Albrecht von Boeselager
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Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...
von Boeselager (born 4 October 1949) is a German lawyer and forester and was formerly a member of the
Sovereign Council ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'. The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or ...
of the
Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...
. He served as Grand Hospitaller from 1989 to 2014, and from 2014 until September 3rd, 2022 as its Grand Chancellor. Boeselagar was at the centre of a leadership controversy within the Order of Malta in late 2016 and early 2017. After Boeslager was suspended as Grand Chancellor,
Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
intervened to restore him to office and require the resignation of the Prince and Grand Master of the Order, Matthew Festing. Pope Francis dissolved the Sovereign Council on September 3rd, 2022 and appointed H.E.
Ricardo Paterno di Montecupo Ricardo is the Spanish and Portuguese cognate of the name Richard. It derived from Proto-Germanic ''*rīks'' 'king, ruler' + ''*harduz'' 'hard, brave'. It may be a given name, or a surname. People Given name *Ricardo de Araújo Pereira, Portugue ...
as Grand Chancellor.


Biography

Boeselager was born on 4 October 1949 in
Altenahr Altenahr () is a municipality in the Ahrweiler (district), district of Ahrweiler, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the administrative centre for the Verbandsgemeinde Altenahr, eponymous collective municipality, to which it belongs. Altenahr ...
,
Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
,
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
. He is descended from the
Boeselager Boeselager (or ''Böselager'') is the name of a German noble family from Magdeburg. History The members of this noble house whose line begins with one Squire ''Boeselager'' of by Magdeburgon first appearing in the documents on April 12, 1 ...
family, an old German Catholic noble family from
Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...
. His father was Philipp von Boeselager, an officer in the
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
who took part in the
20 July plot On 20 July 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia, now Kętrzyn, in present-day Poland. The ...
to assassinate
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
in 1944. His mother was Rosa Maria von Westphalen zu Fürstenberg. His uncle was
Georg von Boeselager Georg von Boeselager (25 August 1915 – 27 August 1944) was a German nobleman and an officer in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany, who led the Nazi security warfare operations in the Army Group Centre Rear Area on the Eastern Front, calling for ext ...
; he also has a brother called Georg who is a banker. Boeselager married Praxedis zu Guttenberg, sister of Enoch zu Guttenberg. After graduating from the
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
Aloisiuskolleg The Aloisiuskolleg is a co-educational, Jesuit (Catholic), University-preparatory school in Bonn-Bad Godesberg, Germany, which includes boarders. It is named for Saint Aloysius Gonzaga. Highly ranked academically, it is considered one of the m ...
in Bonn-
Bad Godesberg Bad Godesberg ( ksh, Bad Jodesbersch) is a borough ('' Stadtbezirk'') of Bonn, southern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. From 1949 to 1999, while Bonn was the capital of West Germany, most foreign embassies were in Bad Godesberg. Some buildings ar ...
, he studied law at the
University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...
, the
University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centu ...
and the
University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...
. From 1968 to 1970, following in the footsteps of much of the Boeselager family, he served in the military and retired as a Lieutenant of the reserve forces of
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
. From 1976 to 1990 he worked as a lawyer and in 1987 took over his father's agriculture and forestry operation. He is the owner of Burg Kreuzberg an der Ahr. As a local forest owner, he is in the succession of his father, the chairman of the forestry association of his hometown
Ahrweiler Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler () is a spa town in the German Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate that serves as the capital of the Ahrweiler district. The A61 motorway connects the town with cities like Cologne and Mainz. Formed by the merging of the ...
.


Order of Malta

In 1976, Boeselager was admitted to the
Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...
as a Knight of Honour and Devotion. He was raised to the rank of a Knight of Honour and Devotion in Obedience in 1985. From 1982 to 2015 he was Chancellor of the German Association of the Order. From 1 January 1982 to 31 March 31, 1985, he was managing director and from 14 January 1985 to 30 April 1990 honorary director of the ''Malteser Hilfsdienst'' (an ambulance service associated with the order) in the Archdiocese of Cologne. He now holds the rank of a Bailiff Knight Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion in Obedience. In addition to his work in the presidium of ''Malteser Hilfsdienst eV'', he has been a member of the Order Government in Rome since 1989, first as a Grand Hospitaller and since 2014 as a Grand Chancellor (the equivalent rank of Head of Government or Prime Minister). After his election in 1989, he was re-elected by the General Chapter in 1994, 1999, 2004 and on 8 June 2009 for a five-year term. In addition Albrecht von Boeselager has been a member of the
Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers was a pontifical council set up on 11 February 1985 by Pope John Paul II who reformed the Pontifical Commission for the Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers into its new fo ...
since 1990 and since 1994 a member of the Pontifical Council ''
Cor Unum The Pontifical Council ''Cor Unum'' for Human and Christian Development was a pontifical council of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church from 1971 to 2016. History The Pontifical Council was established by Pope Paul VI on 15 July 1971 an ...
''. On 31 May 2014, he was elected Grand Chancellor of the Order by the General Chapter in Rome. Boeselager was at the center of a constitutional crisis within the Sovereign Military Order of Malta at the turn of the year between 2016 and 2017. Boeselager was dismissed from his positions and expelled from the Order of Malta by Grand Master, Matthew Festing for alleged involvement in distributing condoms (considered " instrinsically evil" in Catholic teachings) in
Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
through the
Malteser International Malteser International is an international non-governmental aid agency for humanitarian aid of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Developed in 2005 from the foreign aid service of Malteser Germany (founded 1953), and having the status of an ind ...
. The impeachment was only withdrawn at the request of
Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
in January 2017. On 8 December 2016, Grand Master Matthew Festing told the leaders of the National Institutions of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta that the Grand Chancellor Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager would be leaving office. According to media reports, Festing and Cardinal Patron of the Order of Malta, Raymond Leo Burke, demanded Boeselager's resignation, which he refused, whereupon Festing declared him deposed and provisionally expelled from the Order of Malta; the main reason cited was for the distribution of condoms by ''Malteser'' in Myanmar. Boeselager appealed against his removal to
Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
, who appointed a five-member commission of inquiry of the State Secretariat under Cardinal
Pietro Parolin Pietro Parolin OMRI (, ; born 17 January 1955) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. A cardinal since February 2014, he has served as the Vatican's Secretary of State since October 2013 and a member of the Council of Cardinal Advisers sinc ...
to investigate. Festing disputed the legitimacy of this intervention of the Pope in what he regarded as the internal affairs of the Order, a sovereign entity. The UK-based liberal Catholic magazine '' The Tablet'' interpreted the dispute as evidence of a power struggle between
Cardinal Raymond Burke Raymond Leo Burke (born June 30, 1948) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. A bishop, cardinal, and the incumbent patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, he led the Archdiocese of St. Louis from 2004 to 2008 and the Dioces ...
and
Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
. On 25 January 2017, the Holy See Press Office announced that Grand Master Festing had submitted his resignation during an audience with Pope Francis. Boeselager had meanwhile complained to a religious court against his dismissal. At its meeting of 28 January 2017, the Sovereign Council of the Order of Malta accepted Festing's resignation and the reinstatement of Boeselager. The leadership of the German Association of the Order of Malta praised the role of Bergoglio and Parolin in the dispute over the Order of Malta. The chancellor of the German branch, Stephan Freiherr Spies von Büllesheim, thanked the Pope for helping the German members so quickly and confidently. The General Chapter meeting in Rome confirmed von Büllesheim as Grand Chancellor for another five years in 2019. Sources inside the order indicated that the row was a pretext, that Cardinal Burke wanted the knights to promote his traditionalist vision of Catholicism and that when von Boeselager was sacked he had told friends that he had been labelled as a "a liberal Catholic". Von Boeselager, in an interview said, "I think it he condomswas a pretext." The Grand Chancellor, meanwhile, told The Tablet during an interview at the Knights' headquarters in the Via dei Condotti, Rome, "The root cause was an increasing difference of opinions between the former Grand Master and the government of the order. It was less a difference in fundamental visions about the order but more on quite concrete matters of governance".


Honours and awards

*: ** Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash of the
Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria The Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (german: Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria. It is divided into 15 classes and is the highest award in the A ...
(1999) *: ** Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (2009) *: ** Knight Grand Cross of the
Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking ...
(1989) *: ** Grand Cross of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas (1999) *: ** Honorary Companions with Breast Star of the National Order of Merit (2000) *: ** Grand Cross of the
Portuguese Order of Christ The Military Order of Christ is the former order of Knights Templar as it was reconstituted in Portugal. Before 1910 it was known as the Royal Military Order of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Order of the Knights of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It was ...
(2010) ** Grand Cross of the Order of Infante Dom Henrique (1990) *: ** Grand Officer of the
Order of the Star of Romania The Order of the Star of Romania (Romanian: ''Ordinul Steaua României'') is Romania's highest civil Order and second highest State decoration after the defunct Order of Michael the Brave. It is awarded by the President of Romania. It has five r ...
(2012) *: ** Second Class of the
Order of the White Double Cross The Order of the White Double Cross ( sk, Rad Bieleho dvojkríža) is the highest state decoration of the Slovak Republic. The Order was instituted on 1 March 1994 after Slovakia became independent on 1 January 1993. It continues the Czechoslova ...
(1998)


See also

*
Boeselager Boeselager (or ''Böselager'') is the name of a German noble family from Magdeburg. History The members of this noble house whose line begins with one Squire ''Boeselager'' of by Magdeburgon first appearing in the documents on April 12, 1 ...
* Catholic theology of sexuality


References


External links


Grand Chancellor
at Order of Malta
Knights do battle over Order of Malta
at The Catholic Herald
Exclusive: Order of Malta projects distributed abortifacients, says leaked report
at The Catholic Herald , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Boeselager, Albrecht 1949 births Bailiffs Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta Barons of Germany German nobility Albrecht German Roman Catholics Grand Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (civil) Grand Crosses of the Order of the Star of Romania Jurists from Rhineland-Palatinate Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Knights of Malta Living people People from Ahrweiler (district) Recipients of the Grand Decoration with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria Recipients of the Order of Christ (Portugal) University of Bonn alumni University of Geneva alumni University of Freiburg alumni