Ni!
Posted on 10/28/2021 6:32:23 PM PDT by marshmallow
Pope Francis on Monday issued a letter granting sweeping powers to a special delegate to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, authorizing the cardinal to enact historic reforms in the ancient religious and charitable order.
In an Oct. 25 letter, Francis authorized Cardinal Silvano Tomasi to untangle a complicated leadership struggle within the Knights of Malta, which is both a religious order and an international aid organization, with sovereign status in international law.
The order has been in a state of constitutional crisis since the forced 2017 abdication of their former Grand Master and the death of his successor in 2020.
The Knights of Malta, founded in 1099, was originally an order of hospitaller religious in the Holy Land, caring for pilgrims.
Today, it is still led by professed religious knights, who take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, though most of the members are lay knights and dames of lower rank. The order is a major international aid and health organization, deploying tens of thousands of doctors, nurses, relief workers and volunteers in dozens of countries.
The leadership of the order and its members have been divided for years over its governance, and especially the roles reserved to the celibate, professed knights which are thr order’s core members. Their division has now spanned the abdication of one Grand Master, the death of another, and complaints about Vatican interference in the order’s reform process.
By granting the cardinal “the power to take upon yourself aspects of the ordinary government of the Order, even derogating, if necessary, from the current Constitutional Charter” and to “resolve all internal conflicts within the Order ex auctoritate Summi Pontificis,” Francis effectively authorized the cardinal to end years of internal wrangling over the future of the knights, and to settle questions about the future constitutional makeup......
(Excerpt) Read more at pillarcatholic.com ...
Bet these Knights can say “ icky-icky-icky-icky-kapang-zoop-boing”
We shall require A SHRUBBERY!
Ni!
The SMOM is the smallest sovereign state in the world. Its “capital” is at 68 Via Condotti in Rome, just up the street from Caffè Greco.
Formerly sovereign.
The Dictator Pope installs a proxi-dictator over the Knights of Malta.
They have their own passport.
And they run or fund medical clinics etc.
A
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