{"id":2348,"date":"2013-02-18T19:11:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-18T19:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/knights-of-malta-leader-praises-popes-character\/"},"modified":"2013-02-18T19:11:00","modified_gmt":"2013-02-18T19:11:00","slug":"knights-of-malta-leader-praises-popes-character","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/knights-of-malta-leader-praises-popes-character\/","title":{"rendered":"Knights of Malta leader praises Pope’s character"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Vatican City, Feb 18, 2013 \/ 12:11 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- As Pope Benedict XVI serves his last days in office, the head of the Knights of Malta paid tribute to him by describing the pontiff as \u201ca marvelous person with a great sense of humor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI will remember him with great affection, and I think he is the most marvelous person,\u201d said the prince and grandmaster of the Order of Malta, Matthew Festing, of which Pope Benedict is also a member.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cHe is very well informed, he has a great sense of humor, he is funny, he is extremely warm, he is immensely gentle and intelligent,\u201d Festing said in a Feb. 18 interview with CNA at the order\u2019s headquarters in Rome.<\/p>\n

\tThe Order of Malta, which issues its own international passports, postal stamps and coins, is a Catholic order comparable to a state but without land.<\/p>\n

\tIt has permanent U.N. observer status, its own constitution and is in charge of humanitarian aid in 120 countries.<\/p>\n

\tPope Benedict recently met with Festing and over 5,000 of its 13,500 members on Feb. 9 to celebrate its 900th anniversary, which took place on Feb. 15.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tFesting, who spoke with the Pope on that day, said he told him something which really struck him.<\/p>\n

\tThe most interesting remark he made was \u201cyour daily life must be imbued with the presence of Jesus, under whose gaze you are called to face the sufferings of the sick, the loneliness of the elderly, and the difficulties of the disabled,\u201d Festing recalled.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt happens that the present Pope, by chance really, is a member of the order and he was made a member when he was the Archbishop of Munich,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\tFesting also said he was surprised at the Pope\u2019s resignation announcement.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI was a bit surprised like everybody else was because I wasn\u2019t exactly expecting it. And I don\u2019t think anybody was,\u201d said the 63-year-old Englishman.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt has been one of the very well, best kept secrets of all time, I think. And certainly I was unaware,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n

\tIn Festing\u2019s view, Benedict XVI is a \u201chugely interesting man\u201d and \u201cone of the most abled Popes of modern times.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tFesting said the order has a great relationship with the papacy and will remain loyal to it.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cNothing will change because our focus will merely change from one person to another, but we will go on being great friends\u201d with the next pontiff, he said.<\/p>\n

\tSixty members of the Order of Malta are lay men who take vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, as well as saying certain daily Church prayers.<\/p>\n

\tIt started off as a military order to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land before becoming a humanitarian order.<\/p>\n

\tTheir work includes running the Bethlehem Nativity Hospital, which has helped women give birth to nearly 60,000 children since it was established in 1990.<\/p>\n

\tThey also run a social project in California that removes the tattoos of former gang members to help re-enter them in society.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vatican City, Feb 18, 2013 \/ 12:11 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- As Pope Benedict XVI serves his last days in office, the head of the Knights of Malta paid tribute to him by describing the pontiff as “a marvelous person with a great sense of humor.”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vatican"],"yoast_head":"\nKnights of Malta leader praises Pope's character<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vatican City, Feb 18, 2013 \/ 12:11 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- As Pope Benedict XVI serves his last days in office, the head of the Knights of Malta paid tribute to him by describing the pontiff as “a marvelous person with a great sense of humor.”...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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