As we continue the pilgrimage of hope back home after the Holy Year, we might consider various means of transport. But in this special year dedicated to the Poor Man of Assisi, it is worth going “by St Francis’s means”—“b’ta’ San Franġisk”!

You have surely heard this Maltese expression. Perhaps you asked someone how they were getting somewhere or back home, and they replied: “mhux b’ta’ San Franġisk!” I think that even if you had never heard it before, by now you certainly understand what it means, because in his time there were no cars and we know that he travelled from place to place on foot. In Italian we find a similar expression: “andare col cavallo di San Francesco”—to go by St Francis’s horse.

We Maltese in particular, if we can, want to go wherever we go by car, right up to the door, and to find a parking space not too many metres away. And, in the same breath, we complain that there is nowhere to park and that there is too much traffic.

Before I land myself in some polemic or controversy, give me the chance to explain. As we still savour the sweet taste of “the fruits of grace of the Ordinary Jubilee of the year 2025 that has just ended, in which we have all been spurred to become pilgrims of this hope that does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5),” as we read in the Decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary (16 January 2026), we will surely be able to reflect more deeply on the experience if we move at walking pace.

When you walk, you can stop and look more carefully. You can stop to really observe something which, when passing by in a vehicle, would be dangerous to look at properly! You stop, you look, and you continue walking while thinking and reflecting. You can “pause” over experiences you have been through and, like Mary, treasure in your heart what you have lived, the people you have met, the faces you looked at and that looked back at you, and ponder them within yourself (cf. Lk 2:19).

Back home “b’ta’ San Franġisk” … happy walking!