John Mizzi, St Paul's Bay
The message of the Acts of the Apostles
I take my cue in reply to the letter by Bernard A. Vassallo (March 29) to reiterate my view that the organisers of the Papal visit - and the Curia is also to blame and so is the Papal Nuncio - have missed a golden opportunity to serve the Catholic Church at a crucial time by turning the Malta visit into that of a tourist to be seen by as many people as possible rather than that of a pilgrim following in the footsteps of St Paul.
To miss out on His Holiness visiting the sites of the shipwreck (and to show this live on television) is to miss out on the message to the world that it was St Paul who brought the Faith to Europe. As I said, the youth rally should have been held on the Qawra front not in the commercialised Valletta waterfront with no hint of the Christian tradition, with the young people attracted so superficially by what have been dubbed Christian bands. How does one distinguish between a Christian band and a non-believing band?
As the current events hitting the Vatican develop in the next few days I am certain it will be seen what a golden opportunity has been missed to show the world the message of the Acts of the Apostles.
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Joe Zammit
Apr 21st 2010, 23:11
The Acts of the Apostles point out St Paul's shipwreck on our island. God wanted St Paul to come here on the island of Malta and not at just the place where the ship hit. For Malta and for the Maltese St Paul is considered an Apostle and a missionary and Pope Benedict XVI is considered the successor of St Peter following the steps of St Paul.
The Maltese and Gozitans look up to St Paul as their Father in Faith. Now they look up to St George Preca as their Second Father in Faith.
J Farrugia
Apr 6th 2010, 09:20
Mr Mizzi the pope cannot be here and there at the whims of the people. His short visit (not more than 24 hours) cannot be that taxative. Remember this Pope is not young he's 80+ years. Let's not create any more obstacles to his visit shall we. It's the spirit that counts not the mondane features. What we should be fighting about is this: What will be the spiritual treasures that we as a people will benefit from to be more catholic than His Holiness. Let's admit that we're more interested in showing off our wares, (bands, flags, etc) than our inner wares. If he should see our inner wares, he's get off this island asap, so that he wont see us for what we really are: a foolish God-battering people who are hell bent on the artificial instead of the substance. We think we love the church when we hate it with our actions.
Joseph Calleja
Apr 6th 2010, 15:21
Who made you judge and jury?