Who is driving the campaign against the Order of Malta?

March 4, 2026 9:38 AM

HJA Sire

Somebody has got it in for the Order of Malta, the 900-year-old Catholic order which maintains hospitals and runs charitable activities all over the world. In Italy, a stream of very similar articles has been appearing, beginning with an attack last October in the left-wing newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, by a journalist writing as Thomas Mackinson. In recent weeks there has been an accelerating series of articles under different names, all of them repeating the same criticisms. People in the Order’s ambit are beginning to wonder who is putting them up to it and why.

The articles accuse the Order of betraying a reform intended by Pope Francis, who wanted to bring it more into line with the life of a full religious order. The criticisms highlight the role of the professed knights – those who take the traditional religious vows – and assert that these need to be made to live in community so as to be true religious. What the articles do not explain, however, and indeed seriously misrepresent, is how the Order came to be in its present position.

The background is the crisis precipitated among the knights by Pope Francis in January 2017, when he forced the Grand Master, the Englishman Matthew Festing, to resign. The result was effectively putting the Order into the hands of its German branch, under the Grand Chancellor (effectively prime minister of the Order) Albrecht von Boeselager. The German-backed faction consolidated their control in the five-yearly elections to the Order’s government held in 2019. Of the 18 names back by this camp, all but one were elected.

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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SMOM Grand Master in San Marino

Photo (Courtesy) http://www.sanmarinonotizie.com/?p=37849

CHRONICLE:: 20/10/2011

The Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Fra 'Matthew Festing, SAE, on a visit yesterday to the Captains Regent. The Grand Master was welcomed by Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Antonella Mularoni before meeting in Liberty Square the Captains Regent and receive military honors. In the Government Building, the presentation of the Delegation Order to the Guest and Members of the San Marino Government has preceded the interview with the Regency. Main topics of the meeting, the shared commitment to solidarity and humanitarian assistance, the excellent bilateral relations collaborations and joint stamp issue including planned over the next year. At the end, the Regents have awarded the honor of Guest Knight Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order of St. Agatha , getting to a turn ' highest honor the Order of Malta. During the next Solemn Hearing were presented to the Grand Master of the civil authorities, religious and military, and the Regency San Marino addressed guests a speech in which he reiterated his long and fruitful relationship that combines the Republic of Malta to the Sovereign Military and stressed the commonality of values ​​of the two companies, both founded on the roots of Christianity and the common will to defend human rights. The Grand Master responded by stressing the intention to develop relations and cooperation in pursuit of common goals and deepening of a well-established friendship.

(Credits to Google Translate)

Original Article: http://www.sanmarinosite.com/news-san-marino/1700/Gran-Maestro-SMOM-a-San-Marino

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THE GRAND MASTER IN LITHUANIA TO CELEBRATE THE TWENTY YEARS OF THE ORDER OF MALTA’S VOLUNTEER CORPS

Dalia Grybauskaite with Fra' Matthew Festing

Photographs

Rome, 29/09/2011

Received by the President of the Republic in Vilnius

The Grand Master Fra’ Matthew Festing accepted the invitation of the Order of Malta’s Lithuanian volunteer corps to participate in the celebrations for its anniversary from 9 to 13 September. Visiting various cities, he met the volunteers and leaders of the corps and personally inspected some of the projects.

Twenty years have elapsed since that January of 1991 when the USSR’s tanks entered the capital Vilnius to quell the Baltic country’s assertion of independence. Lithuania was the first of the 15 Soviet republics to choose the road to secession. Over the next years the Order of Malta’s volunteer corps, the Maltos Ordino Pagalbos Tarnyba – constantly supported by the Order’s embassy in Lithuania – contributed to the country’s social growth, providing assistance to the weaker groups of the population.

The President of the Republic Dalia Grybauskaite received the Grand Master in Vilnius, declaring that the Order of Malta’s assistance to the Lithuanian public after the tragic events of January 1991 “had provided a vital support to the nation along its path to reacquiring independence”. The importance of the Order’s social commitment and its voluntary service was highlighted during the meetings. The Grand Master said he was happy to see the dedication and enthusiasm of the many young Lithuanians involved in the Order of Malta’s welfare activities.

For some years President Grybauskaitė has been taking part personally in the Order of Malta’s fundraising activities. In December, field kitchens sell Christmas soups in the main city squares and, together with a concert transmitted live on television, these initiatives raise funds for the projects of the Order of Malta’s Lithuanian relief corps, and in particular for the elderly.

During his visit to the Baltic country, the Grand Master also visited Siluva, the hills of crosses in Siauliai and the regional centre of the Order’s volunteers in Kaisiadorys. The Maltos Ordino Pagalbos Tarnyba is active in 26 Lithuanian districts and can deploy 700 volunteers in a country with little more than three million inhabitants. It offers its services in numerous sectors, including home care for the elderly and the non self-sufficient, home delivery of meals, clothing and medicines; assistance for families with disabled children; social and educational support for poor children and for families in difficulty; the organization of summer camps for young people and the disabled.

Some 100 volunteers came from the Order of Malta’s German association to participate in the celebrations. The Malteser Hilfsdienst has made a significant contribution to the Lithuanian volunteer corps’ welfare works over the last twenty years, as well as offering economic support, goods and equipment and helping in the transfer of skills.

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