Letters to the editor - July 16, 2026

A severe shortage of nuns

Mgr Larry Spiteri from the Vatican writes:

I am a Catholic priest, ordained for the archdiocese of Los Angeles, and serving the last four popes at the Vatican, beginning with the papacy of St Pope John Paul II.

I was born and raised on St Margaret Street, Cospicua, within walking distance of the monastery of Santa Margarita, where my brothers and I learned to serve mass. My family attended daily mass in its church. It is a treasured heavenly pearl that is usually unnoticed.

The Discalced Carmelite nuns of Cospicua celebrating a jubilee of one of their nuns. Photo: Discalced Carmelite Nuns

The monastery started housing the Third Order of the Teresian sisters on October 17, 1731. It became a formal monastery for cloistered nuns on September 12, 1739, with support from Grand Master de Vilhena. It has survived Napoleon’s occupation, two world wars and much national and religious unrest and turmoil. I believe it was due to the nuns’ contemplative life and daily sacrifices.

I received my priestly vocation in that church and have been sustained by the nuns’ prayer during my priestly ministry for almost 50 years.

One of the things that struck me deeply during one of my visits to the monastery was when the then prioress related that ‘il-bambin’ had appeared to one of the nuns many years before. Imagine, the Lord appeared in Cospicua.

Today, the monastery is experiencing a big crisis due to a severe shortage of nuns and the risk of the community’s extinction. Can you imagine Malta being deprived of such a very precious pearl in the very near future?

I humbly make this appeal: pray to the Lord and to Our Lady, through the intercession of Santa Teresina, to send a bouquet of vocations to this sacred place. I am sure that our nation’s prayers, your prayers, will be heard.

The nuns have no means, but that of their fervent prayers, to alert the nation of their plight. This, I take it upon myself to have recourse to you and to the generosity of young and older ladies to consecrate their life as Teresian cloistered nuns.

May the seed of such a vocation sprout and flourish, bringing upon the nation a superabundance of graces from above.

Record numbers, poor quality

Mark Said of Msida writes:

According to a Deloitte Malta survey presented at the MHRA Malta Hospitality Forum, the first quarter of this year, when compared to last year’s first quarter, recorded more tourists and guest nights, but the average visitor stayed for fewer nights and spent less.

In practical terms, those statistics translate to an increased number of tourists congesting our roads, placing additional strain on our basic infrastructure, and potentially causing inconvenience to residents in popular areas.

Furthermore, more foreigners are renting or occupying overnight accommodations, yet contributing less financially to our economy.

This trend has been developing over the past few months, and if it continues despite potential remedial measures, we will be far from achieving the goal of quality tourism.

It is perplexing and rather misleading for the tourism authorities to regard these statistics as a sign of a flourishing ‘quality’ tourism industry.