This morning there was unprecedented sight in front of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls of Rome. The square was literally invaded by Order of Malta members, volunteers and employees coming from all over Italy and the world to participate in the Order’s Jubilee Pilgrimage of the Venerable Langue of Italy and Grand Magistry.

Within the context of the Jubilee of Consecrated Life, the event represented a moment of intense spirituality and profound interior renewal, faithfully following the path of the 2025 Holy Year, a time of grace and mercy for the universal Church.

Led by Grand Master Fra’ John Dunlap and the Sovereign Council, over 1100 pilgrims processed through the Basilica’s Holy Door, with the common intention to renew their faith and to bear witness, in the heart of the Church, to their fidelity to the Order’s mission: “Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum” – the defence of the faith and assistance to the poor.
The Holy Mass was presided over by Cardinal James Harvey, Archpriest of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, in the presence of the Order of Malta’s Cardinal Patron Gianfranco Ghirlanda and Cardinal Silvano Maria Tomasi.

During his homily, Cardinal Harvey retraced the origins and the millennial history of the Order of Malta, describing it as “an act of concrete piety,” carried out through the hospitaller vocation, which “is not merely a memory of the past,” but still today a living reality through the works present all over the world. “The Order of Malta is a vocation of service that is noble because it is offered to the most fragile, and sacred because it is offered to Christ himself. In this light, Saint John the Baptist, patron of the Order of Malta, is a profound spiritual model and an inexhaustible source of inspiration. His voice, crying out in the desert, continues to speak today, and challenges us forcefully. Like John, the Order too is called to be a voice in history, through its works of charity.”

Today’s Jubilee Pilgrimage concludes the Order of Malta’s participation in the events of the Jubilee of Consecrated Life, which has brought together over 16,000 consecrated men and women from various forms of life in Rome and from around 100 countries, to share a time of prayer, reflection and spiritual renewal.

As part of the Jubilee celebrations, on Thursday morning, Grand Master Fra’ John Dunlap took part, together with the Professed Members of the Order, in the Eucharistic Celebration presided over by His Holiness Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square, uniting the Order’s prayer with that of the entire universal Church.