The Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Giacomo dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, is expected to make an official visit to Bulgaria in the period December 10 to 13^th. The program includes meetings with the Bulgarian President and government officials to discuss relations with the Maltese Order as a humanitarian organization. Cooperation with Malta's Sovereign Military Order is not unusual as Bulgaria has maintained diplomatic relations with the country for 25 years. From 2007 until his untimely death earlier this year, H. E. Mr. Camillo Zuccoli was Ambassador of the Sovereign Order of Malta to Bulgaria. During his term in office, the Maltese Order has realised over 460 volunteer missions in Bulgaria. A curious fact from his life is that, even before he took the diplomatic mission in this country, he made a big favour to Bulgaria, convincing the Italian MPs to ratify the Treaty of Bulgaria's accession to the EU. It happened on December 22, 2005, when he was secretary of Gustavo Selva, head of the parliamentary committee on foreign policy. Since June this year, his wife Ursula Höfter Zuccoli has taken his place as ambassador to Bulgaria.

The Order's registered members are 13,000 and its volunteers are over 80,000 worldwide. Radio Bulgaria has learned more about their charitable causes from Kristian Libih:

“Our activity is related to organizing creative vacations for children without parents. With them we visit different landmarks in Bulgaria and they write essays or create paintings about them. In addition, we distribute warm meals three times a week at the Catholic Monastery of the Eucharistic Sisters. We actively participated in the preparations for the visit of His Holiness the Pope to Bulgaria. Our volunteers helped many people get closer to the Pope, distributing food and water. The visit was a wonderful event for all Bulgarians, regardless of their religion. We make a number of donations, including ambulances and medical equipment for hospitals all over Bulgaria, as a priority for us remains small towns.”

Next year, volunteers hope to fulfill their dream of creating their own social kitchen to feed people in need, especially during the winter months.

“Hopefully, it would be in a Catholic monastery or somewhere else where people would like to shelter or provide a place for such a kitchen. It would be great to work at a later stage for a home where we could provide shelter to homeless people, but we need to make the kitchen first,” Libih says.

Created as Order of Knights Hospitaller, its founder was Gerard Thom and its mission has remained unchanged to this day – protecting faith and helping the poor and suffering. Shortly after its creation, the Order settled on the island of Rhodes and the island of Malta, but later its headquarters moved to Rome. A characteristic feature of the Maltese Order is its legal status, which gives it a place among sovereign states, as well as among humanitarian and charitable organizations.

English: Alexander Markov