Pope in Malta after peace plea

The pope ends his Middle East pilgrimage with a message of hope

VALLETTA, Malta -- Cheering crowds have greeted Pope John Paul II on his arrival in predominantly Catholic Malta.

Offices closed and school children were let out early to join the crowds welcoming him to the Mediterranean island he first visited 11 years ago.

Malta is the last leg of an historic six day pilgrimage the pope has taken in the footsteps of Saint Paul. It follows visits to Greece and Syria.

He had ended his historic visit to Muslim Syria with a parting plea for Jews and Arabs to work for a just peace.

"I appeal once more to all the peoples involved, and to their political leaders, to recognise that confrontation has failed and will always fail," he said.

"Only a just peace can bring the conditions needed to the economic, cultural and social development to which the peoples of the region have a right.

"Many serious obstacles remain, yet the first step toward peace must be a steadfast conviction that a solution is possible within the parameters of international law and the resolutions of the United Nations," he said.

Addressing Syrian President Basher al-Assad, who saw him off at Damascus airport before he flew on to Valletta, the pontiff said the world was looking for signs of constructive dialogue.

The plane carrying the 80-year-old pope landed at Valletta airport after a three-and-a-half hour flight from Damascus.

The pope's pilgrimage has also included historic appeals for religious co-operation.

In Greece, he issued an apology for centuries of Roman Catholic wrongs against Orthodox Christians. The pope appealed for serious dialogue on bridging nearly 1,000 years of mistrust and hostility since the two branches of Christianity split.

In Syria, he became the first Roman Catholic leader to step inside a mosque and spoke of the common bonds between Islam and Christianity.

But in Malta he will be preaching to the converted -- nearly 98 percent of the island's population are baptised Roman Catholic and identity with the faith is strong. Malta is the only country in Europe where divorce is illegal.

At Valletta airport. the Pope carefully descended from the Syrian Airlines plane that carried him from Damascus.

On his two day visit, he is to preside at a beatification ceremony for two Maltese priests and a nun who lived in the 19th and 20th centuries.

A huge billboard proclaiming "Merhba Lill-Papa," or "Welcome Pope" in Maltese, overlooks a vast plaza where John Paul is scheduled to celebrate Mass on Wednesday.

In Malta, the pope will beatify Father George Preca, who founded the Society of Christian Doctrine in 1907 to evangelise a population which, although Catholic, based its beliefs just on popular devotion.

Preca will be beatified along with two other Maltese -- cleric and lawyer Ignatius Falzon, who converted at least 640 British servicemen to Catholicism in the 19th century, and cloistered Benedictine nun Maria Adeodata Pisani (1806-1855).

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Greek Orthodox Church
Vatican
Roman Catholic Church in Greece
Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch

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