Vatican City – On the Solemnity of St. John the Baptist, patron of the Order of Malta, the Holy Father Leo XIV addressed a long and profound message to the members of the Order, touching on key aspects of their charism, the ongoing renewal, and the challenges that lie ahead. The message combines gratitude and encouragement, but also delivers a strong warning against losing the Order’s religious identity in favor of worldliness or efficiency. The text was made public today following the Pope’s meeting with the Grand Master, H.E.H. Fra’ John Timothy Dunlap.
The Pope begins by expressing gratitude for the good accomplished “wherever love is needed, often in very difficult situations,” and encourages the continuation of the spiritual and juridical renewal already underway. Yet, in typical Leo XIV fashion, the words of praise are accompanied by a warning: “If the proclamation of God’s love were to be lost, the Order would lose its religious character and be reduced to a philanthropic organization.”
The Pontiff strongly reaffirms the foundational charism of the Order — tuitio fidei and obsequium pauperum — emphasizing that these are “two aspects of a single charism,” and warning never to separate charity from faith. Love for the poor, he insists, cannot be mere material assistance, but must be “a witness to God’s love.”
A Charism to Be Guarded Against the Temptation of Worldliness
With words echoing the patristic tradition and the tone of conciliar magisterium, Leo XIV urges vigilance against the temptation to adopt seemingly effective but non-evangelical means: “To attain a good end, the means must also be good,” he states, recalling the temptation of power that Christ Himself faced in the desert.
The Pope reiterates that the unique sovereignty of the Order, recognized at the international level, must be “at the service of tuitio fidei and obsequium pauperum,” and must never become an end in itself.
Spiritual Renewal Before Institutional Reform
Much space is devoted to the current legal reform: the new Constitutional Charter and Melitense Code, the theological-spiritual Commentary, and the need for a proper interpretation of the texts in light of the founding charism. But Leo XIV makes it clear that changing norms is not enough if the heart remains unchanged: “Renewal cannot be merely institutional or normative: it must first be interior, spiritual.”
There is also a direct reference to the importance of the First Class — the religious members of the Order — from whom the Pope expects radical conversion: “If the First Class does not undertake this journey, there is no hope that others will.”
The Holy Father then joyfully highlights several signs of hope: the return to a residential novitiate, the emergence of community life among professed members, and greater attention to spiritual formation. Yet even here, the appeal is clear: competent formators are needed — ones capable of conveying not just concepts, but a way of life rooted in prayer and evangelical solitude.
Between Blessed Gerard and the Future of the Order
The message concludes with an invocation of the Order’s patrons — Our Lady of Philermos, Saint John the Baptist, and Blessed Gerard — and the Apostolic Blessing. Yet the entire text reads like a lectio magistralis on the identity of the Order of Malta in the 21st century. An identity that, in recent years, has been endangered by attempts to interfere in the Order’s internal dynamics, by the thirst for power of some, and by the desire to subject this institution to the authority of overreaching cardinals — thereby undermining its autonomy, which is also based on a precise religious vocation.
With his characteristic frankness and clarity, Leo XIV acknowledges the Order’s remarkable history, but issues a warning: it is not enough to have done good in the past if the goal is now forgotten. “The love that stoops down to the level of the poor,” he writes, “restores our faith in its most tangible form: the experience of God’s nearness.” A reminder that applies not only to the Order but to the entire Church.
R.U.
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