Pope in Gozo: ‘Be open to those who need your help and who flee persecution’

Pope Francis has urged the Maltese faithful to be open to those who need their help, in particular those fleeing persecution or war.

Addressing a prayer meeting at Ta’ Pinu in Gozo, the Pope emphasised the Christian duty of welcoming those in need.  “Welcome is also the litmus test for assessing to what extent the Church is truly evangelical,” he said.

To the Maltese people he urged solidarity with those who sought shelter on our shores. “Yours is a crucial geographical position, overlooking the Mediterranean; you are like a magnet and port of salvation for people buffeted by the tempests of life who, for various reasons, land on your shores. It is Christ himself, who appears to you in the faces of these poor men and women. That was the experience of the Apostle Paul who, after a terrible shipwreck, was kindly welcomed by your ancestors. As we read in the Acts of the Apostles, “the natives… kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold.”

Catholics were summoned to “make welcome the hallmark of their discipleship, ” said the Pope. “Jesus’ words from the cross, spoken to his Mother and to John, summon us to make welcome the hallmark of our discipleship…John’s welcoming of Mary into his home was a concrete sign of how we should live the supreme commandment of love. 

“The worship of God takes place through closeness to our brothers and sisters. How important in the Church is fraternal love and the welcome we show to our neighbour!”

“The Lord reminds us of this at the “hour” of the cross, in entrusting Mary and John to each other’s care. He urges the Christian community of every age not to lose sight of this priority: “Behold, your son”, “Behold, your Mother”. It is as if he said, “You have been saved by the same blood, you are one family, so welcome each other, love one another, heal each other’s wounds”. Leaving behind suspicions, divisions, rumours, gossip and mistrust. Be a “synod”, in other words, “journey together”. 

Mutual welcome, freed from formality, remained a perpetual challenge, said the Pontiff. “A challenge, first for our ecclesial relationships, since our mission will bear fruit if we work together in friendship and fraternal communion. You are two beautiful communities, Malta and Gozo, just as Mary and John were two! May the words of Jesus on the cross, then, be the polar star guiding you to welcome one another, to foster familiarity and to work in communion! Go forward, always together! Welcome is also the litmus test for assessing to what extent the Church is truly evangelical.”

Bishop of Gozo Anton Teuma welcomed Pope Francis on his visit to the Marian shrine of Ta’ Pinu in Gozo on Saturday, echoing the Pontiff’s earlier message criticising avarice and construction speculation, asking him to pray for a sense of responsibility towards the island’s “gifts of creation and nature, which is slowly disappearing before our eyes, without us noticing.”

“Help us pray that we learn to be free children of God and siblings of Jesus, and not slaves to money.  Help us pray so that in our families, understanding and the joy of sharing be treated with more importance than gain.”

“Help us pray so that, like Mary, we have the courage to welcome those who are fleeing wars and famine, as they seek shelter in our islands. Help us pray so that we do not treat or value anyone of these siblings of ours as a foreigner.”

The Pope addressed the faithful in Gozo at the Marian shrine of Ta’ Pinu later this afternoon.

The site is a popular one for pilgrimages. 

The devotion to the shrine dates back to the 15th century, when the family of Giovanni Calimera built a church dedicated to the Assumption on a knoll in the midst of their property at il-Wied ta’ Għammar.

It was dedicated to the Assumption – and known as Santa Maria ta’ Calimera. It eventually became known as Ta’ Gentile, after Gentile Calimera. In 1615, Pinu Gauci, from whom the chapel took its present title, offered the Bishop to raise it anew. In 1619, he commissioned the present altarpiece of the Assumption, the work of Bartolomeo Amodeo Perugino. In mid-morning of 22nd June 1883, Karmni Grima, returning home from her fields, heard a mysterious voice apparently coming from the direction of the chapel: “Come! Come!”. The voice then invited her: “Recite three Hail Marys in honour of the three days that my body rested in the tomb”, a practice still very popular with Gozitans today. 

The foundation stone of the present Shrine, built in elegant Neo Romanesque and Gothic style with local limestone, was laid on 30 May 1920, and the Basilica was dedicated on 13 December 1931. In 1935, Cardinal Alessandro Maria Lepicier, the Pope’s Legate, crowned the Virgin’s altarpiece.

On 26 May 1990, Pope St John Paul II visited the Shrine and celebrated Holy Mass on its parvis, placing five golden stars around the Virgin’s head in the painting. Pope Benedict XVI, during his Visit to Malta in 2021, at the end of a Mass at the Floriana Granaries, offered the Golden Rose to Our Lady of Ta’ Pinu and invoked her as ‘Queen of the Family’.