A pilgrimage with the statues of St Publius and St Paul will be held in Valletta on Monday to conclude the Pauline year, the Curia formally announced today.

The celebrations will be headed by Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, President of the Pontifical Council of the Family, who will be coming to Malta as a papal envoy.

Mgr Charles Cordina, Pastoral Secretary of the Archdiocese, said this would be the second time that a pilgrimage with the two statues would be held. The first was in 1960 to mark the anniversary of the arrival of St Paul in Malta in AD60.

The activities on Monday - Mnarja - start at 5.30 p.m. when pilgrimages leave St Publius Church in Floriana and St Paul Shipwreck Church in Valletta and converge on St John's Co-Cathedral. Pontifical Mass will be celebrated at 7 p.m. after which the pilgrimage with the two statues continues up Republic Street to City Gate.

Cardinal Antonelli arrives on Saturday afternoon and will visit sites linked to the presence of St Paul in Malta as well as the 'legacy' bequeathed to Malta by St Paul through the work of lay people for society, Mgr Cordina said.

On Saturday evening the cardinal will visit St Paul Grotto and the Church of St Paul in Rabat. On Sunday he will visit St Paul's Bay and from there leave for Gozo where he will visit Nadur and later meet the people in Munxar.

On Monday morning he will visit the Chapel of St George Preca in Hamrun and meet members of the Christian Doctrine Society. He will later visit the Catholic Institute and the Curia to meet people who work for Caritas and the Cana Movement.

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