Mass celebrated at Girgenti

Many faithful gathered at Girgenti to hear Mass last Wednesday, celebrated there for the first time by Mgr Amante Buontempo.

The Archbishop, Mgr Joseph Mercieca on March 14 granted Mgr Buontempo permission to say Mass on site on this one occasion.

The site at Girgenti is where the late Guza Mifsud claims to have had apparitions of Our Lady. The apparition claims are not approved by the Church, hence its refusal in the past to requests for Mass to be said there.

Together with Mgr Buontempo, Guza Mifsud had set up the Moviment Madonna tal-Konsagrazzjoni about 14 years ago.

As devotion started to grow and the number of people going for the fortnightly prayer meetings increased, the movement requested the archbishop to allow Mass to be held on site. These requests have been made for years but have always been refused.

But Mgr Buontempo said Mgr Mercieca gave him the good news last Friday when he called him to say he was giving him permission to say Mass on site for one occasion only. Mgr Buontempo said he could not believe his ears and his reaction was to burst out crying.

The archbishop's approval was unexpected, Mgr Buontempo added, especially since the movement recently asked his permission to at least allow Holy Communion on site but the reply was in the negative.

The Archbishop's Curia would not say, when asked, what led the archbishop to give permission for Mass to be said once on site, confirming only that its stand on the apparitions, taken in 1991, still stood.