The former Grand Chancellor of the Knights of Malta, dismissed from the order after a condom scandal, has reportedly been reinstated.
This takes place only one day after Grand Master Matthew Festing stepped down after nine years as head of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, at the request of the Holy Father. The Order announced Wednesday it would convene a Sovereign Council to formalize his resignation January 28:
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The Grand Magistry of the Sovereign Order of Malta announces that Grand Master Fra’ Matthew Festing has convened an extraordinary session of the Sovereign Council for 28 January 2017 for the acceptance of his resignation from the office of Grand Master. This is in accordance with Article 16 of the Constitution of the Sovereign Order of Malta.
Christopher Lamb, a writer at the U.K.’s Tablet, tweeted late Wednesday morning: “Hearing that Von Boeselager now reinstated as Grand Chancellor of @orderofmalta with all decisions taken post-Dec 5th revoked.”
Church Militant asked for the source of the reports, and Lamb responded, “Sources inside order + Cardinal Parolin’s December letter says action against Boeselager should be suspended.”
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Von Boeselager was dismissed December 6 after separate investigations revealed he had direct knowledge of the distribution of condoms to prostitutes in Myanmar, Kenya and South Sudan via Malteser International, the charitable arm he oversaw between 1989 and 2014. Von Boeselager has denied the charges, in spite of having changed his story, at times admitting no knowledge, at other times admitting he knew of the condom distribution and justifying its necessity.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, published a letter December 12 clarifying that Pope Francis had never asked the Order of Malta to expel anyone, but rather to resolve conflict through “dialogue.”
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In a follow-up letter sent December 21 to the Grand Master, Parolin wrote, “As I expressed to you in my letter of 12 December 2016: ‘as far as the use and diffusion of methods and means contrary to the moral law, His Holiness has asked for dialogue as the way to deal with, and resolve, eventual problems. But he has never spoken of sending someone away!'”
Source: Church Millitant