Vatican: Malta’s Knights celebrate 900 years of faith on the frontline
(Vatican Radio) On Saturday visitors to the Vatican will have the rare treat of seeing
the Churches’ oldest Sovereign Military Order of Knights in full regalia, march in
a solemn procession to the tomb of St Peter.
Four thousand deep, the 900
year old Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, will fill
the Vatican basilica to celebrate the jubilee anniversary of the papal bull that set
them apart from other monastic military orders of the time.
It was February
15, 1113, when Pope Paschal II issued "Piae postulatio voluntatis". This bull placed
the Order under the protection of the Holy See, formalizing its spiritual and institutional
identity.
“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” explained
Albrecht Boeselager, the Order’s Grand Hospitaller or ‘Minister of Health and International
Cooperation’. On 9 February they will meet Pope Benedict XVI at the end of the mass
celebrated by the Cardinal Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Listen to Emer McCarthy’s full interview with Albrecht Boeselager:
The activities
of the Knights of Malta offers medical, social and humanitarian support in 120 countries
worldwide, thanks to 13,500 members, 80,000 volunteers and over 25,000 doctors, nurses
and paramedics.
The order is a sovereign and independent reality. It does
not depend on any state or on the Holy See, it has its own diplomatic corps accredited
to the various governments. “Wherever we operate, we are builders of peace" in a kind
of "singular humanitarian diplomacy” says Jean-Pierre Mazery, Head of the Executive
and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Sovereign Order of Malta. "We do not depend
on anyone, we do not defend territories, we do not take part in conflicts, we act
only to help people, regardless of nationality, race or religion".
The religious
chivalric order was originally founded in the 12th century to assist poor
pilgrims in need of care in the Holy Land and still today the Order is involved in
many initiatives in the Middle East. The Knights of Malta run the Holy Family Hospital
in Bethlehem, located in the territories subjected to the Palestinian Authority and
it is the only safeguard for the maternity department of the region equipped with
a neonatal intensive care unit. Since 1990, at the hospital in Bethlehem, more than
57,000 children were born. While the mobile clinic of the Hospital provides the essential
maternal and pediatric care to women and infants in the remotest corners of the surrounding
villages in the desert of Judea.
Syria is also a priorty concern for the
Order. Grand Hospitaller Albrecht Boeselager says the Order has in fact intensified
its actions to help those affected by the conflict, and in particular over a million
and a half refugees. The "Malteser International" (the Order's relief agency for humanitarian
aid) operates in the areas of Damascus, Aleppo, Hama and Homs, distributing thousands
of survival and hygiene kits. The intervention strategy in favor of Syrian refugees
also involves neighboring countries. In particular, the social and medical center
in Khaldieh, Lebanon, is exclusively dedicated to providing free medical care to the
Syrian refugees. In the winter months, the relief efforts related to the Knights of
Malta provide emergency aid to 10,000 more people in Syria, Turkey and Lebanon, particularly
women with children.