[2] 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.

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.

[5] 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”.

[6][7][8] 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.

[9] 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.

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.

[23] They include Il-Verità Teħlisna (The Truth Shall Set You Free, 1993), De Missione Christianorum (The Mission of the Christian, 1994), Il-Bejjiegħ ta’ l-Inċens u ċ-Ċnieser (The Incense and Incensory Vendor, 1994), Taqtigħ f’Salib it-Toroq (Struggle at the Crossroads, 1995), A Philosophy of Madness (1998), Il-Fidwa tal-Anarkiżmu (The Redemption of Anarchism, 2010; eBook, 2014), Four Havens of Intimacy (2012) and Il-Faqar tal-Paternaliżmu (The Poverty of Paternalism, 2017).

[41] In 1995, together with others Montebello began a community centre in Cospicua run by the humanitarian NGO Daritama (house of hope) for the entire harbour district of Cottonera.

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.