(Rivista Internazionale - December 1996: From the Strategies to the Reform - 4/4)


The reform of the constitutional documents of States and bodies is always the laborious result of a delicate compromise between the substantial needs of different components. The reform of the Constitutional Charter and of the Code is based on two principles: that of the need to adapt to the norms of the new Code of Canon Law, and that, as said earlier, of tackling the new needs of the modern world, on the level of values and on that of organisation. This must be done in perfect understanding with the Holy See, which has the institutional duty of supervising the regulations of religious orders.
The two commissions which have worked on the new constitutional texts have based their efforts on these principles. The texts they have produced, included in the final proposal to be submitted, as said before, to the Extraordinary Chapter General of 1997, represent the base of discussion for the political compromise which has to be reached during the same Chapter between the Order's two major components: the religious and the lay. The hope is that we will arrive at the Extraordinary Chapter General with a broad consensus, enabling a strong and decisive reform; a consensus which must be sought over and above any constraints, to avoid any possibilities of fracture or stubbornness which could affect the effective application of the new regulations.
Each Chapter member will certainly be free to propose amendments or suggest additions to the agenda of subjects concerning the Order's constitutional documents.
It will be the force of free, individual conviction which determines the final document, certainly inspired by tradition, but following the changing times, imposing new ideas for the Order's humanitarian character as well as its nobiliary and charitable-welfare one. This must be done without upsetting its charisma and without being tempted by dangerous adventures which could find internal consensus, but which could also make the Order go down in world opinion; an Order which is historically religious, lay, nobiliary, hospitaller and military.
The amendments to the Constitutional Charter and Code are an important milestone along the road towards the third millennium, seen as a greater participation of members in their Order's religious life, whose structure needs considerable support on the worldly level; support also relating to the political-diplomatic sphere with particular reference to its nature as a Sovereign State.
May the Holy Virgin of Fileremo and St. John the Baptist inspire all the Chapter as it pursues its work of institutional renewal, a necessary premise for those organisational adjustments in the Order's life, indispensable for the years to come and for the human situations on which it has to act, under the enlightened leadership and exemplary testimony of H.M.E.H. the Prince and Grand Master.

On 23 October, Amb. Count Carlo Marullo di Condojanni, Head of the Order's Mission to the General Assembly of the United Nations and Receiver of the Common Treasure, was received in audience in the UN Headquarters in New York by its Secretary General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, to whom he presented his credentials as Permanent Observer of the Sovereign Order to the United Nations.
Amb. Marullo had already met the members of the Order's Permanent Delegation to the United Nations, Amb. Pierre E. Awad, Amb. Gianluigi Quentin, Councillor Henry J. Humphrey, the Head of the Third Commission and relations between the New York and Geneva offices, Amb. Guillermo Perinat y Elyo, Marquis of Campo Real, the Permanent Observer to Geneva, Amb. Count Edward Decazes, and Knight Luigi Toninelli, Head of ECOSOC; the mission is flanked by a group of volunteers who are already following the commission's works. On 13 December, after courtesy visits to the Permanent Representatives, Amb. Marullo met the Secretary for Humanitarian Services of the United Nations, Yasushi Akashi, with whom he discussed stepping up the Order's work within the UN sphere. These contacts will be continued by the Hospitaller of the Order, Baron Albrecht von Boeselager. Amb. Marullo then offered a reception in the United Nation's headquarters, attended by the Heads of Mission of the member States, including the Italian Ambassador, Francesco Paolo Fulci, Knight of Honour and Devotion, the Permanent Observers, including that of the Holy See, Archbishop Renato Martino, and numerous members of the Order, including the President of the American Association, William J. Flynn.

From the Strategies Programme to the Reform Main events from 1987 to 1996

8-9 October 1987, Sovereign Council, Mandate to the Receiver of the Common Treasure for the Future Strategies Seminar

2-4 September 1988, Future Strategies Seminar Establishment of the six Commissions

7 March 1989, Chapter General

22 October 1989, 1st Meeting Strategies Commission

4 June 1990, 1st Report Work Groups

13 September 1990, Henckell Work Groups Report

16-17 November 1990, First Latin-American Meeting

25 February 1991, First Meeting Communications Delegates

21 June 1991, Sant'Angelo Fort Agreement

12 July 1991, First ECOM (Emergency Corps) Meeting

14 October 1992, Sovereign Council, Establishment Marullo Commission "Constitutional Charter and Code Reform "

26-28 March 1993, Hospitallers' Conference

13 October 1993, Sovereign Council, Submission of Proposed Amendments "Constitutional Charter and Code Reform

22 November 1993, Establishment Latin-American Standing Committee

10-11 December 1993, Second Strategies Seminar

25-26 April 1994, Chapter General

9 June 1994, Sovereign Council, Joint Legislative Commission "Constitutional Charter and Code Reform

1994, General Inventory of the Order's Goods

24 August 1994, The Order's Admission to the United Nations

23 June 1995, Establishment of Communication Board

22 October 1995, the Order participates in the United Nations 50th Anniversary General Assembly

27-29 October 1996, Meeting of "Alliance" Members, St. John Orders

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