The death of Pope John Paul II, although largely expected, stunned the world and in a very special way the Maltese population.
Apart from his media presence, the Pope visited Malta twice (apart from a short stop-over) and on his last visit had declared Blessed three Maltese, the very first Maltese to have this honour
Although young people mostly remember the Pope’s second visit, his first one in 1990, when he was still healthy, and was the very first visit by a Pope to Malta, was nothing short of spectacular.
The intervening years have not diminished the impact of the Pope’s triumphal entry into a Grand Harbour full of boats of all sizes and shapes while the Maltese in their thousands lined all the bastions and cheered and the bells of Valletta and the Three Cities rang out.
Yet, when the Pope died, not all Maltese reacted equally quickly and in equal measure. More than reflecting a mute criticism of a well-loved Pope, it reflected a less orderly way of doing things, and people were left to their own devices, with no guidance whatsoever.
Saturday evening
All through Friday and Saturday, as the world held its breath, many churches all over the world held prayer vigils. As far as is known, the only specially dedicated service to be held in Malta was that at St John’s Co-Cathedral presided over by Archbishop Joseph Mercieca.
Other churches held the usual Saturday evening Mass but then shut their doors, whereas in other countries, such as Poland and Bilbao in Spain, for instance, churches were kept open to allow people to pray. And when the news of the Pope’s death was announced and the churches filled up.
Many churches in Malta somehow took the initiative on Saturday night and pealed out mourning, while others, still awaiting orders, did not.
On the next day, Sunday, the same ambivalence was noted. People expected to find the churches in mourning but they found them still resplendent in white as they had been on Easter Day. Many people could not understand this, nor could they understand why there were no pictures of the Pope in churches so that people could place flowers or candles in front of them as they were pictured doing all over the world.
Moreover, while some sermons focused on the Pope’s death, others barely mentioned it.
When the news that the Pope had died was announced a few minutes before 10pm, some television stations proved more on the mark than others. Super One, for instance had asked participants in Bla Agenda to take black suits, and so switched immediately, as did Net, while TVM continued, at least for some minutes, to show Chiara’s video.
Smash, which sometimes tries to be God’s Channel in Malta, continued with its sports programme.
On a worldwide basis it was instructive to note that it took CNN some 10 minutes to broadcast the news, with BBC following immediately afterwards.
State commemoration
On Monday, the first sitting of the House of Representatives after the Pope’s death was an official commemoration of the Pope.
But the Strangers Gallery was totally empty, and while the government side was represented by almost all ministers and some backbenchers, the Opposition could not muster more than 10 MPs at most.
The speeches were so-so, with Dr Sant’s being better than Dr Gonzi’s, although some Labour supporters still could not understand why Dr Sant chose to record the Pope’s treatment of liberation theologians and charged him with turning his face when Archbishop Oscar Romero was killed.
All in all, the parliamentary sitting resembled more a damp squid than what a commemoration of a Pope should have been. Again, this could be compared to what was happening all over the world in those parliaments that commemorated the Pope.
This carried over to the Mass in St John’s on Tuesday, which became the only national celebration of the Pope’s death and which was attended by a good crowd, so much that it overflowed into the square, with some people complaining, according to one paper, that too much space had been allowed for the official guests.
By that day, however, the popular reaction to the Pope’s death had picked up with bells tolling and flags at half-mast, not just flags on official places, such as the Auberge de Castille and embassies, but also banks and private homes.
While flowers at, for instance, the Pope’s bust in Attard, had been rather scarce at the beginning of the week, there were much more later and the council itself held an official commemoration later in the week.
Chaos on the way to Rome
As soon as they heard that the Pope had died, hundreds of Maltese tried their best to go to Rome and join the mourners.
Special flights were hurriedly organised but in the end only two flights actually made it, because of flight restrictions in Rome and planes were being routed to Pescara thus taking a longer time for the pilgrims to get to Rome.
According to Di-ve News, 100 disappointed Maltese pilgrims were left to rue their luck as they had to return to Malta after standing in line for 13 hours on Wednesday without even getting a brief glimpse of Pope John Paul in St Peter’s Basilica.
John Mousu, a travel agent, who organised the trip to Rome and obtained two charter aircrafts told www.di-ve.com that around 200 Maltese were given the chance to pay their respects to Pope John Paul II.
Mr Mousu added that the lucky ones only had to wait about five hours before entering the basilica as their queue was moving relatively fast.
Others were luckier, or pluckier. “We’ll stay right here. We have our sleeping bags, some chocolate, biscuits and water,” Carmen Zammit, a 53-year-old housewife from Malta, who flew to Rome with her niece and sister, told Reuters. They were camping blocks away from the Basilica.
“It was a spur of the moment decision – we phoned each other and said ‘let’s go’,” she added, saying they had to fly back in the morning and would probably not get to see the Pope because there were too many people.
Further down the line in Via della Conciliazione, KRT reported, three young women had travelled by bus from Malta to see the pope. “This is a disaster,” said one. “We have been waiting 12 hours and in another line, they have been waiting four hours, and they get in first.
“Whoever organised this organised a disaster.”
Joint delegation
One positive development caused by the Pope’s death was the official delegation from Malta, including both the President and his wife, the Prime Minister and his wife and for the first time in living memory, the Leader of the Opposition.
Other countries chose their delegations differently. Italy, for instance, which was restricted to a five-person delegation, could not include Veronica Lario, Prime Minister Berlusconi’s wife, as it included the Presidents of the two Houses and the head of the judiciary.
It did not include the Leader of the Opposition. Dr Sant, it is understood, only got his seat on the delegation because Foreign Minister Michael Frendo gave up his.
On Friday
When the day of burial arrived, the huge funeral in Rome, attended by most of the world’s leaders, grabbed all attention in Malta. Wherever one went on that day, in supermarkets and in shops, and in almost all private houses, one could see the television scenes from Rome and hear the sounds of the Gregorian chant accompany-ing the funeral. The three main television stations vied with each other to send teams to Rome to comment on the funeral.
Comments
Meanwhile, Maltese people were joining others in writing their comments on the Pope on the various web sites and forums on international news websites.
Here is a selection:
(Before the Pope’s death, to a BBC forum)
The Pope has given me great inspiration as a young man. He fought for his beliefs like a warrior and served the world (not just Catholics) through his high and (potentially) privileged position. May God comfort His faithful Servant during these last hours. You have been true, Pope John Paul.
Aaron de Giorgio,
Hamrun, Malta
Regardless of one’s religion and belief, Pope John Paul has travelled the world and spread peace. It is now time to go and rest but before so doing, bless us all. You have enjoyed a glorious life and lead by example. Thank you for all you did and may you rest in peace. We will all remember you in our prayers.
Vince Abela, Malta
(After his death, to a CNN forum)
Pope John Paul II was a great man... a holy man. It is amazing how he was respected by millions of all faiths. No other pope will be as special as him, and I hope that he will be beatified and made a saint in the near future. He did a lot for the world, and we should all be grateful for having him as leader of the church.
Roberta Briffa; Iklin, Malta
I think in the future he will be declared a saint. He was not a pope of the Vatican but of all the world. I am proud that in the summer of 1999 I was chosen as an altar boy with other 19 others from Malta to go and serve in St Peter’s Basilica. In 1999, he was already weak... but was a man of great courage.
Nicholas Schembri; Malta
Papal anecdotes
Nationalist MP David Agius told a Radju Malta programme that in 1990 on the Pope’s first visit to Malta, he and fellow MP Carmelo Abela went to Ta’ Qali for the Pope’s meeting with young people. The Pope’s aide chose him to hold an umbrella to shelter the Pope from the hot sun, but when the aide noticed he was wearing shorts, he reversed his invitation and someone else was chosen!
Glasgow archbishop Mario Conti told UK paper The Herald that the Pope who came from an almost completely land-locked country, had a strange fascination with islands.
“Alas for me, as Bishop of Aberdeen, his previous visitor had been the Bishop of Malta, home of a huge Catholic population.
“I entered to find the Holy Father musing over a map of my then-diocese of Aberdeen. He stabbed a finger at the Orkney Islands. ‘How many Catholics?’ he asked in his inimitable baritone English.
“Oh, around 200, Your Holiness,” I replied, hoping my memory hadn’t let me down. “Ah, good. Two hundred thousand. Very good,” he mused. “”No, Holy Father,” I interjected. “Just two hundred!” He laughed, as I did, at the mistake.”
Praying for the next Pope
A Curia circular yesterday ordered prayers for the Conclave. Archbishop Mercieca will celebrate Mass at St John’s next Sunday at 6pm on the eve of the Conclave. Prayers will be said at Masses in all churches and bells will announce the beginning of the Conclave and the election of the new Pope, followed by a Thanksgiving Mass in St John’s later on.