The Pontiff has dissolved the leadership of the order, issuing new constitution that’s set to make it more democratic.
Pope Francis launched an overhaul of the Knights of Malta, a global humanitarian group and major Catholic religious order, dissolving its leadership on Saturday. The Pontiff also issued a new constitution of the order and installed a provisional government for it.
The overhaul comes after years of heated debate over the future of the group, officially known as Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta. Established nearly 1,000 years ago in Jerusalem, once a religious military order, it has evolved into a humanitarian group, active worldwide and running such institutions as clinics and refugee camps.
Announcing the overhaul, the Pope praised the “generous contribution of Members and Volunteers,” of the order, which brings together nearly 100,000 volunteers and more than 50,000 medical staff worldwide. At the same time, he acknowledged the need to “begin a profound spiritual, moral and institutional renewal of the entire Order.”
Democratization of the order is among the main changes for the institution, with the new constitution eliminating the rule for the Grand Master and the top Knights requiring a noble background. The rule had effectively barred any non-Europeans from ever reaching the top ranks in the order.
“It will be more democratic. The question of nobility has now become secondary,” the Pope’s special delegate to the order, Cardinal Silvano Tomasi, told reporters at a press briefing. “We hope this will re-establish unity in the order and increase its ability to serve the poor and the sick,” he added.
The changes have been welcomed by the order itself, with the appointed head of the caretaker government, the Lieutenant of the Grand Master, Canadian John Dunlap, stating the overhaul demonstrated “the great love the Pontiff has for our Order.”
“In his careful review of the various proposals put before Him these last months, the Pope has determined a path forward that promises to ensure the Order’s future both as a Religious Institute and a Sovereign Entity,” he stated.
The caretaker government will stay in charge of the order until January 25, when an extraordinary general chapter is set to convene to begin electing the new Grand Master. The last one, the 80th Grand Master of the order, Giacomo Dalla Torre, died back in April, with the post remaining vacant since.
See where the Scottish Knights Templars under Grand Prior James McGrath over-hauled that order as well by flushing out the Freemasons, Wiccans, Satanists, and Luciferians.
Hostile attempts by the Freemasons to subvert the Order and take it over some years ago failed, with lawsuits flying both in the UK and in the USA.
McGrath sent envoys to meet with Vatican Officials with the hope of getting an audience with the Pope, but while the SKT (Non-Masonic) succeeded in meeting Vatican Officials, it was not officially acknowledged.
A Papal apology came later with regards to calling and labeling the Knights Templar as heretics, resulting in the massive persecutions, murders of the Templars, and the stealing of wealth by the French King Phillip ll.
The Scottish Knights Templars are NOT to be confused with the UN recognised Order that requires money to join, and is Masonic in it’s mission. A former U.S. retired Admiral headed that Order, but since it is not the true Order of descended Knights Templars and their actual family lineages, it is not truly recognised by the non-Masonic Order of the Knights Templars of Scotland, aka the Scottish Knights Templar, as Freemasonry had not yet been invented or instituted with it’s theft of eclectic ideas, assets and actions until the early to mid 1700’s.
What a confused load of dribble. The Templars ARE Freemasons. Freemasons are decent ordinary people as anyone with ahlf a brain who also has a grasp of history would know. ALL dictators, including the Pope, Hitler, stalin et al work hard to eliminate freemasonry, and the layers that protect the knights Templar, their legacy and the sovereign they protect.
As usual, people like you confuse a corrupt few like certain Police Officers for the vast majority of decent people who make up freemasonry. It’s clear to me your idea of the history is also badly flawed and seriously inaccurate.
Frankly, your commentary truly belongs in the garbage heap along with all the other diatribes that denigrate Freemasons and their truly beneficial activities.
Deus vult
Thanks, Jacque very informative. I find the timing however interesting at least, following the recent edict on the centralization of Vatican finance and banking. The Papacy is certainly up to something, and based on its track record, it won’t be good..
Only one reason to interfere in something that’s been ticking along doing the lord’s work for a thousand years.
“Making it more Democratic” = newspeak for pumping it full of money and corruption and satanism (probably).
This vile, globalist reptile is not worthy of those sacred robes he wears.
St. Johns was a significant refuge of many Knights Templar after the then pope and Philip of France colluded to defraud the clients of the Templars. Popes since then have tried very hard to deal to St. johns but have never been abek to do so, that today’;s leadership allwoed such a move shows how weak on the surface it has become.
Since when has a military order ever been democratic – never, of course. This change is designed to eliminate a powerful rival from within, it appears.