• Archbishop Charles Scicluna will deliver a presentation and launch the Maltese version of Pope Francis’s recent apostolic exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate (Rejoyce and Be Glad) on Thursday at 7pm in the grounds of the Archbishop’s Seminary, Tal-Virtù, Rabat.

    At the end of the presentation Mgr Scicluna will lead a moment of prayer. The public is invited to attend.

    In the exhortation, the Pope talks about the call to sainthood in today’s world. The Pope recalls that according to Church teaching the call to sainthood is universal; in other words, all people, not only Christians, can become saints; this may be done by living the Beatitides found in the Gospel.

    In the exhortation, Pope Francis once again talks about the happiness and joy of Christian living, as indicated in its title, which are the same words Jesus Christ uses to describe people who are persecuted or humiliated because they follow him.

    The Pope has previously published two other exhortations: Evangelii Gaudium (Joy of the Gospel) in 2013 and Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love) in 2016. These followed two encyclicals, Lumen Fidei (The Light of Faith) and Laudato si’ (Praise be to you – On Care for Our Common Home), that were also written during the past five years of Pope Francis’s pontificate.

    The translation of Gaudete et Exsultate from Italian to Maltese was undertaken by Francesco Pio Attard for the Maltese Episcopal Conference. The printed version, which includes a thematic index, is available from the Emmaus shop for religious souvenirs and books in Birkir­kara, while the online version is available here and on the website of the Secretariat of the Laity www.laikos.org, where one may also find audio versions for the benefit of blind people.