The Pope's controversial anniversary

Pope Benedict's visit to Malta last weekend was undoubtedly a success. The Pope was given a rapturous welcome wherever he went, his events were well attended and he seemed to have left a positive impression on the population at large. Significantly, he held an emotional meeting with alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests in Malta and expressed his "shame and sorrow over what victims and their families have suffered".

The Pope's Malta visit came a day before the fifth anniversary of his election as Pontiff and was given particular importance by the international media because it was his first foreign trip since the clerical sex-abuse scandal erupted in various countries. The whole world was eagerly awaiting the Pope's response to this crisis which has engulfed the Catholic Church.

In brief remarks to journalists on board his flight from Rome, the Pope made no direct reference to these cases but did say: "Malta loves Christ, who loves his Church, which is his body, even if this body is wounded by our sins."

This remark was perhaps not what the media was expecting but Benedict's meeting with the alleged sex abuse victims was definitely the right thing to do and went down well among Catholics.

"He (the Pope) prayed with them and assured them that the Church is doing, and will continue to do, all in its power to investigate allegations, to bring to justice those responsible for abuse and to implement effective measures designed to safeguard young people in the future," a Vatican statement said.

I think both President George Abela and Archbishop Paul Cremona deserve credit for their reference to the sex abuse scandal during the Pope's visit. Dr Abela told the Pontiff on his arrival in Malta that justice had both to be done and seen to be done, while Mgr Cremona said during the Pope's Mass in Floriana that the Catholic Church must recognise what he called "the failures and sins of its members".

There is little doubt that over the years the Church has not given the problem of child abuse by some members of the clergy the importance it deserves, and in some cases actually tried to cover up such allegations. However, it seems that Pope Benedict genuinely wants to change things.

Last month he issued a personal apology to the people of Ireland and to the victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests. And speaking last Wednesday at his weekly general audience, Pope Benedict promised the Catholic Church will take "action" over child abuse by priests.

Benedict's fifth anniversary of his election to the papacy has also been the subject of some debate. Many regarded the choice of the conservative intellectual as a stop-gap solution by the Church after 27 years of Pope John Paul II, as it tried to figure out which direction it should take on a whole range of subjects.

I don't think Benedict can simply be regarded as a transitional figure, and he has already left his mark on the Church, although his influence will never be as great as that of his predecessor.

In the past five years he has published three encyclicals - including one in which he criticised the world's banking system and called for finances to be guided by ethics, made 14 trips abroad, including a trip to Auschwitz and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, and visited the synagogue of Rome.

In 2008 he met sex abuse victims in the US and Australia and apologised for such abuse.

Pope Benedict has also improved relations with the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians, and the Vatican last year established diplomatic relations with Russia. He has also reached out to Anglicans by allowing them to join the Catholic Church while retaining a collective identity.

Pope Benedict, however, has also proved to be controversial on a number of occasions. In a 2006 speech in Germany, the Pope quoted a medieval description of Islam as "evil and inhuman" and "spread by the sword". That remark led to riots by Muslims and tensions with the Muslim world. He later said he regretted causing offence.

In January 2009, Benedict lifted Pope John Paul's excommunication of four ultraconservative bishops including Richard Williamson, a Holocaust denier. After protests from Jews, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and members of his own Catholic Church, Benedict acknowledged his mistake, saying he was not aware of the bishop's declaration on the Holocaust.

Two months after his Holocaust gaffe, the Pope caused further controversy on his first trip to Africa by declaring that condoms were not a solution to the Aids epidemic - but were instead part of the problem. Understandably, that caused quite an outrage, not only among healthcare workers, but also among liberal Catholics.

There is no doubt that Pope Benedict is an excellent theologian and is unquestionably a conservative. In 2007, for example, he issued a declaration allowing the old Latin Mass to be celebrated more widely, to the delight of traditionalists and dismay of progressive elements within the Church. Whatever one thinks of this Pope, he has already left his mark on the Church.