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Reuters
Reuters
Politics
By Philip Pullella

Pope dissolves Knights of Malta leadership, issues new constitution

FILE PHOTO: Members of the Order of the Knights of Malta arrive in St. Peter Basilica for their 900th anniversary in Vatican February 9, 2013. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi/File Photo

Pope Francis on Saturday dissolved the leadership of the Knights of Malta, the global Catholic religious order and humanitarian group, and installed a provisional government ahead of the election of a new Grand Master.

The change, which the pope issued in a decree, came after five years of often acrimonious debate within the order and between some top members of the old guard and the Vatican over a new constitution that some feared would weaken its sovereignty.

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