Don't know about 'badly needed' but love begets love, both ways, and the physical presence of the Holy Father - loving, paternal, warm-hearted and radiating hoy - always calls forth an affectionate, usually enthusiastic, response from the crowd if they did not already have it before!
Malta to give badly-needed
support for Pope Benedict
by Herman Grech
Valletta, Malta, April 14 (dpa) - When Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Malta was announced in January, the first reader's post on the popular online forum timesofmalta.com rejoiced: "Yippee. Fresh asphalt."
The Maltese know too well that it takes a papal intervention to get the authorities to fix many of the island's disastrous roads.
The tiny island nation is being spruced up to welcome the Pontiff for a two-day visit on April 17, his first trip abroad in 2010.
The last papal visit to Malta, that of John Paul II, took place in 2001. Since then, the country, staunchly Catholic for centuries, has experienced a remarkable culture shift.
European Union membership in 2004, has opened borders and minds. Secularism is now ingrained, and minority groups have earned a voice.
The sex abuse claims rocking the Catholic Church has been on everyone's lips in Malta and some have questioned the "ill-timing" of the Pope's visit. [Look how they turn things around! This papal visit was planned months in advance! The 'ill timing' is in the
But the feeling on the ground is the Pope will still be given a very warm welcome, quite possibly the show of support he so badly appears to needs at the moment.
Anthropologist and opinion writer Mark Anthony Falzon is not surprised.
"Especially in southern Europe I think, Catholics have a knack of combining the most virulent type of anti-clericalism with a long-term loyalty and devotion to the Church. It's the mother of all ambiguities, but it's very much alive," Falzon said.
The presence of the faith bestowed to the island by St Paul in 60 AD is ubiquitous - there are 359 churches spread over the 316-square kilometre island.
In recent years, however, the conservative Maltese church has experienced some rifts.
An outspoken 81-year-old priest, Monsignor Charles Vella, who in the 1950s pioneered marriage counselling services, last summer shocked the clergy when he said Malta should not fear the introduction of divorce. Along with the Philippines, Malta remains the only country with no divorce legislation.
"I wonder what kind of imprint he (Benedict) will leave when he flies back to the troubled Vatican," Vella said.
"I hope Malta will raise his spirits and heal what he called his wound, but I wonder what will be the follow-up. It took St Paul three months after his shipwreck to evangelize Malta. After the three-day visit of Pope John Paul II there was hardly any follow-up and I only hope this time by some miracle it will not be just another festa (feast)," Vella added.
Still, whatever spirituality Benedict may be hoping to reinforce when he visits, there will be no escape from the sexual scandal which has hit the Vatican.
One man who intends to remind the Pope about the abuse revelations is Lawrence Grech, who claims to have been sexually molested by priests in a Maltese orphanage.
The 37-year-old Grech said the Pope should use his trip to Malta to apologize to local victims of child abuse.
Grech is one of 10 witnesses testifying behind closed doors in a case in Malta against three alleged predator priests. Proceedings have been going on for seven years.
The Maltese Church has received reports of child abuse involving 45 priests since 1999, but it is not clear how many of the priests investigated had been found guilty.
Two weeks ahead of Benedict's planned visit,the Church reiterated calls on victims to come forward and report cases of alleged abuse.
Malta's Archbishop Paul Cremona admitted the Church is currently experiencing a "very sorrowful moment".
The Maltese Church would stand by the Pope in decrying the horror of the abuse of minors, especially because it was carried out by priests, the popular archbishop told the German Press Agency dpa.
"It will also stand by the victims of these acts. We will follow also the Pope's call to purify the Church from this scandal ... While doing this it will also condemn all the accusations that are being leveled unjustly at His Holiness," Cremona said.
Though the voices of dissent in Malta are growing louder many still stand by the Church.
When disgraced US congressman Mark Foley accused a Maltese priest in 2006 of molesting him as a child, many islanders rallied around the cleric and shooed off reporters waiting outside his home.
A recent poll showed that while 90 per cent of the Maltese believe in God and follow the Catholic religion, a majority is departing from the Church's teachings on issues like contraception, papal infallibility and the afterlife.
The survey showed a majority in favour of divorce, and 20 per cent said they felt "alienated" by Benedict. Yet, many of the respondents are likely to unite in cheering the Pontiff during his 24-hour visit.