Congress of Clergy's Malta programme

The Curia yesterday published the programme of the International Congress for the Clergy, being held in Malta between October 18 and 23.

The congress will open at St John's Co-Cathedral, and will close four days later at Ta' Pinu Sanctuary in Gozo.

The Malta meeting is the sixth to be organised by the Congregation of the Clergy and the Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi.

The Prefect of the Congregation, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, earlier this year sent an invitation to bishops and priests worldwide to attend the congress.

Many senior Church figures are expected to take part.

The cardinal said in his letter: "In the context of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Pontificate of His Holiness John Paul II, and in the tradition of previous meetings, this Congregation invites all the priests of the world to participate in an International Meeting of Priests on the theme, 'Priests for the formation of Saints for the new millennium - on the footsteps of the Apostle Paul'.

"We have chosen Malta as the venue for this meeting because we would like to contemplate the great Apostle of the Gentiles, whose memory is particularly present in this land."

The congress is being promoted by the Congregation for the Clergy in its capacity of the organ of the Holy See responsible for the spiritual welfare, unity and formation of the clergy, together with the Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi.

The first of the series of annual meetings for the clergy was held in 1996 at Fatima Sanctuary in Portugal. It was followed by others at the sanctuary of Yamossoukro, Ivory Coast, at the sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Mexico, in the Holy Land and in Rome. The Malta meeting is the first to be held since 2000.