The magnificent news that Pope Benedict XVI is expected to make a one-day visit to our island, possibly in April of next year, stirred mixed emotions among the Maltese populace. Many are looking forward to this extraordinary event whereas others, led as they are by the polemical spirit, tend to overlook the prophetic significance of this papal visit.

Irrispective of what the latter may think, the coming of Pope Benedict XVI to our apostolic country is undoubtedly a blessing in itself. As the successor of Peter, the Pope will be visiting a place which was evangelised for “three months” (Acts 28, 11) by Paul, the apostle of the gentles. In his second and last apostolic visit on the Maltese shores, precisely during his homily in which Dun Gorg Preca, Nazju Falzon and Adeodata Pisani were beatified, the late Pope John Paul II referred to Saint Paul, our father in faith, as “the prisoner Apostle”. This phrase is very telling. Will Pope Benedict XVI expand the meaning of the latter phrase coined by his predecessor? In employing it, will he include all those people, Maltese and non-Maltese, who feel trapped by life’s hardships, both on land as well as at sea?

Will Peter remind Paul of the unbearable circumstances that push innocent people to leave their native countries and risk their lives in order to cross the Mediterranean to reach the European continent, so as to start a new life? In this situation there is a reversal of roles. This time it is Peter who has to “oppose him (Paul) to his face” (Gal 2, 11), especially when he comes to know that not only certain sons and daughters of Paul are not welcoming the illegal immigrants who come amongst them through despair but also, that some of his children in faith are fomenting xenophobia among the evangelised Maltese people. God forbid if Peter comes to know that behind the scenes some of Paul’s children may be involved in the abominable crime of human trafficking! On this point Peter never wavered. As a matter of fact, Pope Benedict XVI condemned human trafficking in his Angelus Address of Palm Sunday, 5 April 2009. “We cannot resign ourselves to these tragedies, which have unfortunately been occurring for some time! The dimensions of this phenomenon render ever more urgent the need for coordinated strategies between the European Union and the African States, as well as for the adoption of appropriate humanitarian measures so as to prevent these migrants from turning to unscrupulous traffickers”. If this would be the case, does it make sense that “the natives (who showed) unusual kindness” (Acts 28, 2) to Saint Paul and his companions be turned overnight into “unscrupulous traffickers” for the vile gain of money?

When Peter comes to Paul he will surely remind him of the pastoral success he had when, during his stay in Malta, he visited the sick, prayed, put his hands and healed them (see Acts 28, 8-9). Will Peter help the consecrated sons of Paul, we priests, that as priests we are called to visit the sick, pray and lay our hands on them, and, in virtue of our priestly consecration, the Holy Spirit heals the sick first spiritually, and then, be it God’s will, physically? Will Pope Benedict XVI make us priests more sensible to the lofty calling God the Father, in his Son Jesus Christ, charged us with? In his short message before praying the Angelus with the crowds on 28 June of this year, the Roman Pontiff hailed Saint Paul with the following words: “The Apostle Paul is a splendid model to imitate... in his love for Christ, in his zeal to proclaim the Gospel, in his dedication to the communities and in his elaboration of effective syntheses of pastoral theology. St Paul is the example of a priest who identified totally with his ministry as the Holy Curé d’Ars would also be aware that he was carrying a priceless treasure, namely, the message of salvation, but in “earthen vessels” (cf. 2 Cor 4: 7). Thus he is simultaneously strong and humble, deeply convinced that everything is God’s doing, everything is his grace. ‘The love of Christ impels us’, the Apostle writes, and this could well be the motto of every priest, whom the Spirit has ‘compelled’ (cf. Acts 20: 22) to be a faithful steward of the mysteries of God (cf. 1 Cor 4: 1-2): The priest should belong completely to Christ and completely to the Church, to whom he is called to dedicate himself with undivided love like a faithful husband to his wife”. As Paul’s ordained sons and special collaborators in the spreading of the Christian faith, where do we, as priests, stand in this vision proposed to us by the Holy Father?

When Peter goes to Paul he will definitely be greatly welcomed and made hospitable by him. In response, Peter will be showering Paul and his people with a litany of thank yous. But will Peter be reassured that his message will be accepted if he senses that Paul’s children have silently switched off to his Christly appeal for fear that they might incur the cost of changing their sinful ways? Welcome dear Peter to the island of your beloved brother Paul. Before you set foot on this blessed yet contradicting land, kindly make sure that you let yourself be led by the ever relevant mandate that Jesus commissioned you with to exercise, as an essential part of your Peterine Ministry, on the eve he was betrayed and denied: “Strengthen your brethren” (Luke 22, 32).

Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap

San Gwann