The Order of Malta has elected Fra' John Dunlap as its new Grand Master. He is a lawyer from Ottowa, Canada, specializing in corporate and immigration law. For over 25 years, he has served as a legal advisor to the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations.
Fra' Dunlap is the 81st Grand Master of the Order and will serve for 10 years. After this decade of service, he can be re-elected and remain in office until the age of 85. He is the first Grand Master elected under the rules of the new 2022 Constitution.
The election of Fra' Dunlap is an important move for the stability of the order, which has been in an institutional crisis caused by internal conflicts since 2017.
The over 900-year-old sovereign Order of Malta has some 13,500 members and 95,000 volunteers worldwide that operate refugee camps, organize disaster relief projects, assist those in marginalized communities, and more.
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