Order of Malta Leader Professes Loyalty to Pope Francis amid Vatican Investigation

Catholic Herald ^ | January 2, 2017 | N/A

[BlessedBeGod]

Fra' Matthew Festing said the Order would follow the Pope at this 'complex and difficult time.'

The leader of the Order of Malta has promised Pope Francis his loyalty, as the Order faces an investigation by the Vatican over a recent controversy.

In a letter to mark the World Day of Peace, Fra’ Matthew Festing, the organisation’s Grand Master, told Pope Francis: “the Order … even in a difficult and complex time, seeks to render its service in closely adhering to the teaching of the Church and the directions which come from the Successor to St Peter.”

Festing was referring to the recent dismissal of Albrecht Boeselager, the Grand Chancellor of the order. Boeselager has been accused of allowing the distribution of condoms, as part of a scheme with which the order was linked. But Festing said Boeselager was removed for allegedly concealing problems in his previous role of overseeing the order’s charitable work. The Order of Malta’s members run hospitals, nursing homes, night shelters and other forms of charitable outreach in 120 countries.

Boeselager refused to resign, which Festing called a “disgraceful” act of disobedience. Festing and the other senior members of the order, including the Patron, Cardinal Raymond Burke, agreed to suspend Boeselager from his membership. A new Grand Chancellor, John Chretien, has been appointed.

Pope Francis has ordered an investigation into the dispute.

On Saturday, the Vatican’s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin told the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero that the Order faced an “unprecedented crisis”. The Pope’s commission would “gather information”, Cardinal Parolin said, “and then we will see.”

[Mrs. Don-o]

Bump for later

[marshmallow]

On Saturday, the Vatican’s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin told the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero that the Order the Church faced an “unprecedented crisis”

Fixed it for you, Francis-clown.

[pepsi_junkie]

For those uninitiated, Cardinal Burke is a conservative who was in a highly influential position in the church and Francis demoted and banished him to what he thought would be obscurity as patron of the Order of Malta, a largely symbolic role in a small and relatively obscure order - though it is historically significant as the remnants of the medieval Knights Hospitaller.

But Burke didn't come to heel. Instead he participated with other Cardinals in writing a letter asking Francis to clarify if his policy on the family was in direct conflict with the words of Christ in the Gospels, a letter Francis refuses to answer and was enraged by.

So he waited for a chance to cut Burke off at the knees again, vindictive troll that he is. And when Burke fired a guy in his order for distributing condoms (remember, the official policy of the Vatican is still that birth control is a sin) Francis initiated an "investigation" which is a witch hunt. But Burke in theory was safe because the Order of Malta actually doesn't answer to the Pope for reasons I don't fully fathom. And yet now they have sworn fealty to him in this matter. I guess he let them know "I'm a marxist and we ruthlessly destroy our enemies. Burke will get destroyed, the question is will you?" and they relented.

[Auberge101]

This whole episode is ridiculous. Every Knight of Malta understands and accepts that if your work might APPEAR to be at odds with the teachings of the Catholic Church, you must clarify the appearance immediately. To actually be at odds – and to let that persist for years — is entirely unacceptable…and, yes, “untenable” in the words of the Grand Master. To then try to cover up your transgressions so that they can’t be discovered by the Order is beyond the pale.

Boeselager refused to resign the office of Chancellor when the GM request that he do so. Boeselager then again refused when he was ordered to resign by his superior…to whom he owes obedience. The concept of obedience is at the very core of the Order of Malta’s spirituality as the last remaining Military Order of the Catholic Church. At the opening of the Order’s Rule is this ancient quote to get the message across to its Knights and Dames: “You promise and vow unto God and Our Lady, and unto Monsignor Saint John Baptist to live and to die in obedience, and to be obedient to that sovereign whom God will give you…” Moreover, Boeselager willingly of his own volition had years before made a special Promise of Obedience to the Grand Master that those seeking to serve the Order at the highest levels commonly do.

Bizarrely, in spite of violating his obligations made under the Promise of Obedience and refusing to resign under any circumstance, Boeselager is now feeding the press stories about Cardinal Burke lying to him that the Pope also wanted him to resign. In that Boeselager refused to resign under any circumstance, what anybody said to him is ENTIRELY MEANINGLESS and a logical dead end.

The Order’s response to Boeselager’s actions would appear to be an “open and shut case” of how one would expect to be treated under the Order’s rules. If you search around on the internet, you’ll see academic studies where the Order’s sovereign governmental style of nearly one thousand years is depicted as “authoritarian, yet paternalistic.”

Essentially, it seems as though Boeselager is trying to tie into the media campaign against Cardinal Burke in order to open up a new front to attack the Order and somehow regain both his membership in the Order and his executive authority. By such actions, he portrays both his rejection of the Order of Malta’s spirituality from its formation in the eleventh century – and his unworthiness to continue to stand with his former confreres.