Acta Benedicti Pp. XVI 285

ALLOCUTIONES

I

Iter Apostolicum in Insulam Melitensem: Recurrente MCML anniversaria memo-

ria a naufragio sancti Pauli.*

Mr President,

Dear Brother Bishops,

Distinguished Authorities,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Jien kuntent h̄afna li ninsab fostkom! [I am delighted to be here with you!]

It gives me great joy to be here in Malta with you today. I come among

you as a pilgrim to worship the Lord and to praise him for the wonders he has

worked here. I come also as the Successor of Saint Peter to confirm you in the

faith 1 and to join you in prayer to the one living and true God, in the

company of all the Saints, including the great Apostle of Malta, Saint Paul.

Though my visit to your country is short, I pray that it will bear much fruit.

I am grateful, Mr President, for the kind words with which you have

greeted me in your own name and on behalf of the Maltese people. I thank

you for your invitation and for the hard work that you and the Government

have done in order to prepare for my visit. I thank the Prime Minister, the

civil and military authorities, the members of the Diplomatic Corps and

everyone present, for honouring this occasion by your presence and for your

cordial welcome.

I greet in a special way Archbishop Paul Cremona, Bishop Mario Grech

and Auxiliary Bishop Annetto Depasquale, as well as the other Bishops

present. In greeting you, I wish to express my affection for the priests,

deacons, men and women Religious and all the lay faithful entrusted to your

pastoral care.

The occasion of my visit to these islands is the nineteen hundred and

fiftieth anniversary of Saint Paul's shipwreck off the island of Malta. Saint

Luke describes this event in the Acts of the Apostles, and it is from his

account that you have chosen the theme of this visit: "Jeh̄tieg iżda li naslu

fi gżira" ["But we are to be stranded on some island"].2 Some might consider

* Die 17 Aprilis 2010. 1 Cfr. Lk 22:32. 2 Acts 27:26.