Pope Francis on Thursday
met the head of the Knights of Malta, Fra' Matthew Festing.
Festing, who was accompanied by 11 knights in their red and
white robes, gave the pope a silver medallion of St John of the
Hospitallers, while the pope gave Festing a medallion showing St
Martin giving half his cloak to the poor man, as well as copies
of the recent encyclicals "Evangelii gaudium", "Laudato sii" and
"Amoris laetitia".
"You do good," the pope told Festing, before leading those
present in an "Ave Maria".
Festing is Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign
Military Order of Malta (SMOM).
SMOM, the smallest sovereign State in the world, runs a
large charity-hospital organization around the world, and has
recently provided humanitarian aid for countless refugees and
migrants.
The Knights of Malta, as they are more widely known, were
founded on the Mediterranean in the 11th century as a military
religious order like the Templars.
They were removed from Malta by Napoleon.
The Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of
military, chivalrous and noble nature, was founded as the
Knights Hospitaller circa 1099 in Jerusalem, making it the
world's oldest surviving chivalric order.
Headquartered in Palazzo Malta in Rome, its mission is
summed up in its motto: "Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum";
protecting the Catholic Church and serving those in need.
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