Why
the pope has taken control of the Knights of Malta
The
Vatican clashes with an ancient chivalric order
The Economist
explains
Feb 8th 2017
by J.H.
ON FEBRUARY 2nd,
Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Angelo Becciu as his special
delegate to the Order of the Knights of Malta, an exclusive,
centuries-old Roman Catholic fellowship. He told him to collaborate
with the Order’s acting head for the “reconciliation between all
its members” and to work for it “spiritual and moral renewal”.
The letter in which he gave these instructions completed a virtual
takeover of the Order that began on January 24th when the pope forced
the resignation of the order's grand master, a 67 year-old Briton,
Matthew Festing. What is going on?
Popes have
occasionally sent representatives in to crack the whip over monastic
orders suspected of veering from the doctrinal straight-and-narrow.
But the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, which defended pilgrims to
the Holy Land during the Crusades, is an order of chivalry. And a
singular one. Like countries, the Order has sovereignty (its knights
having previously ruled Malta). Yet it no longer has territory beyond
its headquarters on the fashionable Via Condotti in Rome. From there
it dispatches ambassadors and issues stamps, coins and even its own
licence plates. The only similar, sovereign entity with little or no
territory is the Holy See. So Francis’s putsch is akin to the
annexation of one state by another.
The Order today is
an international body with around 13,500 knights and dames. It
organises humanitarian initiatives in many parts of the world. But
its leadership is formed of the rich and noble. A clash with Pope
Francis, a champion of the poor and an adversary of privilege, was
perhaps inevitable at some point. The showdown was triggered on
December 6th when Mr Festing dismissed his grand chancellor, Albrecht
Freiherr von Boeselager, after he refused to step down over claims,
which Mr Boeselager denies, that he allowed the distribution of
condoms in Myanmar. The Vatican appointed a commission of inquiry.
The Order responded with a statement that, to protect its
sovereignty, “it should not co-operate”. Two weeks later, the
pope summoned Mr Festing to demand his resignation. Shortly
afterwards the Order’s governing council agreed to its grand
master’s removal and the appointment of an interim leader. Mr
Boeselager has since been reinstated.
The affair has left
some Catholics wondering if the pope is less stringent about
artificial contraception than the Catholic catechism, which teaches
that its use is sinful. But there have been suggestions that the
affair is about more than birth control. There have been claims of
freemasonic infiltration and a power struggle within the Order
between Germans and Italians. A London-based Catholic weekly, the
Tablet, reported that the former grand master had objected to the
Vatican commission because of links between three of its members and
an unidentified “Geneva fund”. What is more certain is that this
opaque affair has become the latest stage in an continuing trial of
strength between Pope Francis and his traditionalist critics. Even
before the appointment of Archbishop Becciu, the Vatican had the
power to appoint a representative inside the Order. Raymond Burke, an
arch-traditionalist and critic of the pope, is regarded as having
been made its cardinal patron—in order to keep him on the
sidelines. Then by making Archbishop Becciu his “exclusive
spokesperson in all matters relating to relations between the
Apostolic See and the order,” the pope has not just sidelined, but
humiliated, one of his most outspoken adversaries.
.webp)
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