For some time now, various Lieutenancies have been asking the Grand Magisterium whether men and women who are not members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre might nevertheless be associated with the mission entrusted to it by the Supreme Pontiffs. These men and women may be drawn, and even inspired, by the Order’s spiritual aims or by its concrete initiatives in support of the Holy Land.
In order to address the needs of the Lieutenants, the Magistral Delegates, and local Leaders (both lay and ecclesiastical) on this particularly sensitive matter, the issue was submitted to Pope Leo XIV on the occasion of the Audience granted to the Grand Master and the Assessor of the Order on 24 June 2025. After taking note of the reasons presented, the Supreme Pontiff gave his assent to the establishment of an area of the “Friends of the Order”, in which those who, without becoming members, wish to participate in certain aspects of its life may gather. This assent was confirmed by a Letter from the Secretariat of State.
The project, for which a specific document has been drawn up, falls within the framework of Article 4, no. 7 of the Constitution of the Order, which speaks of collaboration with those who share “similar goals and objectives” with regard to the Holy Land, as well as of “to call to the attention of Catholics, other Christians, the members of other religions and men of good will of the whole world the good works in which the Order is involved in the Holy Land, as well as the promotion of the union of Christians and inter-religious understanding and cooperation”. With this document, therefore, a broad new perspective now opens up within the Lieutenancies and Magistral Delegations.
(December 25, 2025)
