As the national jurisdiction in Malta of the above-mentioned Order, we are particularly distressed and mortified by the correspondence that appeared in The Malta Independent on Sunday of 2 June falsely alleging that the local jurisdictions of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem (MHOSLJ) have rebuffed the Holy See and the local ecclesiastical authorities. The MHOSLJ is an open Christian Order of chivalry whose relationships to the Holy See are clearly stated in the Question and Answer section if its international web page at http://www.st-lazarus.net/international/qanda/faq.php.

This clearly states the official relationship thus: “The Holy See, as the formal Vatican State, cannot recognise any Order other than the Pontifical Orders and Chivalric Orders dependent to it – i.e. the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) where the Supreme Pontiff appoints a Cardinal Patron, and the Order of the Holy Sepulcher (OHS) whose Grand Master is a Cardinal appointed by the Pontiff – and those Orders granted by sovereign States with which it entertains diplomatic relations. On this basis, the Vatican has issued notices in L’Osservatore Romano (the Vatican semi-official newspaper) including the Order of Saint Lazarus among the list of Orders that it does not recognise (most recently in 1970). Notwithstanding this, the Spiritual Protectors since 1841 have been the Patriarchs of Antioch, one of the highest-ranking Catholic prelates, and a number of Cardinals are protectors of individual jurisdictions. Furthermore, in 1992, Pope John Paul II officially received on a number of occasions senior members of the Order, and even celebrated a private Mass for members of the Order in his chapel in the Vatican. Peter Bander van Duren notes in his book on Catholic-founded Orders of Knighthood that we need to distinguish between the Holy See (the Vatican State) and the Apostolic See (the Pope as head of the Church and successor of the Apostles). So a short answer is that the Order seems to enjoy apostolic recognition, but not Vatican recognition. Since the Order is now Ecumenical (since the late 1960s), it is arguable that as a Catholic-founded but now secularized Order, it is not up to the Vatican (the Holy See) to recognize it or not any more.

“On 16 October 2012, the Vatican announced that it was simply separating orders into those awarded by the Vatican plus the two where the Pope was Protector (SMOM and OHS), and all others. No Orders were now specifically named as ‘unrecognized’ and the previous list of unrecognised orders was removed. The Order of Saint Lazarus was thus in its history without formal papal recognition for 1489-1519, 1560-1565, 1567, and for the Order under the French Crown and subsequently the Patriarchs of Antioch, 1573-1668, and 1935-2012.”

All this does not entitle your anonymous author to jump to his unfounded conclusions and especially to allege a ‘rebuff’ to the Holy See. There was no rebuff whatsoever.

The international Order has always been highly respectful of all Church authorities, whether in these islands or overseas. The local jurisdiction has always respected the spirit of this relationship and continues to strive to always maintain a respectful and obedient relationship with the local ecclesiastical Catholic authorities, even supporting their charitable works, as the local Church hierarchy well knows.

I do not believe I need go into further issues raised by your ‘special’ correspondent – who hides under the guise of ‘protecting his identity’. It seems obvious the writer is not an unbiased onlooker, but one with some grudge against persons in the Commandery of Gozo, and in fact he seized upon the Manresa activity in Gozo (which was NOT , as alleged, any part of an Investiture), to make his unhappy sweeping statements. Neither need I go into detail about the many other inexactitudes, misunderstandings and wrong information about the true facts concerning our ancient charitable Order that your correspondent seems to labour under. If the matter does not stop here further rights are reserved.

Dr the Chev. J.R. Pace 

Grand Prior – Maltese Islands

The Military & Hospitaller Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem