VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register
BY ELISE HARRIS, CNA/EWTN NEWS
January 30, 2017
VATICAN CITY – After Pope Francis asked Knights of Malta Grand Master Matthew Festing to resign earlier this week, the Order has accepted the resignation, named an interim leader and reinstated their former Grand Chancellor, Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager.
According to a Jan. 28 press release from the Order of Malta, their Sovereign Council – in an extraordinary meeting held Saturday to vote on Festing’s request to step down from office – “accepted his resignation” and informed Pope Francis of the decision.
They also announced the appointment of Grand Commander Fra’ Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein as the new “Lieutenant ad interim” until a new Grand Master is elected.
Along with Festing’s resignation, the decision to annul the decrees establishing “the disciplinary procedures” recently taken against former Grand Chancellor Albrecht Boeselager as well as “the suspension of his membership in the Order” was announced.
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