Gifts and exchanges

My last entry about Pope Francis’s visit to Malta deals with the gifts that were exchanged between the Pope, the President and the Archbishop. Pope Francis gave as a gift to the President of Malta a medallion of Saint Paul. It shows the statue of St Paul by Melchiore Gafa with church steeples in the background including the one of Ta’ Pinu which the Pope visited on Saturday. The wording says Visit Melitam Aprilis 2-3 MMXXII (Visit to Malta April 2-3, 2022)

In exchange the President presented Pope Francis with a painting by Gozitan artist Manuel Farrugia depicting Saint Paul holding the scriptures in his hand with the words from the Maltese National Anthem, ‘Seddaq il-għaqda fil-Maltin u s-Sliem’ (Impart Unity among the Maltese, and Peace.) Farrugia is one of the young budding artists who creates very realistic and human figures.

The other gift was presented by the Archbishop at the end of the Mass on Sunday morning. It was a painting of the story of the Gospel of that Sunday, the story of the adulterous woman. It was painted in watercolors by Maltese artist John Martin Borg. The same painting was also used in the front page of the booklet distributed during the Mass. It shows Jesus attaching Himself to the remorseful woman through the red robe she was wearing. As the scribes stood standing looking angrily with stones in their hands, on the left in the shade one of the Scribes holds a scroll with the law the Jews quoted to stone the woman. The contrast between the rich elaborate clothing of the Scribes and the tattered clothing of the woman is also very striking. (Click on each photo to enlarge)