Community of the Order’s Curia in Rome where he has been residing over the past year and where he was hosted every time that he visited Rome during his episcopate.  In fact, in 2017 Bishop Grech was officially affiliated with our Augustinian Family, and thus he is regarded as being a son of the Order through a spiritual bond.

Bishop Grech was born at Qala, Gozo on 20^th February 1957. He was educated in state schools followed by studies in Philosophy and Theology at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Seminary, Gozo. After his Priestly Ordination on 26^th May 1984 he continued his studies in Rome where he obtained a Licentiate from the Pontifical Lateran University and a Doctorate in Canonical Law from the Pontifical Angelicum University.

Back in Malta he served in various posts including that of Judicial Vicar of the Gozitan Diocese; lecturer in Canonical Law at the Gozo Seminary, member of the Metropolitan Tribunal of Malta and Parish Priest at the Kercem Parish. On 26^th November 2011 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Bishop of Gozo in which post he served until Pope Francis appointed him Pro-Secretary of the Synod of Bishops and, on 15^th September 2020, Secretary of that same Synod.

The Augustinian Malta Province congratulates Mgr. Mario Grech on his appointment as a Cardinal and thanks him for having been close to them, and wishes him well in his service to the Universal Church.