Malta

The Maltese archipelago of islands is centrally situated in the Mediterranean Sea. Its strategic location made it an important trading post and point of cultural interaction in antiquity, and various Christian and Muslim powers vied for possession of the islands until Malta's independence from Britain in 1964. Nevertheless, since St. Paul founded its church in the mid-first century, Malta has remained a predominantly Christian nation. Its constitution establishes Roman Catholicism as the state religion but guarantees freedom of religion to the approximately 5% of non-Catholics on the islands, which include Protestants (mostly British expatriates and tourists), Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Muslims, Jews, and very small populations of Zen Buddhists and Baha'is.

Malta's Muslims currently number less than 1% of the total population of approximately 415,000, a mere trace of the islands’ Fātimid heritage. Muslims from Sicily and North Africa immigrated to Malta in the late ninth century and remained until the early 13th century, when the last Muslims were expelled. In 1973, however, the Maltese government symbolically contributed toward restoring the country's Islamic legacy by donating land for construction of a mosque. The Libyan World Islamic Call Society also sponsored the project, and until today the mosque serves some 3,000 Muslims. Ahmadiyya Muslims maintain a noticeable public presence in Malta, especially by hosting interfaith conferences.

Despite the recent diversity in religious minority groups, Malta's historically Catholic identity has traditionally defined its national character. Home to one of the earliest Christian communities, Malta features several important sites, including the supposed location of Paul's shipwreck as described in the Bible (Acts 27–28) and the Mosta Rotunda, a Catholic church bearing the world's third largest unsupported dome.

The eponymous Knights of Malta are descendants of the Knights Hospitaller, a Catholic monastic and military order founded in Jerusalem prior to the Crusades, and governed the islands from 1530 until the arrival of Napoleon in 1798. In addition to performing acts of faith-inspired [Page 745]valor and ministering to sick pilgrims, the Knights dedicated much of their energy to fending off attacks by Ottoman corsairs, including a 4-month seige in 1565. Although defunct militarily since 1798, the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, as the Knights have come to be officially known, continues to serve the suffering worldwide in obedience to its motto, Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum, or “Defence of the faith and service to the poor.” Now based in Rome, the independent organization enjoys permanent observer status in the United Nations and 18 other international organizations, as well as bilateral diplomatic relations with more than 100 states.