The battle between Catholic reformers and the Pope’s conservative rivals appears to have spread to the Knights of Malta. It emerged yesterday that the British head of the order had fired a senior aide for allegedly condoning the distribution of condoms in developing countries. Matthew Festing dismissed Albrecht von Boeselager after accusing him of being a “liberal Catholic”.
As grand chancellor, Mr Boeselager ranked third in the order, which has sovereign status and diplomatic relations with 102 countries, as well as observer status at the UN.
LifeSiteNews, a conservative website, said evidence had surfaced that condoms were distributed in poor parts of the world by Malteser International, a humanitarian aid institution, while Mr Boeselager was a board member.
“The issue was contraception, not a dispute between conservatives and liberals,” Eugenio Airoldo, a spokesman for the order, said. “There will be an internal tribunal to which Mr Boeselager will be able to present his arguments.”