News

On safeguarding our rural heritage and protecting the farming community

Submission to the Planning Authority by the Interdiocesan Environment Commission

13/10/2020

In its submission as part of a consultation exercise related to the draft Rural Policy and Design Guidance 2020 the Interdiocesan Environment Commission (KA) insists that the draft policy on its own is not enough to protect the countryside from undesirable development and to safeguard a thriving farming community.

In the submissions, it put forward during the 2019 consultation exercise related to the same subject[i], the KA had called for the publication of data which would help assess the outcomes of present policies that would inform in a public manner amendments to such policies… Read more »

Nuns lend their building to Pope for refugees

13/10/2020

The Office of Papal Charities in the Vatican has received a building in Rome from a women’s religious congregation for free use to shelter migrants and refugees arriving in Italy. 

Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the Apostolic Almoner, or the Pope’s official almsgiver, released a statement on Monday saying the Sisters Servants of Divine Providence of Catania were responding to the “invitation of Pope Francis, who in the Encyclical Fratelli tutti repeats several times the need for adequate hospitality to migrants fleeing wars, persecutions and natural catastrophes”. 

Through the Office of Papal Charities, the Sisters have lent their building on Via della Pisana (Pisana Road) to the Pope for free use… Read more »

Pope at Angelus: God prepares His wedding banquet for everyone

11/10/2020

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good afternoon!

With the narrative of the Parable of the Wedding Banquet, in today’s Gospel passage (cf. Mt 22:1-14), Jesus outlines the plan that God envisaged for humanity. The king who “who gave a marriage feast for his son” (v. 2) is the image of the Father who prepared for the entire human family a wonderful celebration of love and communion around his only begotten Son… Read more »

New parish priests for Gżira and Ħal Għaxaq parishes

11/10/2020

Kappillan ġdid għall-parroċċa tal-Gżira

L‑Arċisqof Charles Jude Scicluna ħatar lil Dun Gordon Refalo bħala kappillan tal‑parroċċa tal‑Madonna tal‑Karmnu, il‑Gżira.

Dun Gordon Refalo twieled Tas‑Sliema fit‑30 ta’ Novembru 1961. Huwa rċieva l‑edukazzjoni tiegħu fl‑iskola ta’ St Joseph, ir‑Rabat, u fil‑Kulleġġ San Alwiġi, Birkirkara. Kompla bl‑edukazzjoni terzjarja fil‑Fakultà tat‑Teoloġija fl‑Università ta’ Malta u ġie ordnat saċerdot fil‑5 ta’ Lulju 1991.

Dun Gordon serva bħala viċi kappillan fil‑parroċċa ta’ San Gejtanu, il‑Ħamrun, u wettaq ħidma pastorali fil‑parroċċa tan‑Naxxar… Read more »

Courtesy visit to the Bishops of Malta by the Leader of the Opposition

10/10/2020   Archbishop's Curia, Floriana

L-Arċisqof Charles Jude Scicluna u l-Isqof Awżiljarju Joseph Galea-Curmi, illum is-Sibt 10 ta’ Ottubru, laqgħu lill-Kap tal-Oppożizzjoni Dr Bernard Grech u lis-Sinjura Grech, għal żjara ta’ korteżija, fil-Kurja tal-Arċisqof, il-Furjana.

Il-messaġġ tal-Arċisqof Charles Jude Scicluna

L-ewwel nett nifraħlek u nawguralek rispett. Nixtieq ukoll nawguralek il-ħidma t-tajba anke jekk mhux bħala Kap tal-Oppożizzjoni. Ir-rwol tiegħek huwa essenzjali fid-demokrazija, bħalma qallek ukoll il-President tar-Repubblika Dott… Read more »

Support for people with mental health problems

Statement by the Bishops of Malta and Gozo on World Mental Health Day

09/10/2020

World Mental Health Day, which is observed on the 10th October, is an international day with the objective of raising awareness of mental health issues and mobilising efforts in support of mental health.

Facing mental health challenges may be very difficult for the persons involved and their families. Such issues still carry a great stigma. People with mental health problems may be seen as weak-willed and may come to believe this themselves… Read more »

Pope to Moneyval: Preventing merchants from speculating on humanity

09/10/2020

It is a task which is “particularly dear to my heart”, carried out “to promote a ‘clean finance’, in which the ‘merchants’ are prevented from speculating in that sacred ‘temple’ which is humanity.”

Pope Francis made that remark on Thursday in an address to the evaluators of the Moneyval Programme.

The Committee of the Council of Europe arrived in the Vatican on 30 September to evaluate measures against money laundering and financing of terrorism… Read more »

Regenerating the gardens at Id-Dar tal-Kleru with 1,400 new trees

08/10/2020   Birkirkara

L‑Arċidjoċesi ta’ Malta qed tikkollabora ma’ Infrastructure Malta fir‑riġenerazzjoni tal‑ġonna tad‑Dar tal‑Kleru f’Birkirkara b’xogħol ta’ manutenzjoni u tisbiħ, u tħawwil ta’ siġar. Il‑ġonna ta’ din id‑dar, li huma mifruxa fuq 20,000 metru kwadru ta’ art, huma fost il‑ftit żoni mhux mittiefsa mill‑bini f’din il‑lokalità.

Fil‑bidu ta’ din is‑sena tħawlu 700 siġra taċ‑ċipress li se joffru kenn lil 700 siġra oħra li Infrastructure Malta qed tħawwel fuq in‑naħa ta’ ġewwa tal‑ġonna… Read more »

“Fratelli tutti”: a call to disrupt our lives and pay attention to the world

07/10/2020

A homeless person in the heart of Rome 

Fratelli tutti is “a devastating challenge to our ecological, political, economic and social life”, but above all, it is the “proclamation of an ineradicable, joyful truth, presented as a well-spring for a fatigued world.”

This is according to Professor Anna Rowlands, a renowned political theologian and member of the panel that presented Pope Francis’ third Encyclical in the Vatican’s new Synod Hall on Sunday… Read more »