The Parish Church of Saint Julian, dedicated to St Julian the Hospitaller, stands as the spiritual centre of the town. The original church dates back to 1580, when the small fishing community began to grow around the bay. As the population increased, a larger church was constructed to designs by Maltese architect Arturo Zammit, with the foundation stone laid in 1961 and the building first used in 1968. The church gained national prominence when Pope John Paul II visited it in 1990 during his first pastoral visit to Malta.