12/06/2026
Caritas Malta Director, Anthony Gatt was part of a delegation from the Dioceses of Malta and Gozo for the MED26 - a meeting of bishops, theologians, youth, social services representatives and chaplains of Marian shrines sharing, reflecting and acting of the shared realities and challenges of the Mediterranean. Anthony Gatt presented on the work carried out in Malta and the emergency aid support that the Maltese and Gozitan Diocesan have offered to people in Turkey/Syria after the earth quake in 2023; Ukraine in 2022; Morocco Earthquake & Libya Damn Collapse in 2024 and Gaza in 2025. Over the last 4 years over a million euros have been raised and directed to the Caritas Network for these causes.
Excerpt from paper presented 10th June 2026
''In 2023, following the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, two colleagues travelled to the affected areas. They travelled to Iskenderun and Antioch to offer presence and to bear witness. They returned deeply moved. They spoke of flattened neighbourhoods where entire apartment blocks had become tombs. Homes transformed into burial places. Antioch, the place where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians, was a city reduced to rubble and almost totally erased. Communities shattered. Lives uprooted. Amid the devastation, my colleagues also encountered the work of Caritas Turkey and the local Catholic Church. In a country where the Catholic Church is rather subdued, they found Church operators profoundly present among those who were suffering. Quietly serving. Quietly accompanying. Quietly helping people rebuild their lives.
Together with accompaniment, the visit from my Maltese colleagues served to also bring the message home and promote and emergency aid appeal by the Catholic Church in Malta.''
Archdiocese of Malta
