The Feast of the Shipwreck of St Paul, Malta

Martin Scicluna delivering his lecture
1,955 years ago St Paul was shipwrecked on the island of Malta. The Pro-Cathedral of St Paul in Valetta celebrated this feast on Sunday 8 February. The principal celebration in Malta and Gozo is on 10 February, a national holiday on the islands. The event is recorded in chapter 27 of the Acts of the Apostles, of course,

The Anglican celebration included a festive Mass in the Pro-Cathedral, followed by a lecture, which this year was given by Martin Scicluna, the Director of  the Today Public Policy Institute and a well known commentator on Maltese society. His lecture was on the "Henry II Syndrome", the intricacies of Church-State relations.

The High Altar of St Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Valetta
The Anglican Pro-Cathedral gives high priority to ecumenical relations on the islands. The Chancellor, the Revd Canon Simon Godfrey, has nurtured very close links with the majority Roman Catholic Church. The warmth of ecumenical life was very visible on the weekend as several key Roman Catholic Church leaders came to St Paul's for events, including the Apostolic Administrator Bishop Charles Scicluna, and the Papal Nuncio Archbishop Aldo Cavalli.

Canon Godfrey (rt) with Archbishop Cavalli, the Papal Nuncio




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