(Rivista Internazionale - December 1997: The Reform of the Constitutional Charter and Code - 1/1)

Extraordinary Chapter General

The Reform of the Constitutional Charter and Code

Rome. Magistral Villa. H.M.E.H. the Prince and Grand Master, Fra' Andrew Bertie, the High Officers and members of the Sovereign Council during the mass of the Holy Spirit celebrated by the Order's prelate, Msgr. Donato de Bonis, at the opening of the Extraordinary Chapter General.

As established in the Chapter General of 1994, an Extraordinary Chapter General was held from 28 to 30 April in the Magistral Villa on the Aventine Hill, convened by His Most Eminent Highness the Prince and Grand Master, Fra' Andrew Bertie, for the reform of the Order's Constitutional Charter and Code.
The assembly, presided over by His Most Eminent Highness, was attended by the high officers and members of the Sovereign Council, the Order's prelate, Msgr Donato de Bonis, the professed knights and representatives of numerous national associations.
On the indication of the Prince and Grand Master, the new texts for the reform had been prepared by two study commissions co-ordinated by the Grand Chancellor, Ambassador Count Carlo Marullo di Condojanni, promoter of the reform on the basis of the revisions suggested by the Strategies Programme, and by the Grand Commander, H.E. the Ven. Bailiff Fra' Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein.

Rome. Magistral Villa. The Extraordinary Chapter General in session.

The two main components of the Order, the religious and the lay, have reached an agreement for a greater and more direct participation of all members in the Order's religious life. The new requirements and radical changes in the modern world mean that new regulations have to be drawn up, suitable for fostering the Order's activity world-wide.
These regulations regard both its welfare activities and its political-diplomatic affairs, with particular emphasis on its character of a sovereign state in the context of its recent admission to the United Nations as Permanent Observer.

His Eminence Cardinal Pio Laghi, Cardinalis Patronus of the Order, sent the documentation with amendments to the Congregation for the Institutes for Consecrated Life and for the Societies for Apostolic Life, which expressed its approval with a letter of the Prefect, His Eminence Cardinal Martines Somalo, to His Most Eminent Highness the Prince and Grand Master.
The proceedings of the Extraordinary Chapter General and the texts of the Constitutional Charter and Code, with the amendments and revisions, will enter into force after their publication in the Official Bulletin.

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