Updated 6pm

Pope Francis has asked to meet with migrants when he visits Malta at the end of May, Malta and Gozo's bishops said in a pastoral letter to be read out on Saturday.

“The Pope would also like to meet migrants during his visit among us, just as he did in other places he visited in the Mediterranean,” Archbishop Charles J Scicluna and Bishops Mario Grech and Joseph Galea-Curmi said in the pastoral letter.

Sources said that Vatican officials who were in Malta this week for site visits, are actively considering extending the visit by the Pope over two days, starting on May 30 in the afternoon and not on May 31 as previously announced. 

It will be the fourth time a pope has visited Malta in the past 30 years. 

The pope has made respect and kindness towards migrants a cornerstone of his papacy and urged Catholics to “work together to show migrants God’s love revealed by Jesus Christ”.

The pope’s visit to Malta draws inspiration from a biblical passage from the Acts of the Apostles which notes that the Maltese greeted the shipwrecked St Paul “with unusual kindness”.

Pope Francis poses for a photo with a group of migrants in St Peter's Square in 2018. Photo: AFP

In their pastoral letter, the bishops urged people to welcome the pope with an open heart, to “help us discern what living ‘with unusual kindness’ truly means when faced with today’s challenges”.

Last month, as he reflected on that passage from the Acts of the Apostles, Pope Francis drew parallels between St Paul’s sea voyage and that which many migrants undertake to flee war, violence and poverty.

“Just like Paul and his companions, they experience indifference, the hostility of the desert, rivers, seas,” the pope had reflected.

“They are often not allowed to disembark at ports. But unfortunately, sometimes they are also met with far worse hostility from mankind."

The bishops described the pope’s upcoming visit as a “great blessing” for all Maltese and Gozitans and invited the faithful to prepare for the visit through prayer.

“When the Pope visits our country, we would like him to recognise that for us who believe in Jesus Christ, every human life is precious and is to be embraced with love and tenderness – from conception and through all stages of life until natural death,” they said.

The pastoral letter will be read out during Mass on Saturday February 15 and Sunday February 16. Read the letter in the pdf link below.