“…For the past 900 years our goal has been to create hospitals, clinics, medical research, to bring help to the poor, the needy, the ailing, with no discrimination of race, religion or colour.”
Interview given by the Grand Master of the Order of Malta, Fra’ Andrew Bertie to Ludina Barzini, journalist of “Corriere della Sera”, on the occasion of the official visit to the President of Italian Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.

The message that we send you today is different from previous messages.

We are about to celebrate Christmas, the birth of the Prince of Peace. In this Holy Land, torn by war, a group of men and women selflessly carry on their work in loving memory of the events that took place right here 2000 years ago, so that the maternity and delivery wards of Bethlehem’s Holy Family Hospital can continue to assist expectant mothers and their infants.

This event has inspired Sister Sophie, who on behalf of the Sisters of Charity has been working in the maternity and delivery wards for a number of years, amidst hope and anxiety for her patients. Sister Sophie was moved to launch this appeal for peace and hope.

We pass this touching, simple appeal on, so that each one of us, no matter from where we come or what our backgrounds are, can make a small moral and spiritual contribution to the labour of peace and reconciliation that Sister Sophie invokes in her prayers:

(Text of the message: Prayer of the Little Princes of Bethlehem).

I wish all members of the Order, our volunteers and friends, a very happy Christmas and peaceful New Year.

Last year was not without its difficulties, but on the whole we have a lot to be thankful for. The pilgrimage to Lourdes was the largest we have ever had, with over 5,000 taking part. Our work for Our Lords the Sick and Poor has increased, and we were able to help people in South Africa, those stricken by floods in Europe and people hit by earthquakes in Italy; all this beside our normal efforts.

The Grand Master, Fra’ Andrew Bertie, was received at the Quirinale Palace this morning by the President of the Italian Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.

During the official talks, the Grand Master emphasised that relations with the Italian Republic continue to be very good and fruitful. The Order of Malta owes a great debt of gratitude to Italy, which has welcomed the Order most hospitably since 1798, when the knights were forced to leave the island of Malta, then under military occupation by Napoleon. And it has been from Italy that the knights’ activities to help the poor and the sick, assisted by many thousands of collaborators and volunteers, have spread to over a 100 countries throughout the world.

Nine German relief organisations – among them Malteser Germany – have formed an alliance, Aktion Deutschland Hilft (Germany helps), to coordinate and reinforce their relief measures for future emergencies.
At a press conference held in Berlin on 27 November, the member organisations of Aktion Deutschland Hilft launched a major fundraising campaign for Africa, entitled ‘One Euro for one day – Campaign against hunger in Africa’. The programme was prompted by the severe hunger crisis in Southern Africa.

Bolivia hosted the Order’s recently held Conference of the Americas in Santa Cruz, where delegates were warmly welcomed by HE Gonzalo Torrico, President of the Bolivian Association. The conference was attended by the Grand Master with a delegation from Rome, and by Presidents and their delegations from all the Order’s Latin American Associations, as well as the three North American Associations, and the Canadian and Spanish Associations.

The earthquake which hit the town of San Giuliano di Puglia on the morning of 31 October killed 26 small children and 3 teachers at the local primary school. Half the school collapsed and surrounding buildings and houses were damaged. In the most serious earthquake to hit Italy since the September 1997 eruption in Assisi, the shocks, measuring 8 degrees on the Mercalli scale, were felt as far away as Rome.

The Military Corps of the Order’s Italian Association moved quickly, sending a team of doctors, nurses, intensive care specialists and auxiliaries to the scene, and providing 3 ambulances, medical equipment and a range of medical supplies. Shocks continued to be felt in the area for a week, with a sudden drop in weather temperature complicating the living conditions of survivors who had been housed in hastily assembled tent villages.

After three months of successful work in Kabul, the first medical team of Malteser (the emergency corps of the German Association of the Order of Malta), will return to Germany.
This medical team left for Kabul in Afghanistan on 31 July 2002, in order to take over on behalf of the German Federal Foreign Office the medical care for the international and local staff of the new UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and for the Afghan Police Service in Kabul. The team consists of 3 doctors, 4 paramedics and one x-ray assistant. In their mobile tent hospital which is located in the Police Academy in Kabul, our German doctors support the Afghan doctors of the Police Hospital with regard to the medical recruiting checks of the Afghan police recruits. Since the end of August 2002, the paramedics have started to run the first regular first aid trainings for the staff of the Kabul Police Academy.

Every day, more than 250 outpatients are treated at the Outpatients’ Clinic run by the Order in the heart of historic Rome, and the demand continues to grow. Last week, the Order’s head, Fra’Andrew Bertie, opened refurbished and extended premises for the Centre, funded by the Order’s own Association of the west coast of America. The new areas will provide much-needed additional facilities for the care of patients at the Centre. They include a further suite of treatment rooms and the installation of the most up-to-date medical equipment to meet growing needs.

Following the disastrous August floods in the Czech Republic, the Malteska Pomoc Hospital Service, an organisation operating under the Order of Malta’s Grand Priory of Bohemia, is working to rebuild the areas worst affected. Their volunteers are providing medical assistance and first aid for evacuees, distribution of foodstuffs, transportation for the disabled and elderly persons and constant checking of the extent of the damage. The volunteers are working under pressure, in Prague and the areas around Melnik, Ceské Budejovice and Olomuc, to improve living conditions before winter arrives.