Draft reform imposes term limits, ends Grand Master’s veto power
What’s new: The newly obtained text of a draft constitution submitted to Pope Francis by the leadership of the Order of Malta introduces dramatic new limits on the office of Grand Master, including limits of mandate, power of The Sovereign Council overcoming its decisions, and the requirement that the Grand Chancellor sign the decrees of the Grand Master.
What does it mean: The proposals are among concurrent options being considered by Pope Francis as he decides the future of the order. Critics of the proposed plan say it will turn the 1,000-year-old religious order into an “international NGO,” dividing its international diplomatic and charitable work from the religious life of professed knights.
Why it matters: The office of Grand Master, and the role of the first-degree knights, who profess religious vows, are at the center of an increasingly bitter division among the knights themselves – suggesting that, even after the Pope Francis makes a decision on the constitutional reform of the Knights. order, the knights remain divided among themselves.
As the knights of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta await a final decision from Pope Francis on the constitutional reform of their order, they remain locked in a heated internal debate over a controversial draft constitution tabled by their own leadership. .
The test, obtained this week from The Pillarhe would re-establish the institutions and offices governing the knights, with dramatic changes proposed for the post of Grand Master which, according to those who support the plan, would separate his roles as superior of religious order and “constitutional monarch” of a sovereign international body. .
Earlier this year he announced that he would personally decide on a legal restructuring of the religious order that had been going on for millennia. Francis himself who is in charge of drafting a revised draft. code and constitutional charter for the order.
Even though Francis made it clear that meetings with him are now the only acceptable place for constitutional debate, a draft constitutional charter and a code of order, presented to the Pope in February by the knight’s leadership, continue to cause failure. of agreement within the ranks of the order. .
Although the Pope stressed to delegates on both sides that “there is no urgency for a final decision,” continued the debate and division among the knights over the post of Grand Master, and r the future role of the first-class knights, who profess. religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and their place within the structures that govern order.
Critics of the draft proposals, obtained this week from The Pillarclaim it is a plan to separate the Grand Master’s office from the day-to-day governance of its international relief work and diplomatic relations – the order has sovereign legal status under international law, issuing passports and maintains full diplomatic relations with dozens of states, and permanent observer status at the United Nations.
The proposals, submitted to the Pope before his first meeting with delegates in February, were drafted by the top leadership of the order in Rome, but were not, The Pillar it was said, the product of consultation or with the professed knights, the Sovereign Council of the order, or the wider membership of the order.
The draft constitution and code provide for radical changes in the office of Grand Master, who is currently elected for life and exercises, in the words of the current constitution, “supreme authority” over all aspects of the order. The office is currently vacant, and has been since the death of Fra Giacomo Della Torre in 2020.
According to the proposals put forward by the management of the order, the Grand Master will be elected for a term of ten years, renewable only once, and will have a mandatory retirement age of 85 years.
The authority of the Grand Master as a “religious superior” over professed knights and knights of the second rank, who make vows of religious obedience, is addressed in considerable detail in the proposal, but his direct authority on other aspects of the governance of the order is remarkably reduced.
The current law of the order allows the Grand Master the authority to reject decisions of the Sovereign Council of the order, including the express choice of a “pocket veto.” However, the draft constitution creates new power for the council to defeat the Grand Master’s veto by a two-thirds majority vote.
The proposed new code would also require the Grand Chancellor’s countersignature for all acts of the Grand Master before they become legally enforceable.
Criticism from membership sections of the order of reform proposals stemming from the leadership of the order in Rome, widely identified with the German Knight’s Association and the Chancellor’s office -Great, has been focusing on alleged ambitions to strengthen the office of the Grand Chancellor in a kind of governing Prime Minister. a minister of the non-religious affairs of the order and who functionally separates the religious life of the professed and the spiritual nature of the order from his international character and work.
Francis ’decision earlier this year to personally intervene to decide the future of the order followed years of internal reform efforts halted following a 2017 constitutional crisis sparked by a break between the Great The then Master of the Order, Fra Matthew Festing, and the current Grand Chancellor of the Order, Albrecht von Boeselager, led the Pope to call for the abdication of Festing.
In an interview with The Pillar Last month, Cardinal Silvano Tomasi, Pope Francis ’special delegate for the order, stressed that“ there is no debate on the role of the professed in the Order of Malta, as everyone agrees that he has the leadership because the order is a religious order. . ”
However, despite Tomasi’s confidence that Pope Francis’ involvement would put an end to internal disputes in the order, senior members both for and against the proposals said The Pillar that divisions among the knights are increasing only as they await a papal decision.
A senior knight close to the Grand Magisterium of the order in Rome said The Pillar that the proposed reforms were necessary to ensure stability and good governance in the international work of the knights, and denied that the professed religious were being marginalized within the order.
“These proposals are working suggestions for the Holy Father to consider,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing the pope’s instruction not to pursue a reform debate outside his audience.
“They offer a way to advance competence and good governance, while maintaining the religious core of our identity within the professors. Proposals for [office of] The Grand Master are completely in line with the traditions of the order. This idea that the Grand Master has autocratic power is a modern fallacy, the history of our governance has always been collegial, ”he said.
The knight also pointed out the proposal to create a new Council of Professions which, he said, would guarantee that first-class knights remain at the center of the life of the order.
But critics of the plan say the changes in the Grand Master’s office are part of a wider effort to “secularise” the Order of Malta and move the professed knights away from its daily rule.
“The backbone of the whole‘ German project ’, if we are to call it that, is this idea that the professing knights are old and unfit to lead anything,” said a senior knight who leads. The Pillar.
“It simply came to our notice then. Is the total number of profession low and the average age high? Yes, but this is largely a problem that has been solved in a crisis by a ban we have had for many years on the admission of new professors. “
“The real questions are, or should be: are there smaller vocations coming, and is there a plan to increase them? Yes and yes. This is about a vision for the future: do we see order continuing as a religious vocation, or a charitable enterprise with a ‘religious heritage’? ”
The extent to which the knights remain divided was reiterated last week, when the president of the French association of the order wrote to members to offer a detailed assessment of the complaints among some of his members about the -draft proposal.
“I do not want to get into any controversy, but I cannot completely mislead [of the proposals] to spread the seed and sow trouble in the minds of our members without reacting, ”wrote Thierry, Comte de Beaumont-Beynac, who also serves as president of Malteser International, the global branch of charity. of the order.
In the letter dated 20 April, a copy of which was obtained from The PillarBeaumont-Beynac went on to say that during “the various hearings held in the presence of the Holy Father in recent weeks, it was reaffirmed by the Lieutenant of the Grand Master and the representatives of the Grand Magister The order was intended to remain. religious order! ”
“It is therefore utterly irrelevant to further confuse this argument of transformation from a religious order to a mere NGO!” said the count. “This is a point that has nothing to do with reality.”
The president of the French association went on to tell members that provisions such as the election of the Grand Master for a fixed term “are not regulated; this is a point that is still suspended, “and that the intention of the proposal was to describe” a division of the powers of the Grand Master between his two qualities of Sovereign Head and Spiritual Head of the Order. “
“Furthermore,” said Beaumont-Beynac, “I remind you that the Order has always been a constitutional monarchy and it is also under this regime that it still lives to this day. So having a Constitution listing the responsibilities of the Grand Master is nothing extraordinary or new. “
The letter concluded by reminding the knights that Pope Francis will ultimately decide on the future form of the constitution and the laws of order, and in the meantime all members must “continue more than ever.” before invoking the Holy Spirit for the good of our beloved Order ”.
Despite the prayer for the intervention of the Holy Spirit, the divisions among the membership and the running of the order over its future form and direction seem to be hardening as they await the final decision of the -Dad.
While Francis may eventually put his authority behind a reformed constitution that definitely agrees with either side of the internal debate, the enactment of that document seems increasingly unlikely to reconcile the order’s membership to itself. .