Il-Papiet Kbar ta’ Żmienna
(The Great Popes of Our Time)
26 April, 2024
You must be 90 years old or older to remember any other Pope before Pius XII. one of the first broadcasts Maltese people ever saw on television was the funeral of Pius XII in 1958, precisely 64 years ago. With the help of mass media, Popes started becoming familiar faces throughout the world, including the Maltese islands, rather than being distant figures.
Pope John XIII entered the hearts of the Maltese, among others, because he was the first Pope to speak in our language. Paul VI was a great friend of Malta, a somewhat forgotten Pope whose greatness is rediscovered in our time. Despite his very short pontificate, Pope Luciani’s sweet smile remains the key characteristic he was known for. The beloved Pope John Paul II was the first pope to visit us, and one visit was not enough in one of the longest pontificates in the history of the Church. On his second visit to Malta, he beatified the first three Maltese. Benedict XVI also visited us and declared the first Maltese saint. And in 2022 Pope Francis, the friend of the young and the poor, visited our Maltese Islands.
Seven Popes in Eighty Years. Seven great Popes. Seven popes of holy fame. Seven Popes who have left a mark on the Church and the world. Seven humane Popes, which with their values and limitations just like each everyof us have touched our lives. Luciani had said that if he had known that he would one day become Pope, he would have studied more. But in reality, no study is enough for such a huge responsibility. The last seven of St. Peter’s 265 successors in a long history of two thousand years.
On the occasion of Pope Francis’ visit to Malta in April 2022, Preca Publication published the book Il-Papiet Kbar ta’ Żmienna (Great Popes of Our Time) by Robert Aloisio, a teacher and author of nine books, many of them biographical.
