Knights of Malta 900th anniversary celebrations in Rome

The Sovereign Order of Malta is holding a week of celebrations in Rome for the 900th anniversary of Pope Paschal II’s bull Pie Postulatio Voluntatis of 15 February 1113 that placed the Order under the protection of the Holy See, formalising its spiritual and institutional identity. With this bull the Pope recognised that the Order had the absolute right to ensure the continuation of its work by electing, in due time, a successor to its founder the Blessed Gerard.

The programme of celebrations was presented by the Order’s leaders recentl in the Stampa Estera headquarters in Rome. This is a very special anniversary and over 4000 of the Order’s members and volunteers are expected to arrive from all corners of the world. This morning. Saturday, the 9th of February, they met Pope Benedict XVI at the end of the Mass celebrated by the Cardinal Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, in St. Peter’s Basilica.

“Besides celebrating our history, we are looking at the present and the future,” said Jean-Pierre Mazery, Head of the Executive and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Sovereign Order of Malta, speaking at the aanoucement of the programme of celebrations. “Every day our humanitarian and health and welfare projects assist men and women caught up in wars, calamities and epidemics and help those suffering underdevelopment and poverty even in the West, caused by the latest financial crisis.”

The Head of the Executive also pointed out how the Order’s independent and apolitical nature enables it to play a key role as mediator in armed and civil conflicts. “We are dependent on no one, we have no territories to defend, we take no position in conflicts. We help everyone, without distinction of nationality, race or religion”, continued Mazery. “I’m especially thinking of the 10 health clinics we manage in the Lebanon in cooperation with other religious denominations and the Maternity Hospital in Bethlehem.”

“Syria, the Congo and the new poor are among our priorities,” explained Albrecht Boeselager, the Order’s Minister of Health and International Cooperation. “In Syria our efforts are aimed at assisting the refugees in Turkey and Lebanon and helping them to survive the winter.” Another humanitarian emergency scenario is the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where “sexual violence has become an instrument war, never before experienced at this level in other parts of the world.” In the African country, the Order of Malta provides medical, psychological and social assistance to the numerous victims of sexual aggression, helping them to re-enter society.

Another priority for the Order is the “New Poor.” In Europe alone, the crisis has caused the number of unemployed to reach 26 million. “Unemployment is rising, welfare funding is being reduced and the homeless are increasing. In eastern Europe the situation is even worse since the pensions are lower,” Boeselager stated.

In Italy, finally, the Order of Malta has always been active in emergency and civil defence services through its Italian Relief Corps (CISOM) consisting of some 3,500 volunteers headed by Mauro Casinghini, who stated that the most significant recent emergencies were the immigrants landing in Lampedusa and the earthquakes in Aquila and Emilia Romagna. “For over five months we managed a camp in a multicultural context, fully respecting the Order’s tradition of hospitality,” Casinghini concluded, referring to the Emilia Romagna quake.

This morning a procession of approximately 4,000 Knights of Malta made its way across St Peter’s Sqaure for the Mass.

In his address on Saturday morning to the Members of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Pope Benedict XVI referred to the Order of Malta’s motto: ‘Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum,’ saying, “These words summarize well the charism of your Order which, as a subject of international law, aims not to exercise power and influence of a worldly character, but in complete freedom to accomplish its own mission for the integral good of man, spirit and body, both individually and collectively, with special regard to those whose need of hope and love is greater.”