¡Viva MALTA!

"Diplomacy: Alberto Leoncini Bartoli

"Ambassador of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta to the Holy See"


By Viktoria Somogyi. Inside The Vatican magazine. March 2011 edition.


Question of Mr. Ambassador:

"The Order of Malta is a very small state with a very limited staff. How can you maintain relations with 104 countries?"

His answer:

"First of all, the Order of Malta has a significant number of volunteers worldwide.

"We are speaking about people who give their time and contribution with generosity and courage in different parts of the world.

"Then there are the Order of Malta's members.

"Currently there are 13,000 members with some 80,000 volunteers active worldwide.

"Our members and volunteers have a difficult task in coping with all the different needs they encounter.

"But we are optimistic and work with hope and motivation because we can see the positive results of our health care and humanitarian work....

"All of our ambassadors are volunteers.

"Most of them pay for the expenses of their embassies themselves.

"This is how we maintain our large diplomatic network.

"We don't a professional diplomatic corps.

"We have professional ambassadors, but they are a minority.

"For example, the Order's diplomatic representative in Italy is a former Italian ambassador, as is our ambassador to Russia, whereas our ambassador to the European Commission is a former Belgian ambassador.

"Obviously we get the maximum from their experience as ambassadors and as members of the Order.

"When ambassadors who are members of the Order of Malta retire, we frequently ask them if they are interested in representing the Order.

"This is the best solution for our diplomatic network..."

Way to go, Mr. Ambassador! :)