Yahoo News Former head of Knights of Malta defies Vatican to attend election for new leader of ancient order
The British former head of the Knights of Malta has travelled to Rome for the election of a new leader of the ancient order in defiance of a request from the Vatican that he stay away.
Matthew Festing’s presence at the election, which will take place on Saturday in a grand palazzo on a hill overlooking the Tiber River, will antagonise his already fraught relations with the Holy See.
His decision to come to Rome is in direct defiance of an appeal by Pope Francis’ special delegate to the order.
Earlier this month Archbishop Angelo Becciu wrote a strongly-worded letter to Mr Festing in which he asked him not to attend the election. “Your presence would reopen wounds, only recently healed, and would prevent the event taking place in an atmosphere of peace and regained harmony,” the archbishop wrote, saying that he had the full backing of the Pope.
He asked Mr Festing to abide by the request “as an act of obedience” to the Holy Father. Mr Festing, a Cambridge-educated former Guards officer, resigned as the Prince and Grand Master of the Knights of Malta in January after a highly public clash with the Holy See over his dismissal of a senior deputy.
He had accused Albrecht von Boeselager of condoning the distribution of condoms in an aid project in South-east Asia, in contravention of the Catholic order’s opposition to artificial contraception.
But after weeks of mud-slinging, which drew in the Pope and the Vatican, German-born Mr von Boeselager, whose title is Grand Chancellor, was reinstated, in what was seen as a defeat for Mr Festing.
Not only will the British former Grand Master attend the election, he may even stand for re-election himself, if nominated by fellow knights. That would set the stage for another showdown with the Pope, who has made it clear he wants new leadership for the chivalric order, which was founded during the Crusades.
Insiders within the order insisted that Mr Festing had every right to attend the election and to ignore the Vatican’s orders because the Order of Malta is a sovereign entity which has observer status at the United Nations and maintains diplomatic links with more than 100 countries.
They said the Pope was the order’s spiritual head but had no right to interfere in its internal affairs. “The Pope does not have the right to tell Festing not to attend the election,” one member of the order told The Telegraph. “It is taking place in Rome, outside Vatican territory – the Pope has no jurisdiction over it. It’s bonkers, ludicrous. Festing has every right to execute his duties as a member of the order.”
The Vatican’s heavy-handed approach had turned Mr Festing into a “martyr” and made it more likely that he would be re-elected, the insider said.
The antipathy between the Pope and Mr Festing was underlined when Francis invited a group of senior knights to his private residence in the Vatican this week to discuss the future direction of the order. The election, to be held behind closed doors in the order’s headquarters on Rome’s Aventine Hill, will involve 56 senior members, including Knights and Grand Priors, choosing a new leader from among 12 candidates.
The Vatican hopes that the order will elect an interim leader who will govern for a year while reforms are made to its constitution, including an end to the stipulation that Grand Masters must be of aristocratic lineage. “At the moment it’s a very small pool of candidates and it makes sense to enlarge it,” a spokeswoman for the order said.
Founded in the Holy Land in the 11th century to protect pilgrims travelling to Jerusalem, the Order of Malta is a Catholic charity with a global reach, operating in conflict zones and areas struck by natural disasters. Officially known as the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, it has around 25,000 paid employees and more than 80,000 volunteers around the world.
Some of its doctors and nurses are involved in caring for sick and injured migrants who are trafficked from Libya across the Mediterranean towards Italy.
