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Fra' Marco Luzzago, who is related to Paul VI, will serve a term of one year with all of the prerogatives of the Grand Master until the next election
Fra’ Marco Luzzago (Photo courtesy of Order of Malta).
By La Croix International staff | Vatican City
Fra' Marco Luzzago has been elected Lieutenant of the Grand Master of the Order of Malta to serve a one-year term amid its constitutional reform.
Luzzago was elected with a large majority in elections that took place in one of the Order of Malta's two institutional seats over the weekend.
The Order's electoral body, known as the Council Complete of State, met November 7-8 in the Magistral Villa in Rome.
As Lieutenant of the Grand Master, Luzzago will serve a term of one year with all of the prerogatives of the Grand Master until the next election.
This will allow the Order of Malta to continue its ongoing process of constitutional reforms.
Of the 56 members entitled to the vote, 44 were present.
They came to Rome from Argentina, Peru, the United States, Lebanon, France, Sweden, Austria, Germany, Holland, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Malta and Italy.
"The newly elected head of the Sovereign Order of Malta swore his oath before the members of the Council Complete of State and the Pope's Special Delegate, Cardinal-designate Silvano Maria Tomasi," the Sovereign Order of Malta said in a statement on its website.
Luzzago succeeds Fra' Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, Prince and 80th Grand Master, who died on April 29 at the age of 75 after battling "an incurable disease".
"The Lieutenant of the Grand Master addressing the members of the Council Complete said: 'the Holy Spirit has graciously turned his gaze to me. I thank each one of you for placing your trust in me and for showing by your presence here today a great love and a great dedication to our Order,'" the statement read.
"For my part, I can only assure you of my maximum commitment to address the challenges that lie ahead of us in the coming months. First of all, the reform of the Constitutional Charter and the Code carried on with such fervor by our late Fra' Giacomo, whom at this moment I remember with emotion", it added.
Same powers as the Grand Master
According to the Order of Malta's Constitution, the Lieutenant of the Grand Master remains in office for one year with the same powers as the Grand Master.
The Lieutenant has to reconvene the Council Complete of State before the end of his mandate.
Together with the Sovereign Council, he issues the legislative provisions not provided for by the Constitutional Charter, promulgates the acts of the government and ratifies international agreements.
Luzzago was born 1950 in Brescia.  After his university studies he was asked to manage his family's property interests . This led on to business activities in the consumer industry and large-scale retail distribution, an area in which he continued to be involved in for many years.
Luzzago joined the Sovereign Order of Malta in 1975 in the Grand Priory of Lombardy and Venice and took his solemn religious vows in 2003.
Since 2010 he has dedicated his life completely to the Order of Malta, moving to the Marches to care for one of the Order's Commanderies.
From 2011 onwards he has been Commander of Justice in the Grand Priory of Rome, where he holds the position of Delegate of the Northern Marches and head of the library. Since 2017 he has been Councillor of the Order of Malta's Italian Association. Luzzago is related to Pope Paul VI.
Luzzago's election comes at a crucial time for the historic order and after the resignation of a previous Grand Master, Fra' Matthew Festing, following an internal crisis that disrupted the Order's relations with Pope Francis.
It is now recognized that the Order's protector, Cardinal Raymond Burke, went beyond his honorific role and made use of Festing in a bid to turn the Order -- whose members are known as Knights and Dames of Malta -- into an instrument of his ultra-conservative and traditionalist vision of the church.
He did this despite the Order's tradition of service and fidelity to the pope, which is set out in Article 2 of its Constitution and which also defines the Order as a "subject of international public law" or a quasi-state albeit without territory.
After the crisis broke out, Dalla Torre was elected in 2017 to a one-year term as Lieutenant of the Grand Master and temporary leader of the knights and dames. At that same time, the pope also called for a far-reaching reform of the Order.
The Sovereign Order of Malta is a lay religious order of the Catholic Church since 1113 and a subject of international law.
Today the Order of Malta is mainly active in health and social care and humanitarian aid, operating in over 120 countries.
It is a Permanent Observer to the United Nations and its specialized agencies, and has representatives to the main international organizations.
The Order is especially involved in helping people living in the midst of armed conflicts and natural disasters by providing medical assistance, caring for refugees, and distributing medicines and humanitarian aid.
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