Fifty years ago history was made. Pope John XXIII visited the Regina Coeli Prison in Rome. It was a move which saw one of the most revered Pontiffs of our times reach out to a sector of society which is normally an outcast. It was a move which saw Pope John XXIII send out a message that prisoners, for all the wrongs they have committed, are still the children of God.

Fifty years later it is admirable that our Curia has decided to commemorate this historic occasion. Sadly, however, this is just about the only thing the Curia got right about the whole event.

One would have expected that such an occasion would have been marked at the Corradino Correctional Facility. One would have expected that, 50 years later, Malta would have seen the same message repeated. Sadly, this occasion shall be marked by a Mass full of pomp and ceremony at St John's Co-Cathedral.

How ironic that we shall be celebrating the good Pope's message that God is not there only for the elite but also for the outcasts of society by holding a Mass in a setting tailor-made for the elite of society and excluding the very sector of society the good Pope tried to reach out to!