ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE PAUL VI
TO THE GRAND MASTER OF THE SOVEREING MILITARY ORDER OF MALTA*

Monday,  28 June 1971

Dear Sons,

In the wake of the feast of St. John the Baptist, we are happy to welcome the Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the delegation that accompanies him.

Your vocation is clearly inscribed today within the framework of assistance to the most needy and of charitable works which this assistance necessitates. We know the initiatives your Order has already taken in this field, in various continents, in collaboration with the competent local authorities. We already encourage you to pursue and extend this unselfish service as much as you can, especially where the most urgent and tragic needs are evident, where men are helpless in the face of famine, epidemics and the disastrous consequences of war.

Will not this truly Christian charity be the eloquent manner of announcing the Lord to the world of today, to prepare His ways in the split of the Precursor, your holy Patron, who invited his disciples to share his lot, to bear witness to the faith which the Order of Malta has traditionally made it a point of honour to proclaim and defend? For it is essential that the Order preserves its religious and Catholic character. Yes. "let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" (Mt. 5, 16).

With these sentiments we reassure you of our sincere esteem, and impart to you, to all your collaborators and their families, our paternal Apostolic Blessing.

*ORa n°27, p.12.