Christ's presence, followed by Christ's absence, impressed him so deeply that he asked to be baptised.

ECONOMIST: Cardinal Lustiger

Also, the church is beginning to serve its young people far better, so some youngsters now are making the decision to be baptised themselves.

BBC: RELATED BBC SITES

It was in Vienna that Mr Schnittke chose to be baptised a Catholic when, in 1980, he was at last allowed to wander a bit beyond the Soviet Union.

ECONOMIST: Alfred Schnittke

The Code of Cannon Law states that, for a child to be baptised, "there must be a founded hope that the infant will be brought up in the Catholic religion".

BBC: RELATED BBC SITES

If the secondary school is oversubscribed, priority will be given to baptised Catholic children living in certain local parishes.

BBC: Richmond Catholic school fight goes to the High Court

In the Richmond case, the new primary school will allocate a third of places to people on the basis of closeness to the school, not on religion, and for the remaining places, priority will be given to baptised Catholics.

BBC: Richmond Catholic school fight goes to the High Court

In theory, any baptised male Catholic can be elected Pope.

BBC: Nicholas Breakspear: The only English Pope

The cardinals do not have to choose one of their own number - theoretically any baptised male Catholic can be elected pope - but tradition says that they will almost certainly give the job to a cardinal.

BBC: Conclave: How cardinals elect a Pope

But in Malta he will be preaching to the converted -- nearly 98 percent of the island's population are baptised Roman Catholic and identity with the faith is strong.

CNN: Pope in Malta after peace plea

If the beliefs and disciplines of the Catholic faith were merely a private concern to the world's 1.2 billion baptised Catholics, the pontiff's remoteness from life's realities might not be of great consequence.

ECONOMIST: Pope Benedict