It's been an interesting journey to watch, as we have been witnessing an institution formed and developed within the context of Christendom forced to face the reality of a post-Christian Europe and a globalized secular modern world order.
Remember, the Knights of Malta, alongside its character as a religious order, is also an NGO and a diplomatic institution (the Order is a permanent observer in the UN General Assembly, like the State of Palestine).
For centuries, the Knights of Malta operated within the context of amicable Christian European powers. European powers are now no longer Christian, and the rest of the global powers (at best) don't understand what the Order is, what its mission is, or how it functions.
Being one of the last vestiges of the interconnectedness of religious power and secular power in Christendom, the Order has its work cut out for it to survive with any stability in the modern world.
It does cap an extraordinary period in the life of the Church also; while Rome blathers about synodality, the Church actually becomes more centralized.
We are told by Rome what we can and cannot put in parish bulletins. How is that for synodality?
While VC2 spoke about a Bishop's authority in his local Church, a bishop not being simply a deputy of the pope and the process of subsidiarity, the attitude remains that of Pius IX. Of course, that is where the similarities end.
Godspeed for the Knights moving forward.
It's been an interesting journey to watch, as we have been witnessing an institution formed and developed within the context of Christendom forced to face the reality of a post-Christian Europe and a globalized secular modern world order.
Remember, the Knights of Malta, alongside its character as a religious order, is also an NGO and a diplomatic institution (the Order is a permanent observer in the UN General Assembly, like the State of Palestine).
For centuries, the Knights of Malta operated within the context of amicable Christian European powers. European powers are now no longer Christian, and the rest of the global powers (at best) don't understand what the Order is, what its mission is, or how it functions.
Being one of the last vestiges of the interconnectedness of religious power and secular power in Christendom, the Order has its work cut out for it to survive with any stability in the modern world.
It does cap an extraordinary period in the life of the Church also; while Rome blathers about synodality, the Church actually becomes more centralized.
We are told by Rome what we can and cannot put in parish bulletins. How is that for synodality?
While VC2 spoke about a Bishop's authority in his local Church, a bishop not being simply a deputy of the pope and the process of subsidiarity, the attitude remains that of Pius IX. Of course, that is where the similarities end.