Relacje dyplomatyczne między Stolicą Apostolską a Zakonem Maltańskim

Abstract

An examination of the international status of the Order of Malta would be incomplete without an overview of the Order’s relationship with the Holy See, especially in regard to its sovereign autonomy and the rights of active and passive legation which it exercises. The norms governing this relationship under the Constitutional Charter of 1961 were explicitly based on the sentence of the Cardinalitial Tribunal established by Pope Pius XII (1939–1958) following the Order’s appeals in its disputes with the Sacred Congregation of Religious. Specifically, the previous Constitutional Charter declared that the position of the Order with regard to the Holy See is defined by the Sentence of the Cardibalitial Tribunal instituted the Supreme Pontiff Pius XII with the Chirograph “Il Sovrano Militare Ordine” of 10 December 1951, pronounced on 24 January 1953. In this regard, the constitutional carried out by the extraordinary General Chapter of 28–30 April 1997 and promulgated by the present Grand Master who ordered its formal publication in the “Bolletino Ufficiale” of 12 January 1998, completely modified tjis situation. The Reference to the sentence of the Cardinalitial Tribunal has been eliminated from the Constitutional Charter. In fact, the Constitutional Charter disposes that religious persons, subsequent to their proper Vows, as well as members of the Second Class with the Promise of Obedience, are subject only to their proper Superiors in the Order. With regard to the diplomatic representation of the Order to the Holy See, the present Constitutional Charter simply affirms that the Order has a diplomatic representation to the Holy See according to the norms of international law. In fact, the “Annuario Pontificio”, the official yearbook of the Holy See, lists the Order under the Most Excellent Diplomatic Corps before the Holy See rather than under Institutes of Consecrated Life. With regard to the Order’s rights of “passive legation”, the Supreme Pontiff names his representative to the Order a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church with the title of “Cardinalis Patronus”, furnishing him with special faculties in accord with the Constitutional Charter of the Order. Among the responsibilities of the Cardinal “Patronus” is the promotion of the spiritual interests of the Order and its members and the relations between the Holy See and the Order.