“Brothers and sisters, the Maltese Church can vaunt a rich history from which great spiritual and pastoral treasures can be drawn. However, the life of the Church — let us always keep this in mind — is never merely ‘a past to remember,’ but a ‘great future to build,’ always in docility to God’s plans,” the pope said.
“At times, structures can be religious, yet beneath outward appearances, faith is fading,” Pope Francis continued. “We need to ensure that religious practices do not get reduced to relics from the past, but remain the expression of a living, open faith that spreads the joy of the Gospel.”
More than 85% of Malta’s population are baptized Catholics, but weekly Mass attendance in the traditionally Catholic country has steadily declined in the past 50 years.
A Catholic priest from Malta, Father Alan Joseph Adami, told CNA in an interview prior to the pope’s trip that Malta “suffers from huge indifference towards the faith that has become so identical with culture that it is no longer discernible in the fruits that it produces.”
Pope Francis’ visit to the country comes just before the first Holy Week and Easter in two years in which Catholic churches will be open to the public for liturgies.
Malta is known for its traditional Holy Week processions celebrated with much pomp through the island’s narrow streets each year on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
“Brothers and sisters, now is the time to go back to the beginning, to stand beneath the cross and to look to the early Christian community. The time to be a Church concerned about friendship with Jesus and the preaching of his Gospel, not about importance and image. To be a Church centered on witness, and not certain religious customs,” Francis said.
“Do not be afraid to set out, as you have already done, on new paths, perhaps even risky paths, of evangelization and proclamation that change lives,” he said.
Courtney Mares is a Rome Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. A graduate of Harvard University, she has reported from news bureaus on three continents and was awarded the Gardner Fellowship for her work with North Korean refugees.
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