The Order of Malta after 1798: Exile, Sovereignty and Humanitarian Work

The Order of Malta is a Catholic religious institution with a history of hospital care, religious life and, in earlier centuries, territorial rule. French forces expelled it from Malta in 1798. It never regained the island, and its later history instead followed a path from exile and temporary European residences to a headquarters in Rome. Today it operates as a nonterritorial institution, combining religious government and diplomatic relationships with medical and humanitarian work delivered through national associations and aid organisations.

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Expulsion from Malta and survival in exile

French forces invaded Malta in June 1798. Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim negotiated the surrender of the island, then left for Trieste on 18 June. The loss ended the Order’s rule over Malta, but not its institutional existence. The Knights dispersed, while its leaders sought a way to preserve the Order and recover a stable base.

Emperor Paul I of Russia gave many of the displaced Knights refuge in St Petersburg. They elected him Grand Master, but the election was not ratified under Catholic canon law. He was therefore the Order’s effective leader for a time, rather than its formally recognised Grand Master in the Church. After his death, the Order continued under temporary leaders known as lieutenants. A plan in the 1802 Treaty of Amiens to restore the Order to Malta was never carried out. The Congress of Vienna confirmed the island’s loss in 1815.

From temporary residences to a headquarters in Rome

After Malta, the Order’s leaders and institutions moved among European cities. Its seat was established at Ferrara in 1826 and transferred to Rome in 1834. The move offered a lasting centre for an institution that no longer possessed a country from which to govern. The Order’s priories, administrative districts traditionally responsible for regional organisation, had also suffered major losses across Europe, weakening its established sources of income.

For much of the period from 1805 to 1879, the Order was administered by lieutenants rather than a Grand Master. Pope Leo XIII restored the office in 1879, and Giovanni Battista Ceschi a Santa Croce became the first Grand Master of the restored institution. The Order’s work increasingly returned to its hospital and charitable purpose. This did not restore its former territorial power: its government and services developed through a network of religious and charitable organisations rather than rule over Malta.

A sovereign institution without national territory

The Order describes itself as a sovereign subject of international law, but it is not a state with a national territory. Its unusual legal position rests on a history of recognised institutional independence and on functions such as maintaining diplomatic relations. The precise reach of its international legal personality has been debated. In 1953, a tribunal of cardinals described its sovereign status as functional, intended to enable the Order to fulfil its purposes. A charter approved by Pope John XXIII in 1961 also recognised the Order as a subject of international law while affirming its autonomy in exercising that status.

The Order maintains diplomatic relations with many states and has held permanent observer status at the United Nations General Assembly since 1994. Observer status allows it to participate in the Assembly’s work, but does not make it a UN member state. Its diplomatic standing and humanitarian activity are thus distinct from territorial sovereignty.

Rome illustrates that distinction. The Order’s principal headquarters are the Palazzo Malta and the Villa del Priorato di Malta. Italy recognises special extraterritorial status for these properties, but they do not constitute a separate national territory. A 1998 agreement with the Republic of Malta offers another example: it gives the Order use of the upper part of Fort St Angelo for humanitarian purposes, while Maltese sovereignty and the jurisdiction of Maltese courts remain in force.

Religious government and constitutional change

The Order is both a religious institution and an organisation with diplomatic and charitable responsibilities. Its Grand Master heads the Order, while other senior officers oversee religious affairs, foreign and internal relations, humanitarian work and finances. The Sovereign Council manages regular business; the Chapter General brings members together to address wider governance and elect members of the Council. The Order’s constitution and code set out how these bodies relate to one another.

Membership also reflects this religious character, though not all members take vows. Professed members make vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Other members may make a promise of obedience or belong to classes that involve neither vows nor that promise. The Order’s old chivalric and aristocratic traditions have also changed: proof of noble ancestry ceased to be a general requirement for lower classes, and a route was later opened for some members without that ancestry requirement to advance to the highest class and become eligible for office.

A dispute in 2016 over the removal of Grand Chancellor Albrecht von Boeselager involved the distribution of condoms by partner organisations in a Myanmar aid project. In January 2017, Pope Francis ordered von Boeselager’s reinstatement and required Grand Master Matthew Festing to resign. The episode brought tensions between the Order’s religious oversight and its institutional autonomy into public view. In September 2022, Francis promulgated a new constitution and made temporary appointments to the Order’s governing council. An Extraordinary General Chapter elected members to the Sovereign Council in January 2023.

The Order of Malta is distinct from the Protestant Johanniter organisations that also developed from the broader history of the medieval Hospitallers. They are separate institutions, though some cooperate on humanitarian work.

From hospital tradition to modern medical and relief work

For the Order, care for the sick and poor was not simply a charitable activity added after the loss of Malta. It was the work that could continue without territorial rule. In Italy, the national association reorganised a medical corps in 1876. In 1909 it became a volunteer auxiliary corps of the Italian Army, providing medical and paramedical support in wartime and peacetime. The Order and its associations also undertook substantial hospital and charitable work during the First and Second World Wars.

In the decades after the Second World War, aid work extended to refugees and displaced people. Documented examples include assistance on the Austrian-Hungarian border in 1956, refugee support in Vietnam from 1966 to 1975, and programmes for refugees in Thailand from 1979. These efforts were carried out through national organisations and services, rather than by a territorial administration.

How the international aid network operates

Malteser International is the Order’s international humanitarian aid organisation, not the Order’s entire governing structure. It grew from the foreign aid service of the German Malteser organisation. In 1992, the Order brought that service together with other national relief organisations in the Emergency Corps of the Order of Malta, or ECOM, to respond to disasters and crises. After the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami of 2004, Malteser International was established in 2005 with a remit that included both emergency relief and longer-term recovery and development. Its Americas organisation was established in 2013, while its European operation remains a division of Malteser Hilfsdienst.

The organisation brings together national associations and priories of the Order. Its member organisations support its work in their own countries, while a general assembly and board provide governance and a secretary general oversees operations within the agreed strategy and budget. The general secretariat is in Cologne, Germany, with a regional headquarters for the Americas in New York. On the ground, the organisation works extensively with local staff and partner organisations, including both religious and non-religious groups. Its stated commitment is to assist people without distinction of religion, race or political views, guided by Christian values and humanitarian principles including impartiality and independence.

Its work includes healthcare, water and sanitation, nutrition, disaster preparedness and emergency assistance. ECOM responded to the Kosovo crisis in 1999 and the Bam earthquake in Iran in 2003. Since the creation of Malteser International, documented responses have included earthquake relief in Haiti in 2010, assistance to people affected by the Syrian conflict from 2012, aid to displaced people in South Sudan and northern Iraq from 2014, the Nepal earthquake response in 2015, and relief after the Beirut explosion in 2020 and the Turkey-Syria earthquakes in 2023. These examples show how the Order’s modern humanitarian role is carried out: through an international network, local partnerships and organisations able to respond beyond the borders of any territory the Order governs.