An international congress on: “Priests, forges of sainthood for the new millennium” is due to open in the cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Valletta, capital of Malta, on 18 October 2004. Some 15,000 bishops and priests have already received an invitation to attend the congress from the Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos. Various experts and theologians are also expected on the island, including Msgr. Bruno Forte, Cardinals Marian Jaworsky, archbishop of Lvov of the Latins (Ukraine), Camillo Ruini, vicar general of Rome, Cormac Murphy O’Connor, archbishop of Westminster (England) and Georg Sterzinsky, archbishop of Berlin. During the congress, questions relating to the identity and mission of the priest, called to operate in various cultural contexts and in a period of marked globalization, will be examined. The choice of Malta as the congress venue is indicative: this is a country that has just entered the European Union and that proudly recognises its own Christian roots. Previous congresses were held between 1996 and 2000, at Fatima (Portugal), Yamoussoukro (Ivory Coast), Guadalupe (Mexico), Nazareth, Bethlehem and Jerusalem (Holy Land) and Rome, on the occasion of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.
