Pope Benedict XVI: Visit to Malta (10)

Ann Arco's Diary reports on a press conference given by the Archbishop of Malta and the Bishop of Gozo, at the end of Pope Benedict's visit. One key message is that the Maltese people turned out in great numbers - greater than expected - to greet  Pope Benedict. This is something that speaks eloquently of itself, in the current climate with regard to the Catholic Church.

At one level, we can say that Pope Benedict has shown again that he is able to attract the crowds. However, the Archbishop of Malta's delegate for social communications, Fr Charles Tabone, is quoted as follows:

“I would like to forward to you a personal reflection. As you know the atmosphere that has been created by the media before the arrival of the Pope in Malta both internationally and locally particularly from certain quarters was not a favourable one. There were aspects of negativity. There were people were saying that this Pope is not a crowd puller like his predecessor and therefore the expectations media-wise were low. However to the surprise of everyone, it has been proven that people came out and if this was the atmosphere it was not for the singer this time but for the song. Our people came out not for the personality but for whom this personality represents. They came out for Christ..."