The Sovereign Military Order of Malta has, for 900 years, existed in a unique legal space. Founded as a hospitaller order of noble knights during the middle ages, it eventually found itself as the sovereign rulers of various territories, including the islands of Rhoades and of Malta, finally losing control of its namesake territory during the Napoleonic Wars.
By the 19th century, the knights, now headquartered in Italy, were still recognized by various European powers - including the papacy - as a sovereign entity, albeit without a territory to govern.
Today, the order is considered a sovereign entity under international law; it issues its own passports and stamps, maintains full diplomatic relations with nation states, and has the same status as the Holy See at the United Nations.
Alongside their diplomatic network, the knights run an international network of aid missions, providing disaster relief and medical support across the world.
The order’s sovereign status, meaning it is unaffiliated with any government, has meant it can be present in many places, like Burma and Gaza, where other international organisations struggle to gain admittance.
But how does an entity that is sovereign without territory, a volunteer aid agency as well as professed religious order, operate in the diplomatic sphere?
Is the Order of Malta’s unique status an anachronism, or the key to its survival and effectiveness?
And how does it all work, anyway?
To find out, The Pillar sat down with the order’s Grand Chancellor, Riccardo Paternò di Montecupo, who serves as the knights’ chief foreign minister.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Your Excellency, the Order's principal work is service of the poor through its relief and aid missions.
How important is its diplomatic status to that work?
The Order is known throughout the world for being totally neutral, which is why it has always been able to help those in need, regardless of their religious, geographical, ethnic, or cultural background.
Although we are a Roman Catholic Religious Order, we do not proselytize, and we do not have a hidden agenda. This is very important. It is the reason why, just a few days ago, we were asked by UN Officials to collaborate in organizing a high-level event on interreligious dialogue in Rome as part of the Jubilee year.
If you add to this the diplomatic protection that we can provide in certain delicate or dangerous situations, the picture is complete. There is virtually no cultural resistance to our humanitarian activity, because the world is well aware of our rigorous neutrality. Further, our diplomatic status allows us to negotiate the access of medical and relief personnel in countries at war, the delivery of humanitarian aid, and the protection of refugees and the vulnerable. In addition, our ambassadors frequently mediate directly with local authorities to ensure that relief operations are efficient and timely.
This unique profile allows us to contact parties that are in the midst of conflict or humanitarian crisis, but are not accessible to most national or non-governmental organizations. Therefore, the Order can keep channels open even in situations of political tension, such as in the Middle East or in other unstable regions of the world. This is precisely what is happening in the Gaza Strip where the Order – in agreement with the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem – may well be the only international entity bringing aid to Gaza City by accessing the northern part of the Strip.
These are examples of how our diplomatic status allows us to operate in conflict zones, in any country, and in any situation.
Combined with our general profile, our diplomatic status helps create an environment of trust that facilitates dialogue between local and international humanitarian actors. It represents a unique form of “soft power” in the international context.
At a higher level of diplomatic engagement, though, for example its mission at the UN, what does this look like in practical terms?
Through its Permanent Observer Missions to the main United Nations offices, Order of Malta plays an advocacy role, working to promote global health issues, support for vulnerable people and the protection of human rights. In particular, it routinely participates in debates on humanitarian relief, natural disasters, refugees, and health crises.
We are increasingly recognized for this.
Last year, I spoke at the Security Council session on Ukraine, and this year at the debate on leadership for peace. This past September, the Secretary General of the United Nations met our Grand Master in a bilateral meeting in which I had the honor of participating. Also, for the first time in history, the Grand Master spoke in September at the General Assembly at the “Summit of the Future.”
In concrete terms, working alongside UN agencies and bodies – such as the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) – our goal has always been not only to provide immediate relief, but also to help rebuild resilient communities, offering long-term recovery and development support.
The defense of human rights, and in particular the respect of the International Humanitarian Law, are central to the Order’s work and to its international advocacy. We have consistently promoted these values at the United Nations. In his address to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Grand Master illustrated the Order’s contribution to the work of the Council.
Thus, the Order of Malta's mission to the United Nations is not only a symbol of its international legitimacy, but also of the major role it plays in the discussion of global policies on sensitive issues in our world.
You say that the defense of human rights is central to the Order's diplomatic work, but that its strict neutrality is vital to its diplomatic interest.
But to defend human rights usually means to defend them against someone who is acting against them.
So how does one balance the neutrality of the Order when defending human rights?
This is a very, very interesting question. To be neutral and unbiased with respect to nationality, religion, gender or the person or the people we help, does not mean that we do not have our values.
As you know, we are a religious order. So everything we do, to use an image that is a bit ‘mystical’ but correct, we do with our eyes directed to heaven. This “double awareness” dates back to the 11th century. Since then, our purpose is to help whoever is in need, because we take care of the person; we take care of the human being.
What we don’t do is judge anyone we are helping, because it is up to someone else to judge, I mean God. And this approach applies to all members of the Order: professed [religious] members and lay members. I think that this is something that belongs to every moment of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. So it's not our place to judge. It is our place to serve, and to serve all human beings who come to us for assistance.
How exactly do diplomatic missions to specific countries operate at a bilateral level for the Order?
The Order's diplomatic missions, in the 113 countries with which it has bilateral diplomatic relations, operate like any other embassy, with the main task of promoting and facilitating humanitarian activities in the host country.
The ambassadors act not only as diplomatic intermediaries, but also as strategic facilitators for local relief and development missions. Of course, they also monitor and facilitate the work of the Order's local organizations, including its associations and relief corps. Therefore, the Order's bilateral relations enable us to implement projects on the ground in a comprehensive and timely manner.
This dual function — diplomatic and humanitarian — allows a more efficient alignment between the political cover that the diplomatic relationship can provide and the international assistance operations.
For example, in natural disaster situations, ambassadors facilitate access to international aid in cooperation with local ministries. This reduces bureaucracy and ensures that aid reaches its destination quickly. This is even more so the case in situations of conflict and danger for aid workers, as is happening in Ukraine.
I suppose there must be a difference between how the Order carries out its bilateral operations in areas where the order is actually delivering its humanitarian work and other countries, perhaps in the West, where it operates in a different way?
Of course, we have diplomatic relations with many countries in the West: Germany, Spain, Greece, and Italy, for example. So we are talking about many countries that belong to the ‘developed’ part of the world.
On the other hand, we have diplomatic relations with many other countries that belong to a weaker part of the world: countries in conflicts, countries that are trying to develop their economies, and countries with political instability.
The Order itself has organizations, “associations,” in 48 countries, and our organizational structure includes more than 30 relief corps. The most important and well-known is the Malteser International. Further, we have established recently at our headquarters in Rome a process through which our ambassadors and our associations can recommend support for specific structured, not just temporary or ad hoc, projects. This support includes financial help as well as any other advice to better organize and manage the project. With an eye to self-sustainability in the medium term.
Every region and country has differences when it comes to disaster relief or humanitarian crises. Having an active diplomatic corps, with ambassadors on the ground and familiar with the nations to which they are accredited, gives the Order a definite advantage. In addition we can bring to the table other Catholic entities, NGOs, etc.
How is the order’s diplomatic corps selected and trained — and funded for that matter?
The fact that the Order of Malta's diplomats are volunteers or self-financed, underlines the deeply vocational nature of their role. This distinctive element reflects the spiritual mission of the Order, where dedication to humanitarian service prevails over considerations of career or reward.
However, this structure can present challenges, especially in high-pressure diplomatic contexts where a volunteer diplomatic corps may not have access to the material resources or institutional support available to embassies of traditional states. The Order is able to offset these difficulties by drawing on its network of international connections to make sure its representatives can operate effectively and credibly.
The selection of the Order's diplomatic corps follows criteria of merit, involving individuals who have shown significant commitment to the universal values of the Order and who possess diplomatic and humanitarian skills.
Our diplomats are trained in both the practical aspects of diplomacy and the management of humanitarian aid, with particular emphasis on the Order's neutrality and independence. Finally, a significant number of our ambassadors have had important diplomatic experience representing other sovereign entities.
You say that the diplomatic corps, your ambassadors, all are volunteers.
They're all, like yourself, from the second class of knights of the Order who make temporary promises of religious obedience, but they are lay people who otherwise give up their jobs, their families, the things they do during their ordinary lives to serve in the Order.
This requires a certain personal means to be able to do this.
Is there still a sense of what we used to call noblesse oblige, that membership of the order involves a certain obligation to give back from a position of relative plenty or privilege?
First, let me clarify the premise of your question.
There are three classes of Knights in the Order. The Knights of Magistral Grace (3RD class), knights in Obedience (2ND class) and Knights of Justice (1ST class). Only the Knights of Justice profess the three Evangelical vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They are essential to the continuance of the Order, for without them the Order would not exist. The Second Class Knights make the [temporary] promise of [religious] obedience. All of our members have a vocation to the Order in one form or another.
The knights who serve in the diplomatic corps view their work in the context of their vocation to the Order. Thus, there is a sense of both vocation and “Noblesse Oblige”.
We have more than 100 ambassadors. Should the Order sustain financially all these ambassadors and their respective missions — the diplomatic and administrative staff, the running costs and so on — the budget would be enormous. We cannot afford this huge amount of money at the expense of the humanitarian operations on the ground.
Fortunately, with a volunteer diplomatic corps, we do not have to bear these costs.
The Order also has many of the other burdens of an independent state to shoulder — passports, franking and so on — these are presumably somewhat burdensome to do correctly, to meet modern international security standards.
How does the Order work through that, and does it work with, for example, the Italian state to help source some of these things?
As a sovereign Entity, the Order of Malta issues passports, has a franking system and is committed to international security standards. To meet increasing security requirements, the Order works with other nations, particularly Italy, to ensure that everything we do complies with international regulations. Collaborations with specialized institutions allow the Order to update and maintain these standards, while safeguarding its independence.
These collaborations, however, are not mere facilities or aid. They are part of a broader network of strategic alliances and international agreements that allow the Order to maintain its sovereign role, while benefiting from the technical support of friendly countries.
With Italy, we have signed many international agreements over time, on health services, franking and security. The same applies to dozens of other countries. This represents an advanced form of diplomacy that goes beyond mere technical assistance. It illustrates that the Order knows how to independently enhance its relations and strengthen its operational efficiency.
