Pope John Paul II's two visits to Malta over an 11-year period sealed a close relationship between the Polish Pontiff and the Maltese people.
Malta came to a complete standstill in May 1990 and May 2001 as the Pope crammed in a series of visits and events which left a lasting mark on the island's inhabitants.
On both occasions, tens of thousands lined the streets in the baking sun shouting Viva l-Papa, as the Pontiff toured several spots in Malta and Gozo.
Despite his 70 years of age, during a three-day visit in 1990, Pope John Paul II was a picture of health, waving and blessing the crowds and covering 1,000 miles of road.
One of the things that stand out in many people's memories of that occasion was the overly enthusiastic nuns who struggled valiantly against security efforts to inch closer to the Pope during a ceremony at St John's Co-Cathedral, in Valletta.
The Grand Harbour was a majestic sight as hundreds of craft milled around the Papal catamaran as he assisted to the lowering of a statue of St Paul to the seabed.
During this visit, the Pope made ample references to the Church's historic contribution to the island.
He urged the civil authorities, as well as private groups and individual citizens, to be vigilant for their democratic and social values "so that they may never be sacrificed to tendencies which may arise from the influx of ideas or patterns of behaviour alien to Malta's Christian tradition".
The Pope's second visit to Malta was even more significant as he beatified Dun Gorg, Sr Adeodata Pisani and cleric Nazju Falzon.
A frail and tired-looking Karol Wojtyla arrived in Malta on May 8, 2001 on the last stop of a pilgrimage in the footsteps of St Paul, which also took him to historic visits to Greece and Syria.
A crowd of an estimated 100,000 people packed the Granaries in Floriana to see the Pope beatify the three Maltese in what many believe was the biggest ever public gathering in Malta.
During one of his speeches, the Pontiff appeared to follow up on a speech he gave on the Granaries in 1990, saying Malta could offer "wisdom and insight" to an emerging historical era.
His Holiness praised Malta for its "great Christian heritage" but added that at the dawn of the new millennium, the Church looked to Malta to be still more ardent in living its apostolic and missionary vocation.