Details of Pope's Malta trip revealed

(Nov.18, 2009): The Archdiocese of Malta has announced the main events of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the nation, which will commemorate 1,950 years since St. Paul's shipwreck there. The visit, set for April 17-18 next year, was announced in September. The Pope has been invited by the Maltese bishops, as well as the nation's president, George Abela.
The Archdiocese of Malta said that the Pope will arrive in Malta on Saturday afternoon of April 17 and return to Rome on Sunday evening of April 18. It said on arrival, the Pope will hold meetings with the highest Civil Authorities and then visit St. Paul’s Grotto in Rabat. On Sunday morning the Pope will celebrate Mass on the Granaries, in Floriana and will then meet youth at the Valletta Waterfront in the afternoon.
It will be the third trip of a Pontiff to the Mediterranean island nation, including late Pope John Paul II's trips in 1990 and 2001. The visit will celebrate the 1,950th anniversary of St. Paul's shipwreck in the archipelago that, according to tradition, occurred in the year 60 AD, during his second voyage toward Rome. Malta, which won independence from the United Kingdom in 1964, has some 410,000 inhabitants, 98% of whom are Catholic.
The Acts of the Apostles says the Apostle of the Gentiles, was welcomed by the local population with rare humanity. He remained on the island for three months before setting out for Sicily. Bitten by a viper, he was unaffected, and many islanders who were ill went to him and were healed.