Lieutenant of the Sovereign Order of Malta Fra’ John Dunlap and President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella met Wednesday at the Quirinale Palace in Rome.
It was the fifth official meeting of the Order of Malta’s highest officials with the President of the Italian Republic in the past 20 years, and for Fra’ John Dunlap it was also the first meeting with a foreign head of state since he was appointed Lieutenant last June.
The visit took place in a very cordial atmosphere and was an opportunity to reaffirm the strong ties and fruitful cooperation between the Order of Malta and Italy.
During the meeting, the Lieutenant of the Grand Master outlined to the President of the Republic the activities of the Order of Malta in the five continents.
In particular, the meeting focused on the network of support and assistance created for the people of Ukraine since the outbreak of war, both within the country and in the surrounding regions.
Fra’ John Dunlap explained that these activities are accompanied by the work of the Order of Malta’s diplomatic network, which currently has diplomatic relations with as many as 112 states. The Sovereign Order of Malta’s intense diplomatic activity both bilaterally and multilaterally, closely linked to and in support of humanitarian action and in defense of human dignity and human rights, was recalled.
It was also stressed that the Order’s new Constitutional Charter reaffirms both the sovereignty of the Order of Malta and its nature as a religious order.
