On Saturday, the Council Complete of State of the Knights of Malta declined to elect a new Grand Master. Instead, they submitted to the express instructions of Archbishop Angelo Becciu, Pope Francis’s delegate, and elected a Lieutenant ad interim to govern the order for one year. During this time, the new Lieutenant will work with Archbishop Becciu and others to produce a new Constitution for the order, under the terms of which the next Grand Master will be elected in a year’s time.
Fra' Giacomo Dalla Torre Del Tempio di Sanguinetto, the order’s Grand Prior of Rome, was elected to the surprise of almost no one. His name, along with that of the serving Lieutenant Ludwig Hoffman von Rumerstein, were widely known as the two “acceptable” choices. Both were among a select group of knights invited by Archbishop Becciu to a private audience with the Pope immediately before the election and the Pope’s departure for Egypt last week. Not among their number, and definitely not an acceptable candidate, was Fra’ Matthew Festing, the deposed former Grand Master of the order. His attendance at the Council became a point of public speculation when it was revealed that Archbishop Becciu had taken the remarkable step of demanding Fra’ Festing not attend the vote or even travel to Rome.
