Giorgio Minguzzi via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).
Rome, Italy, Jun 7, 2022 / 10:53 am (CNA).
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta can be hard to define. The thousand-year-old entity is a Catholic religious order, medical aid organization, and intern… […]
The Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican bank. / Andrea Gagliarducci/CNA.
Vatican City, Jun 7, 2022 / 10:30 am (CNA).
The Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), commonly known as the Vatican bank, announced on Tues… […]
Pope Francis meets with the Order of Malta’s Fra’ Marco Luzzago on June 25, 2021. / Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Jun 7, 2022 / 09:05 am (CNA).
The Order of Malta on Tuesday announced the death of Fra’ Marco Luzzago, who had led the 1,000-year-old institution since 2020.
In a June 7 statement, the order said that the 71-year-old died after a “sudden illness” at Villa Ciccolini in the Italian province of Macerata.
The Italian medical doctor, who was related to Pope Paul VI, was elected as Lieutenant of the Grand Master on Nov. 8, 2020.
He was expected to serve for a one-year term ahead of the election of a new Grand Master of the order, a position traditionally held for life.
But his term was extended by Pope Francis amid a push to conclude a years-long process of constitutional reform.
The pope launched the reform process in 2017 after he accepted the resignation of Grand Master Fra’ Matthew Festing.
The Grand Magistry announces, with deep sorrow, the return to the Father’s house of His Excellency the Lieutenant of the Grand Master, Fra’ Marco Luzzago, who passed away today at Villa Ciccolini (Sforzacosta, Macerata province), following a sudden illnesshttps://t.co/7q6Tr61uDR
— Order of Malta (@orderofmalta) June 7, 2022
Festing’s successor, Giacomo dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguineto, died in April 2020 at the age of 75. Festing himself died in November 2021 aged 71.
The order said in its statement: “According to Article 17 of the Constitution of the Sovereign Order of Malta, the Grand Commander, Fra’ Ruy Gonçalo do Valle Peixoto de Villas-Boas has assumed the functions of Lieutenant ad interim and will remain head of the Sovereign Order until the election of the new head of the Order.”
It added that information about the funeral of Fra’ Marco Luzzago would be released “in the coming hours.”
Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Dec. 22, 2021 / Vatican Media.
London, England, Jun 7, 2022 / 08:20 am (CNA).
Metropolitan Hilarion has been released from his position as the Russian Orthodox Church’s chief… […]
Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. / Lucia Ballester/CNA.
Vatican City, Jun 7, 2022 / 05:49 am (CNA).
Cardinal Kevin Farrell will chair a new committee to oversee investments, the Vatican sa… […]
Pope Francis preaches at Pentecost Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, June 5, 2022. / Vatican Media.
Rome Newsroom, Jun 7, 2022 / 05:25 am (CNA).
The news that Pope Francis will visit the Italian city of L’Aquila on Aug. 28 seemed to come out… […]
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St. Louis, Mo., Jun 7, 2022 / 02:50 am (CNA).
If the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade this summer, abortions will be banned entirely statewide in Texas, with limited exceptions. Although some Texas… […]
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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 6, 2022 / 15:56 pm (CNA).
In response to a federal court decision affirming the constitutionality of Oklahoma’s death penalty protocol, Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City … […]
Pope Francis prays with journalists on a papal flight August 14, 2014. / Alan Holdren.
Vatican City, Jun 6, 2022 / 11:54 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has expressed his “spiritual closeness” to Nigerian Catholics mourning the victims of a massacre at … […]
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