Religion in Malta
Encyclopedia
The predominant religion in Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

is Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

, with Roman Catholicism being the predominant denomination. Most Maltese
Maltese people
The Maltese are an ethnic group indigenous to the Southern European nation of Malta, and identified with the Maltese language. Malta is an island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea...

 claim to be Catholic and participate in Catholic religious services and the Constitution of Malta
Constitution of Malta
The current Constitution of Malta was adopted as a legal order on September 21, 1964, and is the self-declared supreme law of the land. Therefore, any law or action in violation of the Constitution is null and void...

 establishes Catholicism as the state religion
State religion
A state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state...

. Catholicism is also present in various elements of Maltese culture
Culture of Malta
The culture of Malta is the culture of the Maltese islanders and reflects various societies that have come into contact with the Maltese Islands throughout the centuries, including neighbouring Mediterranean cultures, and the cultures of the nations that ruled Malta for long periods of time prior...

.

Freedom of religion
Freedom of religion
Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any...

 is, however, guaranteed as a constitutional right and generally respected and increasing secularisation and minority religions are in evidence.

Malta's patron saints are St Paul, St Publius and St Agatha
Agatha of Sicily
Saint Agatha of Sicily is a Christian saint. Her memorial is on 5 February. Agatha was born at Catania, Sicily, and she was martyred in approximately 251...

. The feast of the Assumption of Mary
Assumption of Mary
According to the belief of Christians of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and parts of the Anglican Communion and Continuing Anglicanism, the Assumption of Mary was the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her life...

 (15 August) is also widely celebrated also thanks to its being the day in 1942 when a relief convoy as part of Operation Pedestal
Operation Pedestal
Operation Pedestal was a British operation to get desperately needed supplies to the island of Malta in August 1942, during the Second World War. Malta was the base from which surface ships, submarines and aircraft attacked Axis convoys carrying essential supplies to the Italian and German armies...

 made it through the Axis' blockade during the Second World War.

Constitutional standing

Article 2 of the Constitution of Malta
Constitution of Malta
The current Constitution of Malta was adopted as a legal order on September 21, 1964, and is the self-declared supreme law of the land. Therefore, any law or action in violation of the Constitution is null and void...

 states that the religion of Malta is the "Roman Catholic apostolic religion" (paragraph 1), that the authorities of the Roman Catholic church have the duty and the right to teach which principles are right and wrong (paragraph 2) and that religious teaching of the Roman Catholic apostolic faith shall be provided in all state schools as part of compulsory education (paragraph 3).

Malta, a signatory to the Protocol 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights, made a declaration saying that it accepts the protocol's article 2 (on parents' right to have their children educated in line with their religious or philosophical views) only insofar "as it is compatible with the provision of efficient instruction and training, and the avoidance of unreasonable public expenditure, having regard to the fact that the population of Malta is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic".

It should be noted, however, that article 2(1) and (3) of the Constitution are not entrenched, unlike article 40 which guarantees full freedom of conscience and of religious worship and bars the requirement of religious instruction or to show proficiency in religion. This means that if the provisons of article 2(1) and (2) are in conflict with the rights guaranteed under article 40, the provisions of the latter prevail. With regards to religious instruction in public schools for example, students may opt to decline participation in Catholic religious lessons.

Malta officially supported Italy and was one of ten states presenting written observations when the case Lautsi v. Italy
Lautsi v. Italy
Lautsi v. Italy was a case brought before the European Court of Human Rights, which, on 18 March 2011, ruled that the requirement in Italian law that crucifixes be displayed in classrooms of state schools does not violate the European Convention on Human Rights.-The case:The case stemmed from a...

was to be heard by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...

 over the exhibiting of the crucifix in classrooms.

Religion and public policy

Three articles of the Maltese Criminal Code relate to "crimes against the religious sentiment". Article 163 says public vilification or offence of Catholicism and the vilification of its believers, ministers or objects of worship through words, gestures, written matter (printed or not), pictures or visible means carries from one to six months imprisonment. Artice 164 extends the previous article to other "cults tolerated by law" but with a maximum prison term of three months. Article 165 refers to impeding or disturbing a function, ceremony or service, whether Catholic or of any religion tolerated by law, carrying a maximum prison term of one year extendable by a further year in case of threat of violence. Article 338(o) of the Criminal Code makes the unauthorised wearing of ecclesiastical habit or vestment a contravention against public order.

Malta was the last European country (excluding the Vatican City
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...

) to introduce divorce in October 2011 after voting in a referendum on the subject
Maltese divorce referendum, 2011
The divorce referendum was held in Malta on 28 May 2011 to consult the electorate on the introduction of divorce, and resulted in a majority of the voters approving legalisation of divorce. At that time, Malta was one of only three countries in the world, along with the Philippines and the Vatican...

 earlier in the year.

Abortion is illegal in all circumstances. Over the years some loopholes (non-inclusion of outer territorial waters, no mention of advertising) permitted individuals to circumvent the ban for limited time periods.

Level of religious belief and participation

According to a Eurobarometer Poll
Eurobarometer
Eurobarometer is a series of surveys regularly performed on behalf of the European Commission since 1973. It produces reports of public opinion of certain issues relating to the European Union across the member states...

 held in 2005, 95% of respondents from Malta said that "they believe there is a God". This was the highest in the EU-25 (the EU-25 average was 52%). An additional 3% of Maltese respondents answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" with only 2% answering that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force" (the lowest in the EU-25, being matched only by the then-candidate Romania).

Vatican data for 2006 show that 93.89% of the Maltese population is Roman Catholic, making the nation one of the most Catholic countries in the world. In a report published in the same year, it was reported that 52.6% of Maltese attended Sunday mass (down from 75.1% in 1982 and 63.4% in 1995. Levels of attendance are considerably higher than the national average in Gozo
Gozo
Gozo is a small island of the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Southern European country of Malta; after the island of Malta itself, it is the second-largest island in the archipelago...

 (72.7%) and in the older age cohorts (58.0% for 50-64, 71.3% for 65-79 and 92.8% for 80+). Around a fifth of mass attendees said they were are active members of a Church movement, group or initiative.

Pastoral visits

Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...

 made three pastoral visits to Malta: twice in 1990 and once in 2001. In his last visit he beatified
Beatification
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...

 three Maltese: George Preca
George Preca
George Preca was a Maltese Roman Catholic priest who founded the Society of Christian Doctrine, a society of lay catechists. In Malta, he is affectionately known as "Dun Ġorġ" and is popularly referred to as the "Second Apostle of Malta", after Saint Paul of Tarsus...

 (who was then canonised in 2007), Nazju Falzon
Nazju Falzon
Blessed Ignatius Falzon was a Maltese priest who was beatified in 2001.Falzon was born to Francis Joseph Falzon, a judge, and Mary Teresa Falzon, the daughter of a judge. He had three brothers; all four became lawyers, and two of the brothers entered the priesthood...

 and Adeodata Pisani.

In April 2010, Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...

 also visited Malta in the celebration of the anniversary of 1950 years of the shipwreck of Paul
Paul of Tarsus
Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...

 in Malta.

Other religions in Malta

Most congregants at the local Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...

 churches are not Maltese; many British retirees live in the country, and vacationers from many other nations compose the remainder of such congregations. In 2008, the seven congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...

 reported 569 active adherents, with an annual Memorial attendance of 1120. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), the Bible Baptist Church. The Evangelical Alliance of Malta has seven churches and two organizations that are affiliated, with about 400 members between them. There is one Greek Catholic church, which also hosts Russian Orthodox services a few times a year (when a patriarch comes over from Moscow to celebrate mass for Eastern Orthodox holidays, like Easter). There is one Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 mosque and one Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

 congregation. Zen Buddhism and the Bahá'í Faith
Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....

 also have about 40 members. There is one Muslim mosque and a Muslim primary school. Of the estimated 3,000 Muslims in Malta, approximately 2,250 are foreigners, approximately 600 are naturalized citizens, and approximately 150 are native-born Maltese.
The Qadiyanis
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is the larger of two communities that arose from the Ahmadiyya movement founded in 1889 in India by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian . The original movement split into two factions soon after the death of the founder...

 is also present.

See also

  • Religion by country
  • Islam in Malta
    Islam in Malta
    Islam is believed to have been introduced to Malta when the Muslims captured Sicily from the Byzantines in 870. Malta returned to a Christian European power with the Norman Conquest in 1091. Muslims were allowed to practise their religion freely until the 13th century.The present-day Muslim...

  • History of the Jews in Malta
    History of the Jews in Malta
    The history of the Jews in Malta can be traced back to approximately 62 CE. Most contemporary Maltese Jews are Sefardic, however an Ashkenazic prayer book is used.-Antiquity:...

  • Freemasonry in Malta
  • Religion in Europe
    Religion in Europe
    Religion in Europe has been a major influence on art, culture, philosophy and law. The largest religion in Europe for at least a millennium and a half has been Christianity. Two countries in Southeastern Europe have Muslim majorities, while two more Muslim countries located mostly in Asia have...

  • Religion in the European Union
    Religion in the European Union
    The most common religion in the European Union is Christianity, although many other religions are practiced as well. The European Union is officially secular, though some member states have state churches: these are Malta , Greece , Denmark , and part of the United Kingdom - England...

  • Christianity in Europe
    Christianity in Europe
    Christianity is the largest religion in Europe. Christianity has been practiced in Europe since the 1st century, and a number of the Pauline Epistles were odireted at Christians living in Macedonia, as well as Rome.- Early history :...


External links

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