On Friday, Bishop Anton Teuma said no canonical action will be taken against a priest who was found to have brokered a deal for a Nadur family to drop their claim that their 14-year-old daughter had been raped by the brothers of an MP.
He said that after two investigations were carried out: one by the Gozo Safeguarding Commission and another one by a board independent of the Gozo diocese.
After consultations with a team of experts, meetings with the alleged victim, the family and the priest himself, it was decided that no canonical action will be taken against him.
Some Labour MPs and the Lisa Maria Foundation were among those who criticised the bishop's statement.
Speaking during the feast of the martyrdom of St John the Baptist, Mgr Teuma did not refer to the case involving the priest but stressed that people should not judge anyone without knowing all the facts.
"In today's Gospel, we notice that everyone has their own truth; everyone sees the story through their own eyes," he observed.
After describing how various people looked at John, Bishop Teuma said this was a great lesson for all.
"Because it is very easy for each of us to judge an event, a situation, even things that happen to us. We judge our son or daughter.
"How many people judge wrongly within families. A poor girl may have had to separate from her husband because she could not continue living with him, perhaps because he even beat her. And I judge her harshly. I cannot judge her harshly because I do not know the facts.
"A boy may behave badly, and immediately I judge his mother and father. I do not know the facts. I cannot simply follow my own agenda, as Herodias followed hers. She wanted John dead, and she pursued that goal by any means possible. That is not truth. It is not respect for the truth.
"God teaches us a different way: we must look carefully at what is happening, understand clearly what is taking place, and then judge with His eyes, not only with our own. Our eyes alone are not enough. Very often, our eyes make judgments that suit us, that suit our own interests," the bishop said.