Last weekend, Pope Francis issued a new constitution for the Order of Malta, appointing a provisional Sovereign Council as part of an ongoing renewal process, ending years of dispute with the Order about its sovereignty. The Decree established the new Constitutional Charter, revoked the High Offices, and dissolved the Sovereign Council, while calling for an Extraordinary Chapter General in 2023.
Although the Order is recognised as a sovereign entity with its own passports, the Pope said the prerogatives of the Order do not constitute the set of powers and prerogatives proper to sovereign entities “in the full sense of the word,” as stipulated in the 1953 ruling issued by the Tribunal of Cardinals. As a religious order, therefore, it “depends in its various forms, on the Holy See.” This, despite the fact nearly all its activities are carried out by lay members.
