With just 42 days left of his tenure, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat still has one huge foreign dignitary left to visit, heading to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis this Saturday.

On 7th December, Muscat will be making his way to the Holy See to meet the Leader of the Roman Catholic Faith.

Muscat has announced that he plans to step down after a Leadership election takes place on 12th January 2020.  However, protests are still set to continue with activist calling for his immediate resignation.

Muscat was forced into announcing his intention to step down following widespread protests after Yorgen Fenech was charged with the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia while the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Keith Schembri was arrested in connection with the case and resigned.

With the nation currently in the grips of a political crisis, a letter will be sent to the Apostolic Nuncio, the Holy See’s representative in Malta to urge Pope Francis not to receive Muscat on 7th December.

The letter, which started out of University reads as follows:

“Your Excellency, to our dismay we have just learned that the Prime Minister, Dr Joseph Muscat, is scheduled to meet the Holy Father on the 7th December, and this at a time when, following the revelation of criminal activity at the highest levels of power in our land, the calls for his resignation are flowing in from many diverse quarters, not least from European Union institutions and the Council of Europe.”

“We are academics dedicated to excellence in teaching and research in our diverse fields, and we have at heart the democratic process in our country and the rule of law to ensure justice for all. In our view, it is unwise, and pastorally undesirable, to involve the Holy Father in a propaganda exercise in an attempt to postpone an inevitable outcome, given the serious and grave nature of the accusations and allegations which are plaguing the present Administration of our country in full view of local and world media.”