Vatican City, Jan 15, 2010 / 14:03 pm
It's official. Malta is on the Holy Father's calendar for an apostolic visit in April. The Pope's plans for Easter have also been made public on a calendar released on Friday by the Vatican.
On April 17 and 18 the Pope will be on the Mediterranean island of Malta for his first apostolic visit of the year. The Pontiff will lead celebrations there for the 1,950th anniversary of St. Paul's shipwreck there. The Archdiocese of Malta has reported that Pope will arrive on Saturday afternoon, at which time he will visit the Grotto of St. Paul in Rabat.
On Sunday, Benedict XVI is set to celebrate Mass in the city of Floriana and will later visit a group of Maltese youth before making an exit that afternoon.
This apostolic visit will be the first of at least three in 2010, according to Vatican Radio reports. In addition to Malta, he will be going to Portugal in May and Cyprus in June. It has also been widely reported that preparations are being made for a papal visit to Great Britain in September.