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The Office of the Presidency was approached by the Office of the Prime Minister about the participation of President Edward Fenech Adami in the Pope’s funeral, before his death yesterday evening.
Asked by MaltaToday, about his recollections of the Pope, Eddie Fenech Adami told MaltaToday that he was “greatly impressed” by the humility of the Pope. Fenech Adami recalled that during the Pope’s first visit in May 1990 the Pope reproached him for praising him by telling him “I am only a useless servant of God.”
The Pope had also told Dr Fenech Adami that he treasures the memory of the thousands of Maltese gathered on the bastions to welcome him as he was entering the grand harbour on his way from Gozo.
Fenech Adami also recollects that during his audience with the Pope in June 2004, the Pope insisted that the whole family of the Maltese President joins in the commemorative photo.
Dr Fenech Adami describes the Pope as a “great Pope who made history”. According to the President the Pope “always found the right words. He never minced his words.” Fenech Adami referred to the Pope’s last book entitled Memory and Identity. “In this book the Pope speaks of an ideology of evil which had characterised Nazi and Fascist rule in Poland. But the Pope also warns us to beware of a new version of this ideology of evil through the abuse of the concept of human rights.”
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