Pope Francis will visit Malta in April
Pope Francis will make a two-day apostolic journey to the Republic of Malta in early April 2022.
February 11, 2022
Pope Francis will visit Malta in April 2022
By Linda Bordoni
Pope Francis will travel to the island of the Mediterranean nation of Malta for an apostolic visit in April.
A statement from the Holy See’s Press Office on Thursday said: “Accepting the invitation of the President of the Republic of Malta, the civil authorities and the country’s Catholic Church, His Holiness Pope Francis will make an Apostolic Journey to Malta from the 2nd to the 3rd of April. 2022, we will visit the cities of Valletta, Victoria, Floriana and the island of Gozo. ”
The program and more details of the trip will be announced in the near future.
The Pope was originally scheduled to visit Malta on 31 May 2020, but that apostolic journey was postponed due to the situation of the coronavirus pandemic.
Announcing the postponement of that visit on 23 March 2020, the Director of the Holy See’s Press Office, Matteo Bruni, noted that the visit would eventually include a stay in Gozo, one of the Twenty-one Islands that make up the Maltese archipelago.
The theme of the apostolic journey is: “He showed us an unusually good heart.” It is intended to highlight the plight of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe, and to be a source of encouragement for new evangelization in the island nation.
The theme refers to the hospitality shown to St. Paul the Maltese when a ship carrying Rome was wrecked there in the year 60 AD.
Two previous Popes made apostolic visits to Malta: Pope St. John Paul II visited Malta in 1990 and 2001. Pope Benedict XVI also visited in 2010. Pope St. John Paul II beatified George Preca, who became the first Saint of Malta in 2007.–Vatican News