(Rivista Internazionale - December 1998: An epochal turning point - 3/5)

Rome. H.E. the Grand Chancellor during the press conference held on 12 January in the headquarters of the Foreign Press Association in Rome. On his right, the Communication Secretariat, Gian Luigi Rondi Nasalli, on his left, the President of the Foreign Press Association, Enrich Kusch.

The Order’s sovereignty lies in its diplomatic recognition, in the consensus the international community gives to its mission, over and above its territory, over and above its population; and over and above the idea - now out-of-date - that, for there to be a Sovereign State, there has to be a government, a population and a territory. Otherwise there would be trouble, there would be trouble if the Order decided to give up the vanity of occupying or holding in sovereignty a strip of land ceded it by a State. It would be running a great risk. Because it would never be an effective sovereignty, but a sovereignty dependent on a local government, entrusted to the whims of the ruling classes, which can change over time. With the further risk that, if problems should arise in the relations between the State from which the territory has been obtained and the Order, the Order could once again be without territory, as in the times of Napoleon.
And now I come to the Sant’Angelo fort, a theme linked to this discourse. Everyone knows how attached we are to the Republic of Malta, proved by a thousand things. The Order has taken on the restoration of the Sant’Angelo Fort with the specific idea of making it habitable.
The negotiations under way have taken a step ahead; but it is a step ahead on the level of bilateral relations, because it is fostering the development of a co-operation certainly useful for the Order and for the government of Malta. Without however, and I stress this to avoid misunderstandings, the Order ever having thought of leaving Rome and Italy, leaving its base of international recognition to pursue a sovereignty linked to a small territory of a small island in the Mediterranean. I say this because I have heard many speak on this and I would like to reassure, through you, your respective Presidents and Grand Priors that the Magistry does not intend to take any initiative here. It only wants to take the peaceful path of developing bilateral relations between the Order and the government of Malta. How and when we shall see at the proper time.

Havana, Cuba. The official Delegation of the Order led by H.M.E.H. the Prince and Grand Master together with H.E. the Grand Chancellor (right), visiting the President of the Cuban Republic.

Before concluding this general discourse I would like to highlight two, more modest, arguments. The first is the strengthening of the Order’s international structure. The Order, through its various stages, has managed to give itself a new international quality. We have to thank our Hospitaller, who first arranged the international meeting of Hospitallers. But there is also the establishment of a Co-ordination Centre in Miami and our diplomatic mission to the United Nations in New York. There could be a documentation centre in this mission which, among other things, would be very useful in our fight against the Bogus Orders.

Honduras. Some volunteers of ECOM arriving in the areas hit by hurricane Mitch.

The Holy See has recently given a sign of great friendship on this matter, publishing a communication of ours which specified the exclusive legitimacy of the Order of Malta. The Communication Secretariat has given it the maximum circulation. We have also notified our ambassadors to the various countries as well as our mission to the United Nations so it can be transmitted to all the members of the General Assembly. I ask the Communication Delegates to make good use of it whenever necessary. I add that this communication was drawn up in the respect of the four Orders which are not bogus, that is, the Johanniter Order, the Most Venerable Order of Saint John, the Johanniterorden I Sverige and the Johanniterordern in Nederland cited in the note to the United Nations.
The second matter, before going on to the item of the Jubilee on today’s agenda, concerns the updating of the Order’s structures. You will soon be receiving a notice about a reorganisation of services regarding the entire Order. In the Chancellery, instead of two general secretariats, there will be one with two technical offices, passing to an intermediate position between the dignitary and the secretariat with a general directorate.
All the hospitaller and health services must also, slowly this time, be grouped under a new structure. We are working on this. These are not things that can be done in the immediate future, but there is a firm political will to implement this programme.

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