Stalinist Purges and More in The Knights of Malta - New Fast-Breaking Developments - OnePeterFive

7/22/2019 Stalinist Purges and More in the Knights of Malta: New Fast-Breaking Developments - OnePeterFive
Stalinist Purges and More in the Knights of Malta: New

Fast-Breaking Developments
Henry Sire June 27, 2019 2 Comments
On 16 May OnePeterFive described the takeover of power in the Order of Malta by the
German, secularising party led by the Grand Chancellor, Baron von Boeselager. The story
goes back to December 2016, when the then Grand Master, Fra Matthew Festing,
attempted to dismiss Boeselager. The latter got Cardinal Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of
State, to intervene and annul the Order’s acts. Next, in January 2017, Pope Francis ordered
Fra Matthew to resign as Grand Master, and Boeselager was reinstated. In 2018
https://onepeterfive.com/stalinist-purges-and-more-in-the-knights-of-malta-new-fast-breaking-developments/ 1/17
Boeselager insisted on the election as Grand Master of a nonentity, Fra Giacomo dalla
Torre, who is now the figurehead for Boeselager’s regime. Then, last May, the takeover
was completed by the elections to the new government of the Order, which amounted to
the total victory of the German party. As OnePeterFive revealed, the list that the Germans
presented was elected almost unchanged: all four of the high officers of the Order, five
out of the six other members of the Sovereign Council, and all six members of the
Government Council, which has an ancillary role.
Within weeks, any thoughts that this absolute power might be exercised with discretion
and moderation have gone by the board. In Portugal, an emissary of the Grand Magistry
has arrived, dismissed the entire council of the Portuguese Association, and appointed a
new council by fiat, in defiance of the custom that such bodies are elected by the local
members. In England, the Grand Prior has been dismissed and a Procurator has been
imposed, again without election. In Rome, the entire council of the Delegation (the body
that assembles all the knights of the Roman area) has resigned. This is significant, since
these are the members of the Order closest to what is going on in the Grand Magistry, and
what they see horrifies them. What the foregoing acts seem to show is a Stalinist purge by
the new regime, when they have been in power for less than two months.
Another incident in this dictatorship was the letter of the Grand Master banning the Old
Rite in the Order’s ceremonies, an act on which I commented a few days ago. Marco
Tosatti cast a new light on the letter by revealing that the President of the Scandinavian
Association, who had asked for the ban, is in fact a German woman – a bitter opponent of
the traditional liturgy – who was imposed on the Association as President by the regime in
Rome, with the aid of another German woman resident in Scandinavia. The Scandinavian
Association as a whole had hitherto distinguished themselves by their enthusiasm for the
Old Rite; but the ban on it was demanded and imposed behind their backs. This is typical
of the way Boeselager manipulates the various branches of the Order, sneaking in his
own moles, and is then able to pretend that an act of intolerance such as this comes from
an independent source.
The German regime is invoking a pretext of “reform” for what it is doing, but in that light
it is useful to look at the treatment of the Grand Priory of England. The Grand Prior, Fra
Ian Scott, was the only knight in it with noble qualifications, and therefore eligible to be
Grand Prior without dispensation. Removing him has made it impossible for a new Prior
to be elected, because the one feature of the old regime that the Germans do not want to
change is the nobiliary rules. The German Association is the most exclusively aristocratic
in the Order (and one must regret that it has fallen under the control of a faction
completely at enmity with its traditions) As I pointed out in my account of the bringing
completely at enmity with its traditions). As I pointed out in my account of the bringing
down of Grand Master Festing in The Dictator Pope, that move was an aristocratic coup
d’état in the Order, against the Grand Master’s party who were more interested in the
Order’s religious character. The three German members of the Sovereign Council, then as
now, are noblemen: Baron Boeselager, Count Esterhazy and Count Henckel. For all the
sanctimonious claims of reform being made by the present government, what reforming
purpose is served by keeping the Grand Priory of England without its regular head by
insisting on nobiliary qualifications?
The Boeselager regime is in fact an exercise in institutionalised hypocrisy, and last week it
produced its masterpiece with the issue of a letter from the Grand Master to the professed
knights regarding the vow of poverty. For years, Baron Boeselager has been working for a
policy in which the professed knights will be forced to give up their property to the Order,
which would then pay them a living allowance. The Grand Master’s letter last week
required the knights to make a declaration of the property they own, with an estimate of
what they need to live on. Now, at first sight it seems anomalous that men who make a
vow of poverty should own property; yet that is necessary because the Order of Malta,
unlike other religious orders, has hitherto lacked the means to support its religious. In
fact the Order in modern times has not merely allowed but required its professed to
retain sufficient funds to support themselves. Knights of Justice who made their religious
profession on this understanding are now unilaterally being asked to give up their
property. Nobody doubts that this is a way to force some of the knights – those who will
not accept the change – out of the Order, and to make the rest helpless dependants on the
German regime. What more powerful threat could there be than to take away people’s
livelihoods? This is Stalinism with a refinement – not simply the confiscation of property
but the pretence of religious duty in imposing it.
We need to realise that there is no religious order that requires its professed to surrender
their property to the order itself. Such a demand would savour of a protection racket, all
the more so in an order which recruits its members typically from the higher classes; and
the Church has always guarded well against allowing it. Religious orders vary a great deal
in the strictness with which the vocation of poverty is interpreted, but normally those
who enter an order are allowed to keep their property until they profess; they then
renounce it but are free to distribute it to whoever they please. In the Order of Malta, the
historical practice was rather different, as was natural in an order recruited from
noblemen who were expected to keep up their status. Knights of Justice were allowed the
use of their property during their lifetime, on the condition that when they died they
bequeathed four fifths of it to the Order. It was also the custom that a knight did not
normally profess until he was appointed to a commandery or other benefice of the Order
normally profess until he was appointed to a commandery or other benefice of the Order,
which he held for life, so that the renunciation of his property was in the nature of a quid
pro quo.
If such a requirement were made now, it would be in line with historic practice, but the
“reform” that is being talked of shows a quite different inspiration. In the first place, an
order that had a genuine project of reform would begin by defining what the role of the
professed is intended to be in the new dispensation. No such vision has even been
suggested. It is being demanded that the professed in future live in community, but no-
one has revealed where such a community would be, or what its nature is. Historically,
the Knights Hospitaller lived in Convent to serve as the garrison of the headquarters of
the Order, and when they had fulfilled their military service they left the Convent and
were appointed administrators of the Order’s estates. Without such a military function
(and without the estates), what would be the purpose of a community of knights? The
plan is based on an assumption that a religious community can only be monastic in type,
which is contrary to the nature of a military order, and it betrays Boeselager’s resolve to
reduce the professed knights to a useless monastic appendage in the Order.
To demand that the professed knights give up their property without any attempt to
assign a role to them is an exercise in confiscatory cynicism. It has been foreshadowed in
the attempt that Boeselager was making for years to make the three Grand Priories in
Italy surrender their institutional property to the Order’s treasury. Those properties are
the basis for the Priories’ existence as religious communities. It was never considered
appropriate to cede them to the Grand Magistry even in the days when the Order’s central
government was conducted exclusively by professed knights; it is even less appropriate
now when, abusively, the Order’s treasurer is a layman, heading a department staffed
wholly by lay people. We saw the same materialistic drive at the root of the whole
present-day scandal, when Boeselager was able to get his dismissal reversed because the
Vatican was concerned at the loss of a Swiss fund whose money he was supposed to be
recovering. The motto of the present regime is “Grab the money.” That simple aim has
allowed them to run rings round their brethren, who were under the innocent illusion
that they were engaged in the vocation of a religious order.
The letter of the Grand Master to the professed ostensibly gives them until the end of
August to make a declaration of their property; but the evidence is that this is just a
formality. The recent actions of the Grand Magistry seem to be a front for a much more
radical show of force. A hint of this was provided by a bullying sermon given on St John’s
Day, the patronal feast, by Cardinal Becciu, the Commissar appointed by Pope Francis in
January 2017, when Cardinal Burke was suspended as Patronus of the Order. Now the
J
7/22/2019
y p
Stalinist Purges and More in the Knights of Malta: New Fast-Breaking Developments - OnePeterFive
inside news from the Vatican is that a manufactured crisis is about to be sprung, under
which most of the professed Knights of Malta are going to be forced out of the Order,
leaving its government wholly at the mercy of the present Stalinist regime. Observers
should take note therefore: there is every indication that within a few months the nine-
hundred-year-old Order of Malta will have joined the list of the religious orders that Pope
Francis has managed to destroy in his brief six years of power. We can be sure that the
work will be carried out with the same hypocrisy and false pretext as in the other cases. It
remains to be seen whether the Knights of Malta will allow themselves to be led to the
slaughter.
Henry Sire
Henry Sire, historian and writer of The Dictator Pope, is the author of six
books on Catholic history and biography, including one on the famous English
Jesuit, writer, and philosopher Father Martin D’Arcy. The Dictator Pope is the
fruit of Henry Sire’s four-year residence in Rome from 2013 to 2017. During
that time he became personally acquainted with many figures in the Vatican,
including cardinals and curial officials, together with journalists specializing in Vatican affairs.
CATEGORIES
Church News, Featured, Knights of Malta
TAGS
Knights of Malta, Sovereign Military Order of Malta
PREVIOUS
Should Traditional Catholics ‘Move Past’ the Liturgy Debates?
JUNE 26, 2019
NEXT
For the First Time in 50 Years, a Latin Mass for the Merchant Marine Academy
JUNE 27, 2019
OnePeterFive Comment Policy

By leaving a comment, you are indicating that you agree to abide by our comment policy.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting. 
What do you think?
16 Responses
Upvote Funny Love Surprised Angry
Sad
58 Comments OnePeterFive 
1 Login
 Recommend t Tweet f Share Sort by Best
Join the discussion…
LOG IN WITH
OR SIGN UP WITH DISQUS ?
Name
Dale Price • 25 days ago

The path forward is quite simple: refuse the Vichy regime's decrees and set up a
government in exile.
Accepting this totalitarian crap is not "holy obedience"--it's bending the knee to Baal.
24 △ ▽ • Reply • Share ›
Fred Flint > Dale Price • 24 days ago

The Knights in Obedience are obedient to serve God, not to serve the Hierarchy...
1△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›
Dankin > Fred Flint • 23 days ago

Not to serve evil NWO/Freemason. Divine justice is on the way.
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›
Deacon Augustine • 24 days ago

Why would anybody want to remain in an organization that has become so corrupt?
Even its charitable works have become corrupted and serve the work of anti-church and
antichrist. Get out from among them and do something more edifying with your time
like mowing the grass.
12 △ ▽ • Reply • Share ›
antilatitudinarian > Deacon Augustine • 24 days ago

Note that, in the eyes of many, this very argument applies at least as strongly to
the Catholic Church as a whole...
I'm afraid it's exactly this kind of defeatism that has been enabling the mess we
find ourselves in. I wouldn't argue for anybody to join such orders but those who
already are members shouldn't leave without putting up a fight. The enemy plays
the divide-and-conquer strategy, his intention is precisely to destroy our
venerable communal institutions in order to remove any possible obstacles to his
agenda. Is there anything he could wish more than for us to voluntarily become a
set of isolated individials incapable of any proper resistance?
Deacon Augustine > antilatitudinarian • 23 days ago

The Catholic Church is necessary for salvation - we have no choice but to
remain in her whatever the vile proclivities of the men of the Church.
That is not the case for the multitude of orders which reside within her
ranks. These can be folded, suppressed or discarded as and when
necessary. Imagine if JPII had had the guts to do a Clement XIV on the
Jesuits ... history might have been very different.
Romulus > Deacon Augustine • 24 days ago

I drew back from involvement with Malta right after the coup. I could never be
part of that. I have plenty of other things to occupy me.
Show more replies
Johann du Toit • 25 days ago

Is it wrong to pray that evil men like Boeselager and Becciu fall from power in disgrace
so they can do no more harm to our Church?
isleAwhile > Johann du Toit • 24 days ago • edited

Not hardly. Go for it.
Restore Order > Johann du Toit • 25 days ago • edited

I hear you, Johann, and I imagine this type of question arises in the minds of
many who love Holy Mother Church and are disgusted with the behavior of those
who would harm Her or the faithful. I resolve it by simply praying for the
purification and sanctification of the Church. This lets the Almighty God select
all the "implementation details," such as whether an office-holder undergoes a
conversion or a downfall.
Stewart Davies > Restore Order • 24 days ago

We pray, as in all things, that God's perfect will be done. And herein lies
my own approach when considering all of this corruption and apostasy,
including, and especially Comrade Bergoglio. It is our utmost confidence
that God will be glorified in all things. And this includes the current
papacy. How this will be manifested, and when, is for God alone to know,
until the time of its manifestation is upon us.
Show more replies
Show more replies
Show more replies
CadaveraVeroInnumero • 24 days ago • edited

Maybe the purge is more Nazi than Soviet. (Come on, I don't mean Night of the Long
Knives stuff.) The Soviet purges were very chaotic and messy; the plan evolved from the
bloody mess. The Nazis were methodical and obsessively goal driven; they had an
instinct for weaponizing personnel.
TomD > CadaveraVeroInnumero • 23 days ago • edited

It was more than an instinct, as you point out there was a great deal of
calculation. The movie The Promise was made a couple of years ago to depict the
Armenian genocide. In it there was a scene in which a Turkish lieutenant
governor attempted to warn Christians of an impending attack. While this was
fiction, it is an historical fact that about half of the Turkish governors resisted
implementing the genocide and had to be replaced, often with the murdering
governors being constantly shifted around. It is known today that the Nazis
deliberately studied the Turkish genocides and one conclusion they drew was
they would be sure to replace everyone with their own men before starting their
own slaughters.
PS, the Soviets were 'messy' in part because the purgers knew they could be
purged too. They had to go over the top.
John Laws > CadaveraVeroInnumero • 17 days ago

SMOM conferred honors on Nazi General Reinhard Gehlen. It cooperated in the
escape of Nazi war criminals from justice and facilitated their folding into the
CIA, Latin American dictatorships, and stay-behind terrorist armies. Now, their
slimy guests choose to loot them just as they have the rest of the world? What
slimy guests choose to loot them, just as they have the rest of the world? What
kind of mafia of the mediocre would lay down with these dogs? Could they not
imagine that they would get up with fleas?
Guy Stair Sainty > John Laws • 6 days ago

Aside from the fact that Gehlen was opposed to Hitler's policies in the
East, that he assisted in the July Plot and was a trusted defender of
German democracy after WWII, he was never a member of the Order of
Malta but received the grand cross of merito melitense in 1948. He
staunchly challenged communist rule in Eastern Europe and was a devout
Catholic. What evidence do you have that the Order had any involvement
in helping Nazis escape? It was suppressed in all the states under German
occupation and several knights were closely involved in the various plots
against Hitler; membership of the Nazi party was completely
incompatible with membership in any Christian, let along Catholic
organisation. It was also prevented from functioning in any communist
states, with exile associations formed by refugees who had been driven
from their home countries into exile abroad.
Show more replies
Show more replies
Charles E Richard • 24 days ago

Could this be a trial of a strategy Rome will use to strangle off authentically Catholic
leadership from any meaningful position of authority anywhere they become an
inconvenience? A proof of concept?
Donna_Bethell > Charles E Richard • 24 days ago

Yes, they have been doing that: Cdls. Müller and Burke removed from the Curia,
Bp. Schneider cooped up in Kazakhstan. They know the power of the usus
antiquior and will use it as the litmus test.
Halt94 > Donna_Bethell • 24 days ago

Other examples include what has been done to the Franciscan friars of
Other examples include what has been done to the Franciscan friars of
the Immaculate and, more recently, the Little Sisters of Mary, Mother of
the Redeemer:
https://www.google.com/amp/...
Show more replies
Ryan Carey • 23 days ago

So they Knights won't fight? Seems like they surrendered in battle. They're not worthy of
their titles.
Fred Flint > Ryan Carey • 22 days ago

"Not worthy of their titles" is a correct statement. That is one of the issues as the
Order is used for social climbing. Mediocre people get a position they would not
get in real life. The rest are just happy that someone else is doing the job.
The Order of Malta lost its core long time ago. The previous Grand Master
wanted the inner circle to consist of fratres and failed. A "democratic" General
Chapter took place where non-fratres set the agenda and decision-making.
Sometimes, it is wise to remove your forces, gather in position and attack again
with strength. As the current coup-leader has paid the Pope and the Secretary of
State Parolin for his coup with laundred money and called the secularized
german Cardinals for a favor, the defence is difficult.
Parolin has support from his "fellow" Bilderberg decision-makers.
A new Pope may change the agenda. A new Grand Master may change the
scenario.
The destruction is moving rapidly downwards with der Böse behind the steering
wheel, that is for sure.
anna carolina > Ryan Carey • 17 days ago

Exactly. .
Fred Flint • 24 days ago

Der Böse in action! Unbelievable story!
The germans lost their nobility after the german revolution but hang on to their so called
titles allowed to be linked to the last name.
210 million CHF laundred where some 30 million was given to the Order of Malta but
split in 10 years. Where are the remaining money?
The poverty vow within the Order of Malta is stated in the Codex. The vow is a non-
powerty as such but you as a Knight of Justice are supposed to live non-extensively but
allowed to keep means to get you by. You need to be able to travel as Knight of Justice.
The community is not a closed-within-the-walls community.
The germans do not have any knights of Justice despite being more than 1200 members.
The brits have around 30.
The Order of Malta is not a proper Sovereignity as it is part of the Church. It is brilliant
marketing and works to get such status. It has its right to elect a Grand Master without
interference from the Pope. But it is a group within the Church with the Pope as its
head, which he clearly has shown.
Time to stop donating governmental funds to this money laundering entity.

Crotalus • 24 days ago

The blatant corruption of these people is simply breath-taking. As the Francis regime
rolls on, there no longer seems to be any attempt to disguise its evil intentions.
anna carolina > Crotalus • 17 days ago • edited

But why do we seem to be lying down letting this roll right over us???? Yes, we
are praying and doing penance. But eventually don't we all need to stand up to
these shenanigans ?
Sunnisyde • 24 days ago

I am waiting for the wrath of the Almighty Judge Himself to sack the evil that's reining
in the Vatican !
Dankin > Sunnisyde • 23 days ago • edited

God has intervened by exposing their wickedness. Have you seen the real faces of
evil clown and his gang now?
Barry • 24 days ago

Given that after all that has happened with them, The disOrder of Malta (bereft of an
internal counter revolution) has become a worldly 'old farts club' reflecting the
trajectory of the visible institutional church (as presently understood) in due time.
Gerry > Barry • 24 days ago

Spare us the vulgar language; Catholic ladies read this site.
anna carolina > Gerry • 17 days ago

Refreshing response in this vulgar age.
George Orwell • 23 days ago • edited

George Orwell • 23 days ago • edited
KOM, what a joke! They are not knights just a bunch of old modernists in a club.
Dankin > George Orwell • 23 days ago

Modernists, freemasons, commies.
anna carolina > Dankin • 17 days ago • edited

??
Nicolas Bellord • 24 days ago

I wonder what will happen if a professed Knight is found to have little or no property
and is unable to support himself having had his career destroyed and being sacked from
a supportive post in the Order. Will he be paid some sort of pension?
fondatorey • 25 days ago

Amazing: who do they think is going to be left to run the whole set up after they are all
dead (judging by the photos on KOM website this could be pretty soon for any of them)?
I mean you would think that the "nobility" [sic] would have to be a little concerned that
institutions should survive them given that they are the well-rewarded beneficiaries of
previous generations whose behavior had nothing to do with them personally.
It's like the baby boomers and older are on a mission to sell off all the assets of our
entire civilization so there is nothing left when the last one of them kicks the bucket.
Nicolas Bellord > fondatorey • 24 days ago

The irony is that the German nobility was abolished in 1918.
winslow • 24 days ago

What scum they are, led by the Chief of Scum, Sr. Bergoglio.
davend • 24 days ago

Isn't Cardinal Burke still technically in charge of this fiasco? Why not resign? It's very
confusing.
Sunnisyde > davend • 24 days ago

Cardinal Burke is not in charge since he no longer has any power to do anything
there since Frankie demoted him...
MaryKJ • 24 days ago

I cannot be surprised but I am so disappointed that the persecution of the Knights of

Malta continues. Perhaps the surprise is that it took so many years post Second Vatican
Council for the trap to spring. And how sad for the members who thought they were
d i i t i C th li h it Th l h ti f th bb
Categories
Mass Hysteria: What the Mass Is and What It Is Not

July 18, 2019
The Usefulness of Leviticus: Sacri ce for Catholics

July 17, 2019
1P5: Reaching More People Than You Think

July 16, 2019
Two Hundred Years of Strangulation: Reviving Form in a Formless Age

July 16, 2019
The Lamb of God Is Not Made of Cotton Balls

July 16, 2019
© 2017 OnePeterFive, Inc. All rights reserved.

Stalinist Purges and More in The Knights of Malta - New Fast-Breaking Developments - OnePeterFive

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

You might also like

Stalinist Purges and More in The Knights of Malta - New Fast-Breaking Developments - OnePeterFive

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Stalinist Purges and More in The Knights of Malta - New Fast-Breaking Developments - OnePeterFive

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

7/22/2019 Stalinist Purges and More in the Knights of Malta: New Fast-Breaking Developments - OnePeterFive

Stalinist Purges and More in the Knights of Malta: New

Church News, Featured, Knights of Malta

Knights of Malta, Sovereign Military Order of Malta

Should Traditional Catholics ‘Move Past’ the Liturgy Debates?

JUNE 26, 2019

OnePeterFive Comment Policy

Upvote Funny Love Surprised Angry

 Recommend t Tweet f Share Sort by Best

Join the discussion…

Dale Price • 25 days ago

Fred Flint > Dale Price • 24 days ago

Dankin > Fred Flint • 23 days ago

Deacon Augustine • 24 days ago

antilatitudinarian > Deacon Augustine • 24 days ago

Deacon Augustine > antilatitudinarian • 23 days ago

Romulus > Deacon Augustine • 24 days ago

Show more replies

Johann du Toit • 25 days ago

isleAwhile > Johann du Toit • 24 days ago • edited

Restore Order > Johann du Toit • 25 days ago • edited

Stewart Davies > Restore Order • 24 days ago

Show more replies

Show more replies

Show more replies

CadaveraVeroInnumero • 24 days ago • edited

TomD > CadaveraVeroInnumero • 23 days ago • edited

John Laws > CadaveraVeroInnumero • 17 days ago

Guy Stair Sainty > John Laws • 6 days ago

Show more replies

Show more replies

Charles E Richard • 24 days ago

Donna_Bethell > Charles E Richard • 24 days ago

Halt94 > Donna_Bethell • 24 days ago

Show more replies

Ryan Carey • 23 days ago

Fred Flint > Ryan Carey • 22 days ago

Parolin has support from his "fellow" Bilderberg decision-makers.

anna carolina > Ryan Carey • 17 days ago

Fred Flint • 24 days ago

Time to stop donating governmental funds to this money laundering entity.

Crotalus • 24 days ago

anna carolina > Crotalus • 17 days ago • edited

Sunnisyde • 24 days ago

Dankin > Sunnisyde • 23 days ago • edited

Barry • 24 days ago

Gerry > Barry • 24 days ago

anna carolina > Gerry • 17 days ago

George Orwell • 23 days ago • edited

Dankin > George Orwell • 23 days ago

anna carolina > Dankin • 17 days ago • edited

Nicolas Bellord • 24 days ago

fondatorey • 25 days ago

Nicolas Bellord > fondatorey • 24 days ago

winslow • 24 days ago

davend • 24 days ago

Sunnisyde > davend • 24 days ago

MaryKJ • 24 days ago