Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/791658
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 26 FEBRUARY 2017 News THE Grand Chancellor of the Knights of Malta was asked to re- sign by one of the Pope's foremost conservative antagonists, Ameri- can Cardinal Raymond Burke, not by its Grand Master, according to the order's acting head. The Knight of Malta's row with the 80-year-old Argentine pontiff began with the order's decision in December to sack Albrecht Von Boeselager, its Grand Chancellor, or prime minister, amid allega- tions that condoms were distrib- uted to combat HIV in Myanmar on Von Boeselager's watch. Contraception as a form of birth control is banned under Church teaching but Pope Francis has of- ten taken a more liberal stance on social issues. But in an interview with an Aus- trian newspaper, the acting head of the Order of Malta, Ludwing Hoffmann von Rumerstein, de- scribed being present at the meet- ing where the Grand Chancellor was asked to resign and that it was Burke, not the former Grand Master Fra' Matthew Festing, who made the request. Boeselager's refusal and eventual sacking on grounds of disobedi- ence led to a weeks-long row with the Vatican, which demanded his reinstatement. The dismissal came as a surprise, especially because Boeselager was well liked within the order. But the move also raised eye- brows at the Vatican because it was implicitly supported by Burke, who is the order's chaplain and a vocal critic of Pope Francis on social issues. Fra' Matthew Festing eventually resigned on 24 January and Boese- lager was reinstated as the order's prime minister. The pretext for Boeselager's sacking was that the German re- former had years earlier been in charge of the order's humanitar- ian arm, Malteser International, which for a time funded organiza- tions that used condoms in Aids prevention projects among the very poor. Journalists' accounts that sourced the cardinal have de- scribed Festing asking the Ger- man to resign, while Burke sat silently present. Burke has else- where denied Boeselager's ac- count that the cardinal invoked the pope's authority for the dis- missal. But in an interview with an Aus- trian newspaper, Hoffman-Rum- erstein presents a very different picture. "The conversation took place in a normal conversation form," he told the Austrian daily Der Stand- ard. "Boeselager said no to Cardi- nal Burke's call for him to stand down. And I followed the cardinal to the car." Asked for the cardinal's reac- tion, Hoffman-Rumerstein said: "He shook his head. He was dis- pleased, one could say. He would have expected Boeselager to re- sign." Later in the interview, Rumer- stein confirms that the 6 Decem- ber meeting "was actually a con- versation between Cardinal Burke and Boeselager." Sources in the order have long insisted that the cardinal was be- hind the dismissal, but until now no one has claimed on the record that Burke actually made the re- quest. Analysts view this as a vic- tory for Francis, with the Pope sending a clear warning to his in- ternal dissidents that they should be prepared to pay a price for open disloyalty. Pope's antagonist behind Knights of Malta face-off Pope Francis's decision to place archconservative American cardinal Raymond Burke as chaplain of the Knights of Malta was viewed as a demotion Malta to host ITV's wacky Cannonball UK broadcaster ITV will be re- cording 'Cannonball' in Malta, a new game show which will see contestants compete in water- based challenges. According to media reports, the "crazy tasks" will include at- tempting the highest and longest jumps possible off massive water slides in fancy dress. The game show makers have started recruiting contestants, with an advert saying: "Daredev- ils of all shapes and sizes can ap- ply". "Cannonball is a wacky idea for a show but it promises to be fun- ny. It involves people throwing themselves around in a swim- ming pool and making fools of themselves," The Sun reportred. The show has already been a hit in Holland, under the title Bom- metje XXL. It is made by Dutch production company Talpa Me- dia, bought by ITV in 2015. The Malta Film Commission confirmed that ITV has already issued a call for contestants across the UK. "All the focus will be on Malta as the Malta Film Studios in Kalkara will be set up for the variety of water based challenges," it said. Film Commissioner Engelbert Grech said that the vision of di- versifying the industry to cater for TV productions, is reaping dividends. "Game shows like Cannonball require exactly the same infrastructure like big films. They generate a lot of work for local film crews and all the companies that directly or indi- rectly give a service to the film industry."