Priorities and Action

To strengthen the synodal attitude within the Church in Malta, and following an extensive process of discernment and broad consultation, the following pastoral priorities are being presented. These are grouped into two main categories:

those that apply to all offices and entities of the Church;
those that apply to specific sectors of ministry within the Archdiocese.

In light of the synodal process, it must be recognized that there is no uniform implementation strategy that applies to everyone. Accordingly, each entity must formulate a plan that addresses the needs, the ministry entrusted to it and its concrete circumstances. Therefore, each entity must include these attitudes in its pastoral plan to implement these priorities, both in its internal life, as well as in the ministry it carries out. The pastoral plan of each entity must also include other matters specific to the pastoral assigned to it.

This plan must be submitted annually by September to the team in charge of implementing the Diocesan Pastoral Plan, and must be followed up regularly. The various entity plans, once approved, constitute the Archdiocese’s holistic plan for that year. This submission can be made by clicking here.

For all Offices and Entities

Evaluation

The renewal of structures demanded by pastoral conversion can only be understood in this light: as part of an effort to make them more mission-oriented, to make ordinary pastoral activity on every level more inclusive and open, to inspire in pastoral workers a constant desire to go forth and in this way to elicit a positive response from all those whom Jesus summons to friendship with himself.

Evangelii Gaudium 27

Each Church entity should engage in a systematic process of evaluation of its identity, its structures of discernment, leadership and execution, as well as its initiatives and operations.

This evaluation should ensure that it is assessed to what extent:

the initiatives and operations of the entity remain authentic to the mission of the Church today, reflecting and conveying the Catholic ethos, being inspired by God and keeping God at their centre.
the way the entity works promotes and offers a concrete experience of communion, participation and co-responsibility between all categories of Church members.
the existing operating models and structures remain sustainable and adapted to today’s culture and circumstances.

This evaluation process should not be static or limited to an analysis of a situation, but should lead to a continuous, concrete and organic renewal of the way communion, participation and mission are lived, and should propose more sustainable and effective models for the future of the entity.

Formation

They must act according to the circumstances in which they find themselves. This requires good preparation. For the laity to incarnate the Word of God in today’s society, they need appropriate training and formation.

Lajċi Nsara 46

The members of the Church, in particular pastoral workers, must engage in a serious and continuous process of theological, pastoral and spiritual formation, in order to:

better understand their beliefs and the beauty of God.
internalize the synodal attitudes of communion, participation and mission.
be able to carry out their mission in a more professional, correct and efficient manner.

This formation must be understood as an essential and continuous dimension of pastoral work.

Integration

..let us now turn our attention to associations of the faithful and ecclesial movements. Here, governance is generally entrusted to laypeople and expresses participation in the royal munus of Christ received in Baptism. It is placed at the service of other faithful…

Pope Leo XIV
June 2025

Each entity should give greater importance to the integration of the laity in the life of the Church, both at the level of work and at the level of discernment and leadership.

Each entity should ensure that, as far as possible and relevant, no category of the People of God – in particular young people and foreigners – feels unwelcome or excluded from the initiatives and life of the community.

Each entity should seek to better understand the experience lived in digital culture and thus recognize the importance of its presence and pastoral care in the digital world. It should therefore ensure that it fulfills its mission with the community present in the digital space by creating an authentic Christian experience.