15-19 October 2019, Germany: Premier of North Rhine Westphalia, Armin Laschet received the Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of Malta, Fra’ Giacomo dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, for talks at the State Chancellery. The discussion focused on the exchange about the commitment and the manifold activities of ‘Malteser International’ in the field of health and social affairs in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as on current issues of asylum and refugee policy in Europe.
The Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of Malta is currently visiting Germany to intensify the order’s activities, and for a bilateral meeting with Federal President Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin.
During his visit to the State Chancellery, the Grand Master was accompanied by Baron Maciej Heydel, Ambassador of the Order of Malta to the Federal Republic of Germany, Baron Albrecht von Boeselager, Grand Chancellor of the Order of Malta (i.e. Foreign Minister), Prince Dominique de La Rochefoucauld-Montbel, Grand Hospitaller of the Order, and Count Georg von Khevenhueller, President of the Malteser Hilfsdienst in Deutschland e.V., amongst others.
About the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta
The Order of Malta, founded in Jerusalem in the XI century, is a Catholic order with about 13,500 members, which is internationally recognised as a sovereign, non-governmental subject of international law. The order dedicates itself world-wide to the charitable support of needy, sick and suffering people and maintains diplomatic relations with more than 100 states.
In Germany, the Order of Malta maintains the Malteser Hilfsdienst e. V. (Malteser Aid Service), which is a member of the German Caritas Association. Malteser International has a total of 49,800 volunteers and 30,700 full-time employees in Germany.
The Sovereign Order of Malta also has its own government, based in Palazzo Malta in Rome (enjoying extraterritoriality), which is led by Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, officially titled the “Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of Knights and Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta”.
Image by Land NRW, Günther Ortmann.
For further information
Order of Malta: https://www.orderofmalta.int/de/2019/10/18/grossmeister-staatsbesuch-in-deutschland-donnerstag-begegnung-bundespraesident-steinmeier-bundestagspraesident-schaeuble/?fbclid=IwAR18cfUwmmAQLdWIWvbNCQ-xE3jtrkvSs_j-69DF197-RYVHPKCM81Rr_ok
Federal Presidency of Germany: http://www.bundespraesident.de/DE/Home/home_node.html#-gallery
Government of NRW: https://www.land.nrw/de/pressemitteilung/ministerpraesident-laschet-empfaengt-fra-giacomo-dalla-torre-del-tempio-di
Germany – Order of Malta relations: https://diplomatmagazine.eu/2017/11/19/order-malta-germany-establish-relations/
