Editorial
Peter's third apostolic visit to the Island of Paul
Pope Benedict XVI's apostolic visit to Malta on the occasion of the 1,950th anniversary of St Paul's shipwreck here at the dawn of Christianity coincides with the 20th anniversary of the historic occasion when John Paul II became the first Pope to set foot in Malta.
The Apostle Paul proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ to our forebears. Nineteen centuries later, the successor of Peter arrived here on a pastoral visit to preach the same gospel and to confirm the Maltese people in the same faith.
"Throughout my time in Malta," stated John Paul II at the end of his 1990 visit, "I have been impressed by the deep attachment of the Maltese people to their cultural and religious heritage. Your desire to be faithful to this precious legacy as you seek to promote your development for the good of all is certainly a sign of great hope for Malta's future. Your traditions are a wonderful expression of your national character and identity. May they continue to guide your steps and strengthen your resolve."
John Paul II returned in May 2001 as part of an apostolic pilgrimage in the footsteps of St Paul. On that occasion, our people had the joy of witnessing the successor of Paul proclaiming the beatification of Dun Ġorġ Preca, founder of the Society of Christian Doctrine - who, since then, has been canonised, Nazju Falzon and Maria Adeodata Pisani.
Before leaving Malta in 2001, John Paul II said: "At the end of my first visit, I told you that on my return to Rome I would tell the Apostle Paul that the Maltese were 'a good Catholic people'. Now, I shall tell your Patron that you are still doing what he wanted, 'fighting the good fight of the faith; taking hold of the eternal life to which you were called".
Malta will be welcoming Pope Benedict XVI wholeheartedly as was the case with his predecessor. The troubled waters the Church and the Pope are facing should not impair the dimension of his apostolic visit. At the same time, however, Benedict XVI will be visiting a different Malta from the one John Paul II met 20 years ago.
The difference is not limited, for instance, to the fact that statistics show falling numbers of people who go to Church. The Pope will, above all, be visiting and addressing a society that has experienced a rapid social change that has produced various faith challenges, also because of the influence of a secularised culture.
Pope Benedict had the opportunity to hear about today's Malta from the Archbishop himself when Mgr Paul Cremona addressed the Synod of Bishops in October 2008.
On that occasion, Archbishop Cremona said that many of the faithful still live in nostalgia of and compare the present situation with the model of the Church that was present 30 to 40 years ago. Often, they stand in fear of speaking openly before this "many times, hostile culture".
However, he added, "we need to go out of this traumatic experience to enter into a new evangelisation. We have to help the faithful recognise that that kind of Church does not exist anymore and it cannot be proposed again in this changed world. We cannot continue comparing our reality to that reality."
The Church in Malta and society are therefore very eager to hear the message the Holy Father has for them, perhaps especially for their younger generations, at such a moment in time.
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Joe Zammit
Apr 19th 2010, 16:58
His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI voiced us the same message Christ would have given us. The great majority of Maltese and Gozitans will surely and warmly accept the message the Pope has conveyed to us and try to actualize it in their daily lives. The Pope's message has not fallen on deaf ears! The Vicar of Christ's message is intended for all people of good will, Catholics first and foremost, including Catholic MPs. His voice will surely have a direct or indirect impact on all of us.
James Brincat
Apr 19th 2010, 16:01
Spirituality and reality are two different things. The former for the Pope to handle while the latter for politicians to decide.
Why H.E (in his capacity as a head of state) doesn’t walk the way he talks? This actually sounds more like of a politician in oppositions that talk out of reality just to sound nice and or to attract voters!
May I ask why H.E didn’t set an example and take a dozen of illegal immigrants with him to stay and work at the Vatican? The latter is much richer and holier than Malta I presume!
J. J. Borg
Apr 19th 2010, 17:31
Give it a rest with these ridiculous 'arguments' repeated ad nausea.
Joe Zammit
Apr 19th 2010, 11:03
Through storms sailors become more courageous, experienced and maturer. Through spiritual storms we acquire greater strength in our Faith and Love and maturer in our spiritual life. But we cannot overcome storms alone. We need God's grace to help up us in our Christian daily lives.
The Pope's visit has providentially been special grace from God to encourage us overcome any storm that the devil might arouse against our Catholic belief.
God knows all the future in detail that we shall pass through and has already prepared for us all the help needed so that we remain faithful to him and to his one holy Catholic Church.
lgalea
Apr 19th 2010, 10:51
In his brief visit to Malta Pope Benedict XVI sought to encourage the people "to cultivate a deep awareness of your identity and to embrace the responsibilities that flow from it, especially by promoting the gospel values that will grant you a clear vision of human dignity and the common origin and destiny of mankind".
Agreed, but how can we do so when we are under a constant illegal immigrants mass invasion and also legal immigrants invasion all with their own customs and values?
The only was to do so is to stop all immigration to Malta whether legal and illegal, something taht has to be done sooner or later because we do not even have enough space for ourselves, Maltese citizens let alone for foreign immigrants.
No wonder we have so much corruption with so much overpopulation, for as Thomas Jefferson had said, "When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe." Malta has become one single large city with no space whatsoever for our citizens to relax from the daily tribulations of life and the destruction of everything we had worked for.
Sean Grima
Apr 19th 2010, 14:50
ah so now it is not only illegal immigrants, but also legal ones....we should build the great wall of malta and keep maltese in and everyone else out!
renald williams
Apr 17th 2010, 17:13
The Evangelium, Good News, Gospel... peace...
Ghax jien ma nisthix mill-Evangelju… ghax hu l-qawwa ta’ Alla ghas-salvazzjoni ta’ kull min jemmen. Rumani 1:16.
Mbierek hu l-bniedem, li Alla jghoddlu l-haqq minghajr opri. Rumani 4:6.
U jekk bi grazzja, mhux izjed bl-opri; inkella l-grazzja mhix aktar grazzja… Rumani 11:6.
Billi nafu li l-bniedem mhux iggustifikat bl-opri tal-ligi, imma bil-fidi ta’ Gesu’ Kristu, ahna wkoll emminna f’Gesu’ Kristu, biex inkunu ggustifikati bil-fidi ta’ Kristu, u mhux bl-opri tal-ligi: ghax bl-opri tal-ligi hadd ma jkun iggustifikat. Galatin 2:16.
Ghax bil-grazzja intom salvati, permezz tal-fidi: u dan mhux minkom infuskom: dan hu don ta’ Alla: Mhux mill-opri, biex hadd ma jiftahar.
Ghax ahna xoghol tieghu, mahluqin fi Kristu Gesu’ ghall-opri tajba, li Alla hejja minn qabel biex nimxu fihom. Efesin 2:8-10.
L-Evangelju skond il-qawwa ta’ Alla; Li salvana, u sejhilna b’sejha qaddisa, mhux skond l-opri taghna, izda skond il-ghan tieghu, u l-grazzja tieghu, li kienet moghtija lilna fi Kristu Gesu’. 2 Timotju 1:8-9.
Mhux bl-opri tajba li konna ghamilna, izda skond il-hniena tieghu salvana… biex dawk li jemmnu f’Alla jiehdu hsieb li jaghtu ruhhom ghall-opri gusti. Titus 3:5, 8.
Joseph Calleja
Apr 17th 2010, 16:48
I am still curious and asking the same question. Why all the hype about the Pope coming to Malta to celebrate the Shipwreck of St Paul on the island and yet he is not visiting the one place that St Paul was shipwrecked and that is the little island of St Paul near Mistra and opposite the city named after St Paul? After all he is crossing the harbour in a catamaran and could have easily been taken over there for him to see this little island with the statue of St Paul commemorating the shipwreck.
Joe Zammit
Apr 17th 2010, 12:49
The purpose of the Second Vatican Council was exactly to make the Catholic Church go with the times.
The Pope has always some particular message to give to the members of the Catholic Church in particular and the whole of humanity in general. And these messages vary from time to time and from place to place. Basically, they are all founded on the same Faith and Morals of the Church. But in his messages the Pope adapts Faith and Morals of the Church to particular circumstances pertaining to particular countries.
Times change but the teaching of the Catholic Church does not change.
Lina Caruana
Apr 17th 2010, 10:30
During the 70's in the UK there was a drive to inform through education about antibiotics use. This did not reach Malta in spite of attempts . People were more interested in food and baking at the time. A price we are now paying because of obesity. Let us learn from past mistakes and take studies more seriously than we have done, at least if done sensibly and critically.People who are less qualified need to have more trust in knowledge instead of treating intellectual property as a privilege for others whose work is to transmit knowledge for mankind. Everyone has a role and if one must be happy in it information is the next step .