Valentina di Giorgio
(ZENIT News / Rome, 06.19.2023).- Pope Francis has replaced Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke as Patron of the Order of Malta. On Monday, June 19, 2023, the Holy See Press Office published the appointment of the new Cardinal Patron of the Order: Jesuit Gianfranco Ghirlanda. The Cardinal Patron is the Pope’s personal representative to the Order, whose task is, among other things, the spiritual promotion of its members.
Cardinal Burke was appointed Patron of the Order of Malta in 2014, after Pope Francis replaced him as President of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.
The announcement of the new Cardinal Patron was made, in fact, on the day in which the Order of Malta’s new Sovereign paid a visit to the Pontiff. Cardinal Ghirlanda has been behind some of the changes in the Order’s Constitutions.
