The Order was founded in Jerusalem almost 1,000 years ago to provide medical assistance to pilgrims in the Holy Land. The new constitution abolishes the norm of admitting only the nobility to the ranks of the government, as well as the tradition of lifelong election of Grand Masters.
The Pope on Saturday dissolved the leadership of the Knights of Malta, of the global Catholic religious order and humanitarian group, and appointed an interim government before the election of a new Grand Master, writes Reuters.
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Change came after five years of rather heated debate within the order and between some senior members of the old guard and the Vatican over a new constitution that some feared would weaken the sovereignty of this extraterritorial state entity.
The order was founded in Jerusalem almost 1,000 years ago to provide medical care to pilgrims in the Holy Land.
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Now it has a multimillion-dollar budget, 13,500 members, 95,000 volunteers, and 52,000 medical staff who run refugee camps, drug addiction treatment centers, and disaster relief programs around the world. The Order was very active in helping Ukrainian refugees and war victims.
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He has no real territory, except for a palace and offices in Rome and a fort in Malta, but he is recognized as a sovereign legal entity with his passports and license plates .
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The “Maltese” have diplomatic relations with 110 countries and permanent observer status at the UN, which allows them to act as a neutral party in relief efforts in war zones.
Cardinal Silvano Tomasi, the Pope's special delegate to the Order, said told reporters at a briefing along with some members of the interim government that the order's new constitution would not weaken its international sovereignty.
But as a religious order it should have remained under the auspices of the Vatican, said Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda, a member of the working group that prepared the new the constitution approved by the pope on Saturday.
Francis convened an extraordinary general chapter on January 25 to begin the process of electing a new Grand Master (the title and position of head of a Catholic order of knights and monks – ed.). The last one, the Italian Giacomo Dalla Torre, died in April.
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“We hope that this will restore unity in the order and increase its the ability to serve the poor and the sick,” Tomasi said.
Tomasi and the Grand Master's lieutenant, Canadian John Dunlap, will lead the group to the general chapter. A new Grand Master is expected to be elected by March.
According to the previous constitution, high knights and the Grand Master had to be of noble birth. This, according to the reformers, excluded almost everyone, except perhaps some Europeans, from serving in higher roles.
The new constitution abolishes the rule of the nobility, as well as the tradition of lifetime election of grand masters.
“It will be more democratic. The question of the nobility has now taken a backseat,” Tomasi said.
Future grand masters will be elected for a 10-year term, renewable only once, and will have to resign in aged 85.
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Vatican-backed reformers called for a more transparent principle of government formation, to “infuse fresh blood” and allow the order to respond better to the enormous growth of this Catholic movement, which has been observed in recent years.
