Pope Benedict arrives on the island of Paul at 5 p.m. today on a 26-hour visit which has been dogged by controversy for the Holy See and the Maltese organisers.

It will be the third Papal visit to Malta and the first by Pope Benedict, who became pontiff five years ago.

Pope Benedict, who turned 83 yesterday, will follow on the footsteps of Pope John Paul II, who came here in 1990 on the first ever papal visit and returned in 2001 to beatify Gorg Preca, Adeodata Pisani and Nazju Falzon.

Pope Benedict had kept up that process when he made Dun Gorg Malta's first saint during a rain-drenched ceremony in St Peter's Square in June 2007.

He promptly accepted President George Abela's invitation to visit Malta when the President went to Rome on his first overseas visit after assuming office last year.

The scenario of the latest visit could not be more different from the others. In 1990 Malta was heading towards EU membership and reporters looked out for any papal references to the then controversy - he only uttered one sentence, saying that Europe needed Malta's faithful witness.

The short visit in 2001 by an ailing Pope John Paul II was concentrated on the beatification ceremony.

This time around, reporters, Maltese and foreign, will be looking out for any references by the Pope to the child sex scandals which have clouded the church over the past few weeks.

The local Church has insisted that the purpose of the visit is spiritual, based around the 1950th anniversary of the shipwreck of St Paul in Malta. Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said it is an opportunity for the Maltese to re-examine their values.

Malta remains a bastion of the Catholic Church in Europe, with the highest figures of Sunday Mass attendance. But those figures have been dropping fast. Perhaps of bigger concern for the Church is support for the introduction of divorce, which appears to be growing. Another issue is ethical issues in artificial procreation.

Pope Benedict will be welcomed at the airport by, among others, President Abela, the Prime Minister, the Apostolic Nuncio, and the Archbishop and will deliver a speech in reply to President Abela's greeting.

He will then be driven in the Pope Mobil to Valletta, past one of the sources of one of the local controversies ahead of the visit - the monument in Luqa.

Hundreds of elderly persons will greet the Pope outside St Vincent de Paule Home, while 5,000 children will welcome His Holiness on the Palace Square in Valletta. After meeting Malta's political leadership at the Palace, the Pope will be driven to St Paul's Church in Rabat. He will pray at St Paul's grotto and address Maltese missionaries from a stage on the church parvis.

The highlight of the visit will be reached tomorrow morning with Papal Mass on the granaries. The Church, reacting to a controversy over the non-married partners of MPs, has insisted that everyone, independently of his state or status, is welcome. The Pope will cross Grand Harbour from Kalkara in the afternoon and greet youths at the Valletta Waterfront. Well over 9,000 young people have registered to attend.

The logistical preparations for the visit appear to have gone smoothly - no surprise for an island that has hosted a superpower summit, CHOGM and two previous papal visits. The Press Centre at the Hotel Excelsior is already a hive of activity. On the Granaries, the altar where the Pope will concelebrate with 700 priests is ready, chairs have been laid out for VIPs and the infirm and the area is being transformed into a paradise of plants and flowers.

(The full programme and the routes to be followed by the Pope can be seen here: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100415/papal-visit/popes-routes-announced )

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