It’s difficult to pin down the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. The 1,000-year-old organization is a Catholic religious order, a medical aid organization, and an international diplomatic body all rolled into one.
The order serves as an emergency relief organization in many developing nations and disaster zones, with over 2,000 projects in the medical-social field and over 120,000 volunteers and medical staff.
The Grand Master of the Order of Malta is in charge of the organization, which is overseen by the Sovereign Council. The order’s General Chapter elects these members for five-year tenure.
The remaining members of the organization are divided into three groups.
The Knights of Justice, or professed knights, and Professed Conventual Chaplains, who take the religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, make up the First Class. They are religious, yet they are not obligated to live in a community.
The Second Class is made up of Obedient Knights and Dames who pledge to strive for Christian perfection in the spirit of the order.
The Third Class is made up of lay people who don’t take vows or make commitments, but who are committed to living a completely Catholic life in accordance with the order’s beliefs.
The order is remarkable in that it is a sovereign entity under international law, with its own passports, diplomatic contacts, and permanent observer status at the United Nations, despite the fact that it has no territory.
According to former Grand Master Boeselager, this diplomatic independence was critical to its capacity to function in war-torn areas like the Syrian border without being viewed as an instrument of any government.
“Historically, the service to the poor is first,” said Boeselager, “this has always been in the foreground for us.”
“This and the order’s call to promoting, witnessing, protecting the faith are two sides of the same coin. It is creating a space where the faith can be promoted and is possible. The way the order promotes the faith is in combination in its work.”
“We are not theologians, we are not liturgists, our vocation is to promote the faith and serve the poor together.”