Pope calls for "changing our hearts, if we want the world to change".The "luminous land" of Malta, the island where St. Paul, the great evangelizer of the Gentiles, was shipwrecked, has been welcoming Pope Francis for a few hours.in his tenth year as Pastor of the Catholic Church. This is a long awaited trip, as it was scheduled for 2020, and had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 health emergency.
A "luminous land," as Francis described it at Wednesday's general audience, today more than ever committed to "welcoming so many brothers and sisters in search of refuge," and which counts 408,000 baptized, 85 % of the total population of 478,000 inhabitants of the archipelago of Malta, Gozo and other minor islands.
The motto of this 36th international trip of Pope Francis - "They showed us uncommon hospitality" - is taken from a verse from the Acts of the Apostles with words of St. Paul describing the way he and his companions were treated when they were shipwrecked on the island in the year 60, during their journey to Rome. Francis is the third Pontiff to visit Malta after St. John Paul II in 1990 and 2001, and Benedict XVI in 2010.
The theme of welcome is also symbolized by the logo of the journey, which represents the hands extended towards others, emerging from the boat in which St. Paul was shipwrecked on the island more than two thousand years ago, on his way to Rome. "An opportunity to go to the source of the proclamation of the Gospel," and "to get to know in person a Christian community with a millennia-long and lively history."
Earlier, as usual, Francis went to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome to pray before the icon of the Virgin Mary. Salus Populi Romani and entrusted him with these two intense days, during which he will deliver five speeches or homilies.
After greeting the authorities and the diplomatic corps this morning at the Grand Master's Palace in Valletta, the Pope will attend a prayer meeting in the afternoon at the Marian Shrine of Ta'Pinu, on the island of Gozo, which will be attended by Maltese Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, the Archbishop of Malta, Monsignor Charles Scicluna, and the Bishop of Gozo, Anton Teuma.
Perhaps the most anticipated event of the Pope's trip is his visit tomorrow, Sunday, to an immigration center. John XXIII Peace Labwhere Francis will meet with some two hundred people, mainly Africans. It is a center where important educational work is carried out in the field of human rights, justice, solidarity and medical assistance.
Meeting with Ukrainian families
This morning, before leaving the house of Santa Marta, the Holy Father met with some families of refugees from Ukraine, hosted by the Community of Sant'Egidio, together with the Almsgiver of His Holiness, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, as reported by the Vatican Press Office.
Among them is a 37-year-old mother with two girls, aged 5 and 7, who arrived in Italy from Lviv about 20 days ago. The girl underwent heart surgery and is under medical supervision in Rome. He has also received two mothers, sisters-in-law, with their four children, aged 10 to 17, staying in an apartment offered by an Italian lady, who come from Ternopil and arrived in Rome a little more than 20 days ago. The children of the two families are attending school in Rome.
The third family arrived in Rome three days ago via Poland. They are 6 people, from Kiev: mother and father, with three children aged 16, 10 and 8, and a 75-year-old grandmother. They also live in a house offered by an Italian woman to host the refugees.
Missionary church
"It seems significant to me that in this tenth year of his pontificate this trip to Malta takes place, because Malta is linked to the figure of St. Paul, who is the evangelizer par excellence, and if there is a note that has characterized insistently the pontificate of Francis, it is precisely that of the call, the invitation to the Church to become missionary, to become more and more missionary, to bring the proclamation of the Gospel to everyone, in any situation", said Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin in statements to the official Vatican agency.
