Cardinal-designate Tomasi is new special delegate to Order of Malta (original) (raw)

Pope Francis has appointed soon to be Cardinal Silvano Maria Tomasi to be his Special Delegate to the Sovereign Order of Malta.

Tomasi is one of 13 men who will formally become a cardinal at a Vatican ceremony scheduled for November 28.

“I nominate you as my Special Delegate to the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta, with the task of collaborating, for the greater good of the Order.” Pope Francis wrote in his letter to Tomasi on November 1.

“You will enjoy all the powers necessary to decide any questions that may arise for the implementation of the mandate entrusted to you, to receive the oath of the next Grand Master, and you will be my exclusive spokesperson for all that pertains to relations between this Apostolic See and the Order,” Francis said.

As the pope’s Special Delegate, it will be Tomasi's responsibility to act as interlocutor for the Order’s government in the reform process of its Constitutional Charter and Code.

Archbishop Tomasi, 80, has also been instructed to receive the oath of the person who will be elected Grand Master of the Order of Malta on 8 November, at the end of the Council Complete of State.

Cardinal-designate Tomasi, an Italian-born naturalized US citizen, is a member of the Scalabrini Missionaries, a religious congregation dedicated to caring for immigrants and migrants.

He was for 13 years the Holy See's permanent observer at the UN offices in Geneva.

Tomasi assisted Cardinal Angelo Becciu, pontifical delegate to the Order of Malta, to help reform that Vatican-affiliated organization.

As mentioned by La Croix earlier, it was expected that since Becciu was forced to relinquish his rights as a cardinal, the pope will make Tomasi the pontifical delegate.

The Sovereign Order of Malta is a lay religious order of the Catholic Church since 1113.

A subject of international law, the Sovereign Order of Malta has diplomatic relations with over 100 states and the European Union, and permanent observer status at the United Nations.

It is active in 120 countries caring for people in need through its medical, social and humanitarian works and is especially involved in helping people living in the midst of armed conflicts and natural disasters by providing medical assistance, caring for refugees, and distributing medicines and basic equipment for survival, according to its official website.