President of the Hellenic Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou welcomed the Grand Master of Malta, Fra’ John T. Dunlap, at the Presidential Mansion in Greece on Friday.
The full title of Fra’ John T. Dunlap is Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Hospital Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes, and Malta.
This was the first official meeting between the Grand Master and the Greek President, emphasizing the beginning of closer cooperation in matters of common interest, such as culture, migration, and the provision of humanitarian aid.
Sakellaropoulou pointed out that the Hellenic Republic and the Sovereign Military Hospital Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes, and Malta only established diplomatic relations in December 2021.
The two officials noted that “our long common presence in the Mediterranean region as well as our common views on modern-day issues, such as the strengthening and defense of religious freedom and interfaith dialogue, is a solid foundation for our bilateral relations.”
The Grand Master stressed that “the ties that connect us are much older and start in the 14th century, when the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem arrived [on] Rhodes and stayed there for about 200 years.”
History of the Order
The Order of the Knights of the Hospital of St. John in Jerusalem is an organization founded in 1048 in Jerusalem as a hospital with the aim of caring for the poor and sick pilgrims to the Holy Land.
After the conquest of Jerusalem during the First Crusade in 1099, the hospital was converted into a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. The Knights Hospitaller, was founded then by the Blessed Gerard in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
On February 15, 1113, Pope Paschal II formally recognized the Order by the Holy See as a religious order with the title Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem. Headquarters were located in the Holy Land until 1291, when the last Christian stronghold was lost and the Order moved to Cyprus.
From Cyprus, the Knights moved to Rhodes in 1310 and stayed there for over 200 years. After repeated attacks from Turkey, the Knights of Rhodes were forced to abandon the island on January 10, 1523 and had no territory until they were given the island of Malta in 1534.
The Knights stayed in Malta until the end of the 18th century. Malta was lost by military occupation in the Napoleonic Wars, although the Order has never de jure recognized such occupation. Since 1834, headquarters have been located in Rome, Italy.
The Order now has a legal status similar to that of the Pontifical States in 1870. This was prior to the creation of the Vatican State in 1929. The Order’s life and activities are currently regulated by a Constitutional Charter adopted in 1961, which contains a precise definition of both the religious and sovereign status of the Order and has been approved by the Holy See and a Code issued in 1966.
The Charter and Code were revised by Extraordinary Chapter General, 28-30 April 1997, Rome. The Order is frequently referred to by its abbreviated title: Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
The Order today
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Rhodes, and Malta is a sovereign entity, partially recognized as an observer member in the United Nations. It is also recognized as an order of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Order currently has 12,500 members and 80,000 permanent volunteers, along with 13,000 medical staff and is subject to international law. The main purpose of the Order is philanthropy.
The Order has diplomatic relations with 103 states, many of which do not have Roman Catholicism as their dominant religion, as well as five other countries, and international organizations such as the EU and the International Red Cross.
The Governor of the Order by Constitution is the Grand Master, whose term of office is for life. From June 13, 2022, the Grand Master is John T. Dunlap, a lawyer by profession and legal adviser to the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations.
John T. Dunlap was admitted as a Knight Master of Grace of the Order of Malta in 1996. He took temporary vows as a Knight of Justice in 2004 and on June 7, 2008 he took eternal vows as a Knight of Justice at St. Joseph’s Church in Greenwich Village. In May 2014, John T. Dunlap was elected to a five-year term as a member of the Sovereign Council.
On June 13, 2022 Pope Francis appointed him Deputy Grand Master of the Order. He was officially elected head of the battalion on May 3, 2023, at which time he assumed office.
The election of Grand Master of Malta Fra’ John T. Dunlap was made possible by the 2022 revisions to the Order’s constitution ordered by Pope Francis, which removed the traditional requirement that the Grand Master should demonstrate noble descent.
