ANOTHER EMBARRASSMENT FOR THE KNIGHTS OF MALTA

In yet another embarrassment involving the Knights of Malta, the chivalric organization which dates back to the Crusades,  a British member has been suspended after writing a highly critical book about Pope Francis that was condemned as a “vile attack”.

Henry Sire, an Oxford-educated historian and a Knight in the ancient order for nearly two decades, has been castigated for his inflammatory book The Dictator Pope, which describes the Holy Father as “authoritarian and manipulative”.

The book claims to be “the inside story of the most tyrannical and unprincipled Papacy of modern times.”

The book further claims that Pope Francis was elected thanks to the help of a “mafia” of progressive cardinals.

The Knight Sire described the Pope as “the monster occupying the Papal throne”.

Sire was contracted to write a history of the order and lived from 2013 until 2017 in its palatial headquarters in Rome.  The book was duly published in 2016, but he then wrote a second book, without the knowledge of the Knights, on Francis and his controversial Papacy.

It was initially published under a pen name, Marcantonio Colonna, an Italian nobleman who fought at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, in which a European naval force inflicted a major defeat on the Ottoman Empire off the coast of Greece.

After being unmasked, the Order took the decision to suspend him and said it “strongly condemns the vile attack against the Pope.  The Order of Malta dissociates itself from the positions conveyed and considers the content of the book a grave offence to His Holiness, Pope Francis.”

In his book, Sire also wrote about a damaging crisis within the order in 2016 which led to the downfall of its British head, Matthew Festing.

Founded in the 11th century to protect pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land, the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta has around 25,000 paid employees and more than 80,000 volunteers around the world.

It is a sovereign entity which has observer status at the United Nations and maintains diplomatic links with more than 100 countries.

Sadly, the embarrassments to the Knights in recent days have been unceasing!

Henry Sire should be ashamed of himself for the embarrassment he has brought to the Knights and his villainous attack of Pope Francis.