Prayer, church and holy art: Malta cashes in on the faith in push for Catholic tourists

It’s not all sun and sea in Malta and Gozo, where over 360 churches and sacred sites will be positioned for a new tourism niche that starts with a campaign with the world’s largest Catholic online publisher, Aleteia.

The Malta Tourism Authority will market the island as a primary faith tourism destination, with a first pilgrimage in September with the French company Magnificat Pilgrimages organising a grand tour of prayer, sacred site visits, as well as lectures led by Pierre-Marie Varennes, founder of magazine Magnificat and author of numerous books on art and spirituality.

The pilgrimage will get to celebrate mass at the Ta’ Liesse church in Valletta by Bishop Joseph Galea Curmi, enjoy lectures in the Upper Barakka Gardens from Knight of Malta, Thierry de Seguins-Cohorn, general secretary of the Order of Malta’s Historic Academy, as well as visit to St John’s Co-Cathedral for a commentary by Varennes on Caravaggio’s Beheading of John The Baptist.

Other visits will take place at the Mosta Basilica, the Rabat parish of St Paul, the St Paul’s Grotto and Wignacourt Museum, the St Paul and St Agatha catacombs, mass in the St Publius chapel and the Mellieħa National Marian Shrine, the Marian National Shrine in Gozo, the way of the Cross at the Madonna Ta’ Pinu Shrine, and mass at the Church of Jesus of Nazareth.

Other members of the pilgrimage include Mgr. Benoist de Sinety, formerly Canon of Paris cathedral and Vicar General of the archdiocese of Paris, the painter Fleur Nabert, and Prof. Bernadette Mélois, a consecrated Virgin from the Archdiocese of Paris and director of the French Bishops’ Conference.