Peter in a changing island of Paul
The announcement that Alberto Gasbarri, responsible for Papal trips, will be visiting Malta next month to explore the possibility of a visit by Pope Benedict XVI on the occasion of the 1,950th anniversary of St Paul's shipwreck on these islands in 60 AD, is most welcome.
The first Pope to set foot on these islands was John Paul II, in late May 1990. The Pontiff had recalled that, at the dawn of the Christian era, the Maltese people's ancestors received the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the preaching of the Apostle Paul as he made his way to Rome.
"In the centuries that followed, the faith taught and professed in communion with the successor of Peter took firm root in the life and culture of Malta's people. It is my hope that the presence of the Bishop of Rome in your midst will recall the unique and lasting contribution which the Christian faith has made, and continues to make, in shaping your identity as a nation and fostering its growth," John Paul II had told the President.
It was a wonderful experience that united the country and developed into one of the finest pages in the nation's history.
The Holy Father himself was so impressed that, at the conclusion of the Mass he celebrated on the Floriana Granaries, he let it be known what he intended to do following his experience on these islands: "I shall return to Rome and I shall meet Paul. It is necessary to meet Paul and to tell him about Malta. I shall say: 'Paul, do you remember Malta? Do you remember that you founded a Church in Malta and I found after so many centuries that it is a wonderful Church. It is a very strong people. Malta has good Catholic people'..."
He returned in 2001, during his May 4-9 Jubilee Pilgrimage on the footsteps of St Paul. That occasion was historic also because on May 9, 2001, the Holy Father beatified Dun Ġorġ Preca, Nazju Falzon and Adeodata Maria Pisani.
It is again Paul who could bring to Malta Pope Benedict XVI, who canonised the first Maltese saint: St Ġorġ Preca.
Benedict XVI knows he will be finding a different Malta from the one John Paul II had set foot on. Indeed, he will be visiting a Maltese society that is going through a powerful cultural upheaval: an ever-growing environment of different ideas and convictions and a Church striving to identify and build the appropriate model to continue fulfilling her mission and duty in the changing circumstances, while also giving her valid and much-appreciated contribution towards the common good of the people.
The stakes are high for the Church's evangelisation activity. It requires full spiritual courage to insert anew the force of the Gospel leaven and its newness, which is younger than anything modern, into the very heart of the profound challenges of our time. It also requires, among other things, the committed contribution of individuals who have received and embraced the newness of the Gospel in such a way as to re-express it in their daily lives, in accordance with their particular gifts and possibilities.
A Holy Father's pastoral visit would offer the Church in Malta a special opportunity to help all her sons and daughters be better aware of their mission and re-discover how the dynamism of the Gospel can penetrate and regenerate mentalities and values that inspire a changing culture and the opinions and attitudes that flow from it.
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Teresa Pace
Sep 15th 2009, 18:28
Dear Albert,
Until the day I die I will believe that Jesus is the son of God...after my death i do not have to believe as I will be seeing Him!
Faith, hope and love of these three love is the greatest as it will last through eternity. Faith and hope finish with death...as we will be seeing the creator.
God is a pure spirit.To show us His love He sent down His son as a vulnerable baby
..but you know the story already...you know my reasoning already. It is not use debating with you as you keep bringing up the same points debate after debate.
A. Muscat
Sep 15th 2009, 17:39
@Teresa Pace
“A businessman sets up a business in Malta and goes away to a far away country. He leaves a manager here in Malta to take care of his business...to take decisions and even keeps…’
Very true. These descriptions as you put is of a business man. A business man with a limited power and knowledge as he can’t manage or see his business fro far.
This description can never be of a God. God is powerful and independent and don’t depend oh his creations. God doesn’t need a helper, a secretary or a supervisor to decide for Him or to help Him takes decisions. God should know it all and work with one order: Be and it Be, otherwise this can’t be God! This again confirms that Jesus can never be God or part of God (if you still believes that Jesus is God). Good day. Albert
@ Maria Vella
The church repeatedly speaks about what’s not enshrined in its doctrine: freedom of faith!
I am totally against any faith-brain washing at early ages. New born babies should not be baptized. Let them decide when they grow up.
Teresa Pace
Sep 15th 2009, 09:24
Christ is the foundation of the Church and He is the head of the Church. However He has to have someone here on earth to take care of the Church on earth...and we Catholics call him the Pope.
A buisnessman sets up a buisness in Malta and goes away to a far away country.He leaves a manager here in Malta to take care of his buisness...to take decisions and even keeps the literature of the company to the employees and to the buisness itself until the buisnessman comes back to claim his buisness.
The buisnessman is Christ. The manager is the Pope. The buisness is the Church. The literature is Christ's teachings.
That is what we Catholics believe.
The title of the article should have been, 'Peter in a challenging island of Paul'
Teresa Pace
Sep 15th 2009, 09:17
@ Maria Vella
There is teaching...then there is brain washing. I wonder who is doing what? Please do not condemn, please do not judge. The Pope, being the head of the Church here on earth, has every right to teach us mere mortals as you so suggested. He has a duty to show us what is right or wrong...provided what he says are Christ's teachings. He has every duty to keep us in track with what Christ teaches. If people want to take heed or not of what he says, it's their call and I'm not condemning.But please do not call the pope's teaching brainwashing when they are in line with what Christ teaches.
A. Muscat
Sep 14th 2009, 20:23
Last June the times of Malta reported that: St Paul came to Malta; the Maltese welcomed him and hosted the 267 people who were with him, giving them all they needed. Could any anthropologist (not a theologian) provide an approximate figure of the Maltese population when St. Paul visited Malta please? Thank you.
Maria Vella
Sep 14th 2009, 17:58
Yet another church representitive for the so called Sena Pawlina. I do not know, but I kind of get this weird impression that some church guru has been making arrangements for the Pope to come and preach to us children of Paul. on this island of Paul, that divorce is that one bad thing us faithful children of Paul should not resort to. I can already listen to our priests on the many Sundays after the visit reminding us of the Pope's advice against divorce. The pope is also a head of state and like all his peers has his hidden agendas,those that will not be communicated to us poor mortals even during the Year of our Paul. I hope that at least some of our roads, even if only those on which the Pope's limo will drive, will be fixed. It still a good start to a brain washing visit.
Matthew Azzopardi
Sep 14th 2009, 16:10
@ Peter Green
just on a logical note...who told you that they travel in winter?
Frans Sammut
Sep 14th 2009, 16:02
You are right that "in the winter months the ships traveled the longer way along the coast instead of cutting across due to stormy weather." However you overlook the fact the dreaded Grigale would drive seacraft from that coastline directing them to this Island not some island in the opposite direction.
Peter Green
Sep 14th 2009, 14:56
In Malta we never had poisonous snakes. So St Paul did not come to Malta. Most probably the bible writers are referring to an island in the Aegean sea since in the winter months the ships traveled the longer way along the coast instead of cutting across due to stormy weather.
Joe Zammit
Sep 14th 2009, 11:07
Change of heart in the direction of Christ is the main target of the Catholic Church, and to attain her end she is not alone: Christ is fruitfully in her and with her till the end of time.
louise vella
Sep 14th 2009, 09:52
The editorial is very balanced and avoids the usual traps. Let me recall that two or three years ago Renato Martino, a maverick cardinal, was invited to Malta and his visit was turned into a campaign in favour of illegal immigrants by the usual spin doctors (or maybe spin priests). No doubt there will be an attempt to do the same with the Pope's visit. The Church, being very close to the people, knows how the common men and women of Malta think about the problem of illegal immigrants. The Pope's visit should not be marred by unnecessary controversy.