'Urgent' need for Christ's message

Archbishop Joseph Mercieca yesterday said he prayed that the Church would be blessed with a universal leader at a time when Christians were facing greater challenges in following the "Good Shepherd".

Delivering a homily at St John's Co-Cathedral on the eve of the cardinals' conclave that will elect a new Pope, Mgr Mercieca said these were times when the need for Christ's message was becoming more "pressing and urgent".

"Societies all over the world are experiencing the tragic consequences of what we can possibly call the eclipse of a sense of God," he said.

"We pray that the Lord will bless us with a Pope who can help us all become people of contemplation, communion and mission."

Contemplation was essential to help us live and continue in the path of holiness; communion was important to help us to forward the spirituality of unity; while the principal mission in our lives had to be one which changed and developed our lives in accordance with the Gospel, he explained.

Mgr Mercieca encouraged everyone to pray so that the conclave would elect a new Pope who was Peter's successor and the shepherd of the Church.

"May God, through the intercession of Mary, give us a Pope who helps us all, whoever we may be and wherever we may be, so that we may grow and live in His eternal love," he said.