Christian Malta welcomes the Pope

Christian Malta welcomes His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. Malta is Christian not because we do not cherish the secular nature of our state but because we treasure the Christian values that have moulded our history, sustained us in dark times and provided us with a culture in favour of life, human kindness and solidarity.

Enshrined in the very first account of St Paul's shipwreck in Malta, written nearly 2,000 years ago, immortalised in chapter 28 of the Acts of the Apostles, is a perpetual certificate of our traditional hospitality: "... the inhabitants showed us no common kindness..." (Acts 28:2).

At a time when allegations and charges are hurled at the Catholic Church and the very person of the Holy Father, our minds should focus on certain important reflections.

First, that any abuse committed, even if in the distant past, is a blemish on the Church of God suffered by all members of the Church... even if the number of abuses committed compared with the global number of religious serving the community should be put in its proper perspective. Mgr Charles Scicluna, who occupies an important position in Rome relating to the investigation of acts of paedophilia committed by Church prelates, has stated that out of 400,000 priests still active and working around the globe, 300 cases of "sexual attraction towards prepubescent children" (to use his very words) have been found to be duly verified in the past 50 years. Of course, 300 too many, but as in anything in life everything has to be considered in perspective.

Secondly, if we are dragged into and impressed too much by the hysteria that is fuelled on a daily basis by certain segments of the media, local and foreign, we might end up unintentionally debilitating the credibility of a worldwide institution, divine in its roots but still composed of ordinary mortals, which is a global force for good in the world, proverbially ending up throwing the baby away with the bath water.

Certainly, those who have been guilty of molesting and abusing the young, the very children whom our Lord wanted close to him, should be punished for abusing their position of authority, after being guaranteed a fair trial. It was the Master himself who said: "It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin..." (Luke 17:2).

But at the same time we should remember the daily acts of charity which hundreds of thousands of men and women dedicated to God perform every day around the globe. Orphans and abandoned children are lovingly cared for by generous nuns and sisters. Dying fellow human beings abandoned to their fate in the streets of Calcutta are given shelter and a dignified place of abode before passing away by the sisters of Mother Teresa. Church-run institutions were the first to fight the stigma of having a child with special needs and offered support and care to these children of God. In times where the extended family is disappearing, the Church has stepped in to provide decent retirement homes to the elderly.

The treasures of the Church in Malta and abroad are not the baroque paintings or the priceless art objects that adorn the temples of God; they are the poor who are caringly taken care of.

We greet the Holy Father with gratitude for the positive role the Church is performing in our society. His presence among us should help us in our resolution never to abandon the Christian compass in determining our country` s direction in the future.

The author is Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs