Mark Montebello


Mark Montebello is a Maltese priest, philosopher and author. He is mostly known for his controversies with Catholic Church authorities but also for his biographies of Manuel Dimech and Dom Mintoff.

Private life

Montebello, the son of Joseph, a RAF corporal, and Lucrezia née Sultana, a primary school teacher, both from Sliema, was born in Malta at the Mtarfa military hospital, the third of four siblings, and grew up at Sliema.
Montebello took his primary education at St. Francis School, Msida, his secondary at St. Albert the Great College, Valletta, and his higher education at St. Aloysius College, Birkirkara. Montebello joined the Dominican Order at Rabat, Malta, in 1980, in which he made his religious profession in 1983. He was ordained a priest in 1989.

Controversies

Mainly due to his unconventional thinking and candour, unusual for a Catholic priest in the Maltese Islands, since 1992 Montebello became a well-known controversial personality. This was augmented by bans periodically issued by the local Catholic authorities silencing him from speaking publicly for specific periods of time ranging from a few months to as long as three years.
The first ban came in 1992. Following a talk show on radio Live FM, Montebello was temporarily barred by the local archbishop Joseph Mercieca from speaking publicly for a year about the Catholic Church, faith or morals. This repeated itself in 2005 following an article in the Church-run weekly Il-Ġens, in which Montebello called the papal election of Joseph Ratzinger “a bad joke”.
In 2009, mainly following an article in the left-wing It-Torċa submitting that Jesus accepted divorce, the archbishop Paul Cremona banned Montebello from speaking publicly for a year. Due to this and other issues which precipitated the ban, Montebello was recalled to Rome by the Master General of the Dominican Order, Carlos Azpiroz Costa. As a result, Montebello was distanced from the Maltese Islands for three months at Mexico, serving with bishop José Raúl Vera López.
In 2011, ahead of the referendum on divorce held in the Maltese Islands, Montebello harshly criticised the Church's campaign and actions.
In 2015 Montebello was again chastised, this time by the archbishop Charles Scicluna, when he blessed the engagement of a gay male couple. On this occasion it was his congregation which banned him from speaking publicly for three years and also threatened to defrock him. Years later, in October 2023, in a response to “doubts” addressed to him by five of his cardinals, and later in the declaration "Fiducia supplicans" of December 2023, Pope Francis himself seems to have vindicated Montebello’s actions by acknowledging such blessings as long as they are not confused with sacramental blessings.

Studies and publications

Montebello studied theology and philosophy in Malta. He specialised in philosophy in Rome and Madrid, acquiring degrees in Plato and Aristotle, and studied criminal justice with Leicester University. He began lecturing in ancient and medieval philosophy at the University of Malta and other higher academic institutions in 1991.
In 1993 Montebello began researching the philosophical tradition of the Maltese people, a relatively new area of systematic study, continuing in his investigations of prime sources both locally and abroad for more than twenty-five years. He published his findings in such books as Stedina għall-Filosofija Maltija, Il-Ktieb tal-Filosofija f’Malta, 20th Century Philosophy in Malta and Malta’s Philosophy & Philosophers. Monographs in this line included Daniel Callus: Historian & Philosopher and Angelo Pirotta: A Maltese philosopher of the first water.
Other focused critiques include the study of the 15th-century Maltese poet and philosopher Peter Caxaro, publishing books such as Pietru Caxaru u l-Kantilena tieghu and Bejn ix-Xieraq u l-Għelt: L-istruttura kjażtika tal-Kantilena.
In his studies Montebello also thoroughly explored the life and personality of Malta's early-20th-century social reformer Manuel Dimech. His related publications include Dimech, Jien, Manwel Dimech, Manwel Dimech: Fi kliemi, Manwel Dimech: Ivan u Praskovja u Kitbiet Oħra, Aphorisms: Wisdom of a philosopher in exile, Manwel Dimech: Ilbieraħ–Illum–għada and The Amazing Story of Manuel Dimech.
Montebello's philosophical publications mostly explore the individual's relation to institutions. They include Il-Verità Teħlisna, De Missione Christianorum, Il-Bejjiegħ ta’ l-Inċens u ċ-Ċnieser, Taqtigħ f’Salib it-Toroq, A Philosophy of Madness, Il-Fidwa tal-Anarkiżmu, Four Havens of Intimacy and Il-Faqar tal-Paternaliżmu.
In 2021 Montebello published the first fully-researched biography of Malta’s 20th-century four-time maverick prime minister Dom Mintoff, The Tail That Wagged The Dog: The life and struggles of Dom Mintoff . The book was commissioned and issued by SKS Publications, a branch of Malta’s Labour Party. Though at first welcomed by Prime Minister Robert Abela, the leader of the party, he later repudiated the biography, though the book was not withheld from being sold by the publisher. The vacillation was mainly due to Mintoff’s children disassociating themselves from the publication. Montebello firmly stood by his work. Seven years in the making, the 640-page book was nonetheless positively hailed by critics, and even shortlisted for the national book prize.

Endeavours

In 1995, together with others Montebello began a community centre in Cospicua run by the humanitarian NGO Daritama for the entire harbour district of Cottonera. The centre included a community school, a community radio, a self-help group for prisoners and their families and a support group for prisoners of crime. The NGO was terminated in 2010, allowing Mid-Dlam għad-Dawl and Victim Support Malta to ensue independently.
In his varied humanitarian endeavours, not lacking notable controversy was Montebello’s work with and on behalf of the prisoners of the Corradino Correctional Facility at Paola. In this line of work within the criminal justice ambit Montebello’s publications include L-Iskutella ta’ l-Abbandunati, Daphne, Jean-Joseph Lataste: Apostle of Prisons, The Right to Information of Victims of Crime in Malta, Making Malta Saver for International Visitors and The Resettlement of Maltese Prisoners.
As an intellectual, also very often unconventional, in 2012 together with others Montebello established the foundation Philosophy Sharing for public discussion and tutoring.
Throughout his public career Montebello regularly contributed to local weeklies, especially to It-Torċa and media outlets. Other books by Montebello include Pietà-Gwardamanga: Il-Baħar–Il-Ħniena–Is-Sliem and Min Qatel il-Patri? Ġrajja storika.
Montebello has also been a missionary in Ethiopia and Peru.