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Spiritual Commitment
 The
Order of Malta has been a religious Order since 1113, the year it was
recognized by Pope Paschal II. As a religious Order, it is linked to the
Holy See, but at the same time it is independent as a sovereign subject
of international law.
In this respect the religious character of the Order coexists with its
full sovereignty. The Grand Master is at the same time head of a
sovereign State and head of a religious Order. In this second capacity
the Holy Roman Church gives him the rank of Cardinal.
The Order of Malta is a lay religious Order according to Canon Law,
where some of its members are religious - they have professed the three
vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience - and others have taken a
special vow of obedience, while the great majority of the knights and
dames are lay members. The Grand Master of the Order is elected from
among the Professed Knights of Perpetual Vows.
The eight-pointed Cross which symbolizes the Order represents the eight
Beatitudes and is thus a visual memento of its spirituality.
 According
to the Constitutional Charter, members of the Order are required to
maintain exemplary Christian behaviour in their private and public life,
contributing to the maintenance of the Order's traditions.
According to Constitutional Charter rules, the Pope appoints a Cardinal
as his representative to the Order, the Cardinalis Patronus, whose duty
it is to promote the spiritual interests of the Order and of its members
and to maintain relations with the Holy See.
The Pope also appoints the Prelate of the Order from the three
candidates proposed by the Grand Master. The Prelate is the ecclesiastic
superior of the Order's clergy.
The Order remains true to its inspiring principles: defence of the Faith
and service to the suffering. Its members share the same vocation and
strive together for solidarity, justice and peace, based on the teaching
of the Gospels and in the closest communion with the Holy See. They are
involved in active and dynamic charity supported by prayer. No Knight or
Dame is such by privilege of birth or merits acquired, but for having
answered to the call to be where there is a material or moral need,
where there is suffering.
Wherever they settled, the Knights Hospitallers always established first
a Hospital and Hospice and then, if they needed to, built defence
fortifications. What does being a Hospitaller mean in the Third
Millennium? It means dedicating oneself to easing suffering and to
bringing the balm of Christian charity to the sick, anywhere in the
world, not only in hospitals but also in private homes and nursing homes
in the shantytowns of destitute populations. The Order does not only
dedicate itself to the sick, but to the socially isolated, the victims
of persecution and the refugees of any race and religious faith as well
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