MALTA, part II - important prophecy fulfilled!

Although no longer participating in discussions on the forum, I have continued to view some of the posts. I have been very interested in the events involving the Knights of Malta. The Pope has done well in dealing with the problems which emerged and I think in this article from the Crux website is particularly enlightening:

Pope’s takeover of Knights of Malta brings chance for needed reform

• Austen Ivereigh
  January 29, 2017

In this June 20, 2014 file photo, Pope Francis blesses the Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of Malta, Fra' Matthew Festing, during a private audience in the pontiff's private library at the Vatican. The Knights of Malta is still insisting on its sovereignty in its showdown with the Vatican, even after Pope Francis effectively took control of the ancient religious order and announced a papal delegate would govern it through a "process of renewal." (Credit: AP Photo/Claudio Peri, Pool.)

Far from being an autocratic intervention in the affairs of a 'sovereign' state, the pope's decision to appoint a delegate to govern the Order of Malta following the resignation of its Grand Master reflects his duty of care to a Catholic organization in need of serious reform. Despite attempts to portray Francis as an autocrat, he's doing no more than what popes have always done for Catholic groups in similar circumstances.

ROME - When it came, the skirmish was brief. Despite their aggressive shows of defiance, the rebels’ surrender was unconditional.

Following a tense standoff between the leadership of the Knights of Malta and the Vatican, its Grand Master, Fra’ Matthew Festing, agreed to resign last week following a report by a papal commission that documents serious claims about dysfunction in his leadership.

The report highlights the need for serious reform of the order’s tiny leadership clique, drawn from around 50 “professed” Knights, who take vows, and are traditionally drawn from noble European families.

The pope named another of the senior knights, its Grand Commander, Fra’ Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein, as interim leader until his own legate was appointed.

Some speculated that the order’s ruling Sovereign Council might reject Francis’s intervention. But when it met on Saturday, the council bowed to the need for the change.

It accepted Festing’s resignation by a clear majority, agreed to appoint Rumerstein, and reinstated the former Grand Chancellor, Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager. It was the sacking of Boeselager by Festing and the order’s chaplain, American Cardinal Raymond Burke, that sparked the Vatican intervention.

Despite Festing earlier angrily claiming that the pope had no right to intervene in the Order of Malta because it was a “sovereign state,” the council’s statement rejected any such notion. Francis’s decisions were “carefully taken with regard to and respect for the order, with a determination to strengthen its sovereignty,” the council said.

In its statement the order also pledged “full collaboration” with the to-be-named papal delegate, who will oversee “the spiritual renewal of the order, specifically of its professed members.”

No mention was made of Burke, who was absent from Saturday’s meeting. The leader of an anti-Francis crusade from the start of the papacy, Burke was removed in 2014 as head of the Vatican’s supreme court, the Apostolic Signatura, because of his opposition to marriage annulment reform.

He is also the prime mover behind a letter made public last November in which four cardinals challenged the pope over the orthodoxy of his apostolic exhortation on the family, Amoris Laetitia.

It was Burke’s attempt to use Pope Francis’s authority as part of an internal power-play by Festing in December to remove his rival Boeselager that prompted the papal putsch.

Boeselager, who is a figurehead for the largely German-speaking knights, claimed that the firing was illegal and unconstitutional. His supporters described it as the latest of a series of dictatorial attempts by Festing to stifle criticism and consolidate his hold over the order.

The German-speaking Knights have been growing more and more frustrated at the way needed changes were being blocked by Festing and his council, elected from the small group of professed members dominated by the English and Italians.

The president of the order’s German Association, Erich Lobkowicz, has described the struggle as “a battle between all that Pope Francis stands for and a tiny clique of ultraconservative frilly old diehards in the Church - diehards that have missed the train in every conceivable respect.”

Festing’s clique is known for its love of Old-Rite liturgies and suspicion of Pope Francis. The reformers want to focus on the Order’s humanitarian work among the poor, downplay the ceremonial pomp, and align the order more with Francis’s vision of an evangelizing, missionary Church.

But Francis did not step in to try to shape the order in his own image but to curb what he calls “spiritual worldliness,” the use of the Church for self-interested purposes. It is the unhealthy nexus of interests - financial and ecclesiastical - that undermines the order’s good name.

“The Germans want a much more legal and transparent operation,” an ambassador close to the German-speaking knights said. “They are worried that the good work is undermined by the scandals.”

He offered an example. When Boeselager reportedly objected to the naming of two arms traders to senior positions, arguing that the appointments didn’t sit well with Pope Francis’s condemnation of the small-arms trade, Festing ignored him and named them anyway.

Critics also point to Festing’s failure of governance in his handling of a 2014 scandal in the UK, in which a pedophile companion of the Order was found guilty of possessing child pornography on video tapes. An inquiry led by Baroness Julia Cumberledge, who has chaired inquiries into the Church’s handling of abuse, uncovered a catalog of serious errors in dealing with the concerns.

In a sign of Festing’s apparent obliviousness to the damage to the order of such scandals, one of the three knights criticized in her report, Duncan Gallie, was later appointed by the Grand Council and lives in Rome.

The reformers have been especially incensed by Festing’s indulgence of the knights’ Italian branch, which has close connections to the wealthy and powerful order in Argentina. Both have long been linked to power plays in Italian politics and high finance, as well as to conservative networks in the Vatican.

“Part of it is a wonderful humanitarian organization, but part of it is a mafia, pure and simple,” one observer close to the pope told Crux.

continued....

 

continued.....

Francis saw the second element first hand when he was the target of a ham-fisted attempt in 2008 by senior Knights to remove him as Archbishop of Buenos Aires and replace him with a bishop who was chaplain to the order in Argentina.

A similarly incompetent attempt was made in November last year by Burke and Festing to remove Boeselager, whose criticisms of Festing’s leadership were an increasing irritation to the Englishman. Emboldened by Burke, Festing tried to sack Boeselager in early December on grounds of disobedience, after the German refused to stand down at the Englishman’s request.

The grounds for his removal were manufactured by a militant traditionalist organization close to Burke, the Lepanto Institute for the Restoration of All Things in Christ, which describes itself on its website as “dedicated to the defense of the Catholic Church against assaults from without as well as from within.”

It either offered or was commissioned by Burke to investigate allegations that Boeselager had approved the distribution of condoms while head of the order’s humanitarian arm years earlier. The issue had already been dealt with in an internal Order of Malta investigation the year before, which had cleared the German of any wrongdoing. The Vatican had also been informed at the time.

Yet Lepanto’s president Michael Hichborn was told by Burke that he was “working on something” in response to his report.

A few days later, Burke went to Francis. Knowing Festing could not dismiss such a senior figure without the pope’s backing - Boeselager is a major figure in Germany, close to the German bishops and to many high-level Vatican officials - Burke told Francis on November 10 about the report.

In his letter that followed the meeting the pope made clear that Catholic moral precepts must be followed but that differences should be resolved through dialogue rather than expulsions.

But the letter was used by Burke as a justification for sacking Boeselager against the pope’s express wishes. Accusing the German of being a “liberal Catholic,” Festing and Burke demanded he step down, and, when he refused, sacked him on grounds of disobedience.

But it was Burke’s disobedience to the pope that was the real issue. Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, wrote twice to the American cardinal to make clear that the pope had approved no such action. He also made clear Boeselager should be reinstated, and any differences between them be resolved through dialogue.

Egged on by Burke, who insisted the Vatican had no right to intervene in the order, Festing refused to budge. At this point the pope named a commission to investigate. In an astonishingly aggressive statement Festing tried to claim the inquiry had no legal validity, on the grounds that the Order of Malta - founded in the eleventh century - was a “sovereign state.”

The argument was spurious. The order has international juridical personality and the trappings of a state (such as ambassadors and passports), but no territory beyond its palace on Rome’s most glitzy shopping street, the Via Condotti. Whatever its temporal status, it is also a lay religious institute whose members profess loyalty to the pope, and as such is subject - as are all recognized Catholic organizations - to the jurisdiction of the Holy See in religious matters.

The sovereignty argument beggared belief, given that Burke’s attempt to use the pope to justify Festing’s sacking of Von Boeselager had dragged the papacy into its internal affairs.

At this point, just before Christmas, the pope ordered a commission to investigate the circumstances surrounding the sacking, and to take evidence from the knights about wider issues connected with the order’s leadership.

On Jan. 10 Festing pushed back, describing Boeselager’s dismissal as “an internal act of governance.” He poured scorn on the papal commission as “legally irrelevant” given the order’s sovereignty. He also ordered, under pain of obedience, that the knights back his decision to sack Boeselager - demanding, in effect, that the knights expressly reject the pope’s wishes.

The Holy See calmly expressed its confidence in its investigative group, led by Italian Archbishop Sivano Tomasi, which continued to take evidence. In a statement, the Vatican said it was awaiting the outcome of the investigation “in order to adopt, within its area of competence, the most fitting decisions for the good of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and of the Church.”

The evidence gathered by the pope’s commissioners left no doubt about the need for reform. On Tuesday last week, Festing was summoned by Francis and told of its contents. At the end of the meeting, Festing sat down and hand-wrote his resignation - the first Grand Master in centuries to stand down before his life term.

Festing, who has had serious bouts of illness brought on in part by the stress of the internal disputes, “would have been relieved,” says one Vatican official who knows the former Grand Master. Sources say the aggressive statements from the Order were untypical of Festing, and were likely to have been drafted by Burke.

Even after Festing had agreed to the pope’s request to resign, Burke tried to persuade him to retract, in effect telling him to keep fighting Francis, according to sources in both the Vatican and the order.

The reaction from traditionalists and critics of the pope has been apopleptic, seeking to portray Francis as an autocrat imposing his vision of the Church on a hapless conservative order. In reality, he is doing no more than what popes have always done with Catholic organizations that suffer from abusive or dysfunctional leadership which undermines their witness.

Francis has done the same with other religious orders or societies, such as the Peru-based Sodalitium. Benedict XVI did the same with the Legion of Christ, among others.

Why should Francis’s critics believe this one is any different? Sadly, some have become so invested in Burke’s campaign against Francis over Amoris Laetitia that they have failed to spot what this is about.

Francis has no intention of making Burke a martyr by sacking him, but in reality he doesn’t need to. The American canon lawyer is officially the Holy See’s liaison with the Order of the Malta, but the papal legate will in practice reduce that to a merely titular role.

In his letter, Francis says his legate will be his “exclusive spokesman during his mandate” relating to relations between the Holy See and the order.

But the main point of the intervention is not to silence Burke, but to reform the order’s constitution and governance so that it better serves the purposes for which it exists.

Francis’s letter to the knights stresses that the unique character of the order as both a lay religious institute and a subject in international law should be the “basis for a more effective service according to its ancient yet ever relevant charism,” namely the defense of the faith and assistance to the poor.

In other words, its legal autonomy is at the service of, and for the purpose of, its mission, and cannot be used for other purposes - the furtherance of business interests, say, or the defiance of papal authority by arch-traditionalists.

Far from being like an invasion of one “country” by another, as some canonists have preposterously suggested, Francis’s intervention in the Order of Malta is the duty of care by a pope who does not want the Church’s witness to Christian mercy corrupted by privilege and spiritual worldliness.

https://cruxnow.com/analysis/2017/01/29/popes-takeover-knights-malta-brings-chance-needed-reform/

 

David,

As one who values objectivity and unearthing pertinent facts, I am grateful for this article. Sadly to say, there is less and less square footage remaining for me on the turf of middle road. Yes, the article highlights issues not previously found on the forum, but then, the attack on Cardinal Burke is unmitigated. Coupled with the fact that someone on the forum has recently claimed that Pope Francis is possessed, I see a chasm deepening between the various members taking opposite sides. Meanwhile, the threat of schism in the Church-at-large is deepening, helping to fracture the bond of charity even here on Our Lady's forum.

I want to make sure that this post is not pointed at anyone in particular, including you, David. This is simply a gut response to some of the article's content.

I believe members sometimes confuse the pursuit of truth with an attempt to justify one's own position. Foxholes are then dug so as to not surrender ground. What comes next, trench warfare? If attacking individuals in the Body of Christ who are not members is allowed, then attacking one another on the forum will inevitably follow.

I believe it's important we adhere to the New Testament guidelines on the use of words before moving further down the road. If we digest the simple truth in these verses, the Spirit of peace will prevail among us.

James 3: 6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is an unrighteous world among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of nature, and set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by humankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue -- a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so.


James 1: 19 Know this, my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger…


Mt 12:34…For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. 35 "The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. 36 "But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. 37 "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."


Eph 4: 29 Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.


Heb 12: 14 Strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fail to obtain the grace of God; that no "root of bitterness" spring up and cause trouble, and by it the many become defiled.

 

Knights lose money after public row with Pope
Order of Malta say donations are down following sacking of Von Boeselager and dispute with the Holy See

REUTERS
Grand Chancellor Albrecht von Boeselager

Pubblicato il 02/02/2017
CHRISTOPHER LAMB
ROME

The Knights of Malta today admitted they have suffered a drop in donations following their public battle with the Vatican over the sacking of top figure in a row about the distribution of condoms. In France, where the order collects millions of euros a year, there had been a decrease of up to €30,000, according to the man in charge of their charitable work, Dominique de La Rochefoucauld-Montbel.

“This has been troublesome for our donors,” he told journalists at the Foreign Press Club in Rome today. “People decided not to help us because they thought we were fighting against the Pope. But it was not true. We need to restore the trust.”

Albrecht von Boeselager was sacked in December by former Grand Master, Matthew Festing, after being accused of distributing condoms in Myanmar and parts of Africa. But today the German knight said his dismissal was an “illegal act” under the knights’ constitution because Festing, along with the order’s patron Cardinal Raymond Burke, had claimed it was the wish of the Holy See.

This was later proved to be false and sparked an investigation into the matter by the Vatican. Von Boeselager, whose father Philippe was part of the famous Valkyrie plot to kill Hitler, said that while he had pledged a promise of obedience to the Grand Master this did not include following a decision which broke the knights’ rules.

“Nothing can be asked that is not in the frame and constitution of the code,” he explained to journalists today in his first public comments since his dismissal. “It [the sacking] was based on the assumption that the Holy See had asked for my resignation. Both were not the case, so I did not feel bound by my promise of obedience to follow the request.”

Now reinstated to his former position as Grand Chancellor, he stressed the accusations made against him by the former Grand Master and Cardinal Burke “were groundless” and that when he discovered condoms were being distributed he stopped the programme. “I feel bound to the teachings of the Church and if you ask my friends they would rather see me on the conservative, not the liberal, side”, he said.

Rochefoucauld-Montbel explained that the condoms had been distributed in a project in Myanmar designed to help prevent sexual slavery but as soon it was found they were being given out, action was taken and an internal inquiry conducted. Nevertheless, sources inside the order said Cardinal Burke pushed for action to be taken against the German Grand Chancellor, whose position as number three in the order is the equivalent role of both a foreign and interior minister. “I think you know cardinal Burke - his special attention was adhering to Church teaching”, von Boeselager said today.

Rochefoucauld-Montbe explained, however, that the order helps people difficult parts of the world such as war torn countries and places destroyed by earthquakes and as a result it can be hard to apply doctrine. “Principles have to be followed,” he explained. “But from time to time we are challenged, and we have to find a solution within the teaching of the Church. It isn’t always easy”.

The row between the knights and the Vatican went public when the Pope announced a commission to investigate von Boeselager’s sacking, a process which Festing and his allies said they would not co-operate with on the grounds they are a sovereign entity. “My assumption is the Grand Master was ill advised,” von Boeselager said, adding that while the order is sovereign with diplomatic missions to more than 100 countries, it is also a religious order. “They are two sides of the same coin,” he said.

The Pope, von Boeselager went on, is focussed on reforming the religious aspects of the order, particularly the fully professed knights who have taken vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. This process will be aided by a papal delegate who is now Francis’ sole spokesman between him and the order, a function which Cardinal Burke is supposed to carry out as patron. The latest move by the Pope now means that while technically remaining in office he does not have a job to perform.

The cardinal has been one of the most public critics of the Pope, even threatening to “formally correct” him over Amoris Laetitia and steps to give communion to remarried divorcees. Von Boeselager said the knights now wanted to make a fresh start with the Vatican and could not function without a good relationship with the Pope. “The concern of the order is to re-establish trust between the order and the Holy See”, he said. According to the order’s constitution elections for a new Grand Master, elected for life, must take place within three months of a resignation or death. But it is possible for an interim leader to be elected and for him to hold office for a year.

http://www.lastampa.it/2017/02/02/v...-with-pope-NkqFByVxsE5X5Sm6E4oCvJ/pagina.html

 

Regarding "Malta," this pope and the contraceptive issue:

http://motheofgod.com/threads/where-does-pope-francis-really-stand-on-contraception.10202/

 

According to some news sources, Mr. Van Boeslager and Cardinal Marx are friends. Says it all really. No wonder money was a major issue in the dispute. Seems like everything has a price in today's poor Church for the poor. I suppose once we sell the Blessed Eucharist to keep German adulterers happy, everything else is cheap at the price.

 

I have kept out of this thread for specific reasons. However, I just wish to refer all here to today's essay on the subject by Father Hunwicke (liturgicalnotes.blogspot.ie). It is taking the long-term view somewhat, but I found it very encouraging and we do need some of that these days.

 

Just helping to post the whole essay here:


2 February 2017
Cardinal Mueller's Interview: the Cat is now Skinned even more thoroughly than before ...

Cardinal Mueller's 'interview' seems to me exactly what the current crisis in the Church required. Since, as he makes clear, his Dicastery is the organ which is charged with issuing doctrinal clarifications, he has adroitly set down a marker which automatically puts certain bishops in the wrong; I mean those prelates who have impertinently given their own "interpretations" which run contrary to his Eminence's clear explanations. He has wrong-footed those who had appealed to an alleged letter to some Argentinian bishops ... the existence of which I for one will not accept until I see it officially in print in AAS. And he has put a ring of defence round faithful bishops, such as Bishop Lopes, Bishop Egan, Archbishop Chaput. Nobody, however lofty, can take them on now without finding themselves also taking on the man who is specifically commissioned by the Sovereign Pontiff himself to be his doctrinal arm. Not a good day for Cardinal Farrell!! Probably not a good day, either, for 'Archbishop' 'Tucho' Fernandez. Or Mgr Rio Tinto. Et ubi nunc Scicluna?

And Mueller has deftly resurrected Veritatis Splendor. Unaccountably, the drafters of Amoris laetitia appeared to have mislaid their copies of that document, one of the most important doctrinal interventions of a Roman Pontiff in the twentieth century. (The Polish Bishops, I imagine, will be particularly gratified and chuffed by the Mueller Interview ... Gaude, Regina Poloniae!) Also resurrected is part of an important paragraph of Familiaris consortio which unaccountably slipped from the typeset when the first part of the same paragraph was reproduced in Amoris laetitia. And he has reprimanded those who construct revolutionary edifices upon the basis of a couple of possibly ambiguous footnotes [see my piece of January 16].

Happily, the Cardinal Prefect has implicitly and usefully contextualised the remarks which Cardinal the Graf von Schoenborn made when he was 'presenting' Amoris laetitia. Since doctrinal explanation of a document addressed (I presume) to the Universal Church is more the function of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith than it is of the Archiepiscopal See, however glorious, of Vienna, any elements of the Graf's 'presentation' which may be considered by some to be inconsistent with Cardinal Mueller's explanations must now clearly fall to the ground, where they may well get trampled under foot as all right-thinking men (and women) rush to open the prosecco.


His Eminence has reprobated a particular error which was raised in one of the Synods; and by the clearest implication he has put out of court the notion that different episcopal conferences might lawfully confect contrary and contradictory "interpretations" of Amoris laetitia.

And all this on the same day as that on which the splendid Statement of our four wonderful and faithful Confraternities of Catholic Clergy came out!!

Come along, all you grumpies! Rejoice! At least for today!

A good day for orthodoxy!

Fugite, partes adversae!!!

 

Seems like the longer you wait the more the fuller background details fill in the whole picture.

http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/6690/0/former-grand-master-says-knights-drama-not-finished-

 

What a nasty business. They all should have been sacked if they covered for a child molester. Strange that it's only being raised as a sacking offence now when large sums of money are involved.

 

I would like to read all this in a better source than The Tablet. As for facilitating a child molester-that can be a promotional qualification in some quarters, nowadays.

 

Yes, the Tablet and Austin Iveragh wouldn't be the most impartial sources. I'm just wondering which is the greater evil: sacking someone or covering up for child abuse. Apparently giving the wrong person the sack is more serious.

Expect to see a lot of dirty linen looking for a laundry. It's like a street screaming match with an uppercrust accent.

 

I can only visualise, in my mind's eye, a lot of laundries running away screaming. With disparate accents!

 

Frankly, I think with all of the various reportage about Mueller he's been about as clear as fog at times like so many others. Perhaps he's attempting to follow his own advice to other bishops.....that it's the Pope who interprets for the bishops not the other way round which he says inverts the regular order of the faith.

 

What's foggy about interpreting AL in the light of Scripture and two millennia of tradition? I think he's re-emphasising the Magisterium and simultaneously trying to reduce the risks of schism.

 

I think this is it exactly!
Taking all of Cardinal Muller's statements together I think his biggest goal is to try to keep the Church from splitting.

 

That is what those who want to live according to the church unchanging truths want from Pope Francis is his interpretation. He won't give it, cause he wants to live in ambiguity on this very important doctrine on adultery the 6th commandment of God and the truth that many saints have lost their head for.

 

Oh dear, I seem to find myself being drawn into more posts than I had intended but I just have to respond to Fatima's post here.

The Holy Father has shown us his interpretation clearly in his forthright support for the Argentinian bishops guidance and also his likely support for the publication in L'Osservatore Romano of the Maltese bishops guidance. The problem the Francis critics have is accepting that interpretation.

Cardinal Mueller's recent interpretation is his own. We shall have to wait and see if Pope Francis is ok with him nevertheless remaining head of the CDF.

 

Becciu named as Pope’s delegate to Order of Malta
Senior Vatican figure given task of overseeing “renewal” of knights


Archbishop Giovanni Becciu

Pubblicato il 04/02/2017
CHRISTOPHER LAMB
ROME

Pope Francis today appointed one of his top officials has pontifical delegate to the Knights of Malta giving him the task of overseeing a “spiritual and moral renewal” of the order.

Archbishop Giovanni Becciu, who runs the general affairs section at the Secretariat of State, has been designated as Francis’ “sole spokesman” on matters to do with the knights, who have recently engaged in a bitter public dispute with the Vatican.

A letter from the Pope asks the archbishop to focus on the fully professed knights who have taken vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. It is from this group - which numbers 55 out of a total of 13,500 - that the leader is drawn but there have been concerns about the quality of religious life.

A crisis was sparked inside the Order of Malta following former the sacking by former Grand Master, Matthew Festing, of Albrecht von Boeselager, in a row about the distribution of condoms.

This was backed by Cardinal Raymond Burke, the order’s patron, who along with Festing claimed it was the wish of the Holy See.

But the Vatican had never requested the dismissal and therefore commissioned an investigation into the matter and which led to the resignation of Festing. The former Grand Master had also refused to co-operate with the Holy See’s inquiry on the grounds the knights were a sovereign entity although today’s letter from the Pope quotes the order’s constitution that members serve the “faith and the Holy Father.”

An experienced papal diplomat, Archbishop Becciu will work closely with Ludwig Hoffman von Rumerstein, the interim leader of the order, in order to bring about the “greater good of the order” and to bring about greater harmony between its religious and lay components.

Archbishop Becciu will effectively do the job that Cardinal Burke had been supposed to do as patron, whose task is to be the Pope’s representative to the order and be responsible for its spiritual well-being.

Cardinal Burke remains in office but is not mentioned in today’s communique.

According to the order’s constitution elections for a new Grand Master, who is elected for life, must take place within three months of a resignation or death. But it is possible for an interim leader to be elected and for him to hold office for a year.

http://www.lastampa.it/2017/02/04/v...r-of-malta-qZRgRaUKXSBNjKzvnbXCXK/pagina.html

 

Well, then you have to include in C. Mueller's statements reprimands of those who, actually since the beginning of this Pope's papacy, have gone just about everywhere permitting them to speak or write their opinions in order to do just that....interpret for the public just what the Pope "really meant" and who have invited the fog of division and confusion....and who continue to order those even under vows of obedience to disregard STILL the Pope's orders and even involvement.....as in Malta and AFTER what an investigation found as a need for a repair of over-reaching authority. And yet it is such personages of the hierarchy that many exalt has "faithful and true". I think they have rather demonstrated themselves to be just the opposite and as very bad role models for the simple....and have intentionally stirred up just such division among the faithful...even BEFORE any current interpretation is wanting. And to add to the provocation of division is the use of lies in order to infer some type of Vatican authority was behind the firing without recourse of the one under them. Slimy! A lot of people seem to have no knowledge of other types of uses of feigned authority in the past by such individuals which also caused divisions. Perhaps some are already forming their rationale for following some out of the Church and away from the true Magisterium which our Lady in her recent messages keeps warning against. Satan is very clever....even in his use of so called earthly "angels"!