UNITED KINGDOM
Christian Today
Ruth Gledhill EDITOR 25 January 2017
The British-born head of the Knights of Malta, a chivalric and charitable order, has resigned in the latest twist in the Vatican condoms row.
Grand Master Matthew Festing, 67, was asked by Pope Francis to stand down after he refused to cooperate with a Vatican commission set up to investigate the sacking of one of his knights, Grand Chancellor Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager.
“The Pope asked him to resign and he agreed,” a spokesperson for the order told Reuters.
Boeselager was fired by Festing because he had supported the use of condoms in a project for the poor. Festing then opposed the Vatican’s enquiry into the dismissal of Boeselager because he said it was interference in the order’s sovereign affairs. …
Festing is from an old British Catholic “recusant” family on his mother’s side. He was educated at Ampleforth and has served as a Deputy Lieutenant for Northumberland and is a trustee for Northumbria Historic Churches.
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