Knights of Malta insist on sovereign leadership

Posted January 27


The Knights' current grand master awaits Saturday's meeting of his governing council to either accept or reject his resignation.


BY NICOLE WINFIELDASSOCIATED PRESS



ROME — The Knights of Malta is still insisting on its sovereignty in its showdown with the Vatican, even after Pope Francis effectively took control of the ancient religious order and announced a papal delegate would govern it through a “process of renewal.”

The Knights’ current grand master, Fra’ Matthew Festing, was at work Friday at the order’s swanky Rome palazzo near the Spanish Steps, pending a meeting of his governing council to either accept or reject his resignation.

The Saturday meeting is evidence of the order’s sovereign status under international law, which is recognized by the more than 100 countries that have diplomatic relations with the Knights of Malta and essentially consider it a state.

Festing, a 67-year-old British aristocrat, met Tuesday with Francis and said he would resign after he lost an internal power struggle that started with a scandal over condoms. Festing sacked the Knights’ foreign minister, Albrecht von Boeselager, over the condom scandal.

But the Vatican intervened on Boeselager’s behalf and announced this week that the pope had accepted Festing’s resignation and would name a papal delegate to run the order.

The Knights of Malta is an ancient chivalric order that runs hospitals and clinics around the world. It counts 13,500 Knights, Dames and chaplains, 80,000 permanent volunteers and 25,000 employees, most of them medical personnel who lend first aid in war zones, natural disasters and conflict areas.

The Knights are questioning the pope’s right to name a delegate to govern the order, since its sovereign constitution clearly sets out the process for selecting its leadership.



Pope Francis delivers his blessing during his meeting with Grand Master of the Knights of Malta Matthew Festing at the Vatican in June. The Knights of Malta is still insisting on its sovereignty in its showdown with the Vatican, even after Pope Francis effectively took control of the ancient religious order and announced a papal delegate would govern it through a "process of renewal." Gabriel Bouys/ Pool Photo via AP



Pope Francis and Grand Master of the Knights of Malta Matthew Festing meet at the Vatican last June. Gabriel Bouys/ Pool photo via


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