(Rivista Internazionale - December 1998: SOLEMN ANNOUNCEMENT IN MALTA FOR SMOM’S NINE CENTURIES - 2/3)

Mdina. Malta. H.M.E.H. the Prince and Grand Master, together with Ven. Bailiff Fra’ Karl Paar, Member of the Sovereign Council, assisting to the Holy Mass celebrated in conclusion of the gathering, in St. Peter and Paul’s Cathedral by. the Archbishop of Atlanta, H.E. Rev.ma Msgr. Donoghue and by H.E. Rev.ma Msgr. Vernel, present the Prelate of the Order H.E. Msgr. Donato de Bonis.

A long applause showed the Assembly’s appreciation. And by accepting it all participants proved to be ready and well-qualified for the new image of the Knight of Malta in the Third Millennium. Addresses by H.E. the Grand Commander, Ven. Bailiff Fra’ Ludwig Hoffman von Rumerstein, and H.E. the Grand Hospitaller, Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion in Obedience, Baron Albrecht von Boeselager, followed with relevant lecture on spirituality and report on world hospitaller activities. The Grand Priors and representatives of Members in Obedience, co-ordinated by the Grand Commander, the Presidents co-ordinated by the Grand Hospitaller and the Ambassadors co-ordinated by the Grand Chancellor then met in separate sessions. The Presidents appointed 15 Representatives of the National Association for the Chapter General, and tackled the topics of the Member’s annual contribution in conformity with art. 9 par. 4 of the Constitutional Charter and Code. The Ambassadors expressed their hopes for further developments in the Order’s diplomacy, with particular reference to international mediation which opened with the Order’s admittance to the General Assembly of the United Nations. In the palace of the President of the Republic of Malta in Valletta, the Prime Minister of Malta, Fenech Adami, and H.E. the Grand Chancellor, then signed the agreement between the Sovereign Order and the Republic of Malta, in the presence of H.M.E.H. the Prince and Grand Master and the President of the Maltese Republic, present the international press. The main points of the agreement, which replaces that signed between the Order and the Republic of Malta on 21st June 1991, are the following: The Order’s right to "use the land and buildings comprising Fort St. Angelo for the international, humanitarian and cultural activities" of the same Order. The guarantee that Fort St. Angelo, once it has become the Order’s headquarters in Malta, "shall be inviolable" and that this inviolability shall be extended to all the archives, correspondence, documents, manuscripts, photographs, files and records either possessed or kept by the Order in this place.

La Valletta. Malta. Presidential Palace. H.E. the Grand Chancellor, Amb. Conte Don Carlo Marullo di Condojanni, and the Prime Minister of the Maltese Republic, Fenech Adami, signing the agreement on Fort Sant’Angelo.

"Property and goods which "shall be immune from requisition, confiscation, seizure, expropriation and any other form of interference by means of executive, administrative, judicial or legislative actions". An immunity which shall be extended to all "the Order’s official means of transport".
The assurance that the Government of Malta "shall consider the Order’s requirements as having equal importance to that of diplomatic missions". The right to display "in a prominent position on Fort St. Angelo the Order’s flag with that of the Republic of Malta" and the possibility to keep in the fort "a small uniformed corps to perform guard and security services as well as for ceremonial purposes". To conclude the day, full of meetings and work sessions, the President of the Republic offered a reception in the Presidential Palace to all participants in the gathering, attended by the highest government authorities and members of the diplomatic corps of the Order and to the Republic of Malta. The next day, mass was celebrated at Fort St. Angelo in the St. Anna Chapel by H.E. Msgr. Donato de Bonis, Prelate of the Order, in the presence of the Grand Master, members of the Sovereign Council and heads of the Order’s National and International Bodies.

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