The 2025 Christmas Message of the Prince and Grand Master H.M.E.H. Fra’ John Dunlap
From the Grand Magistry in Rome, I extend Christmas blessings and good wishes to Knights and Dames, members, friends, and volunteers, and to all our supporters and benefactors. Without the selfless and valuable contributions of your time, resources, and dedication, the Order of Malta could not continue its vigilant service to the poor and the sick throughout the world. In a special way, we pray that our greetings reach our 50,000 employees and 100,000 volunteers, whose selfless service sustains and strengthens the Order’s mission each day.
For nearly a thousand years, the Order has stood guard in the service of human dignity. Once renowned for providing the finest hospital care in the known world, we continue this tradition today—from Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem to homes for the aged and palliative care facilities across the globe. In countless places, the Order remains present where suffering is greatest, bringing care, compassion, and hope.
This Christmas season remains marred by war, widespread violations of human rights, and a growing fracture between rich and poor. In such a world, the need for an international voice inspired by Christian virtue is urgent. As a sovereign entity, the Order of Malta brings Catholic values to international relations, focusing its diplomatic efforts— now with 115 countries— on charity, peace, and the defence of international humanitarian law.
Our diplomatic corps works tirelessly in the most troubled regions of the world, carrying the Christ-child’s Christmas message of hope and peace to places marked by violence, oppression, and injustice. Increasingly, we see a rejection of the fundamental truth that human dignity is God-given, universal, and inalienable. When dignity is made conditional—based on nationality, origin, or religion—the foundations of peace erode, and the weakest among us suffer most.
As we enter the Christmas season, we must ask ourselves: who will carry the message of the Christ-child? Our answer must be clear and resolute: “Here I am, Lord.” We are called to proclaim truth over falsehood, to defend freedom rooted in love of neighbour, faith in God, and hope in His Kingdom.
This Christmas also marks the first under our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, who has drawn renewed attention to the dignity of migrants and the moral obligation to welcome the stranger. He reminds us that dignity is a gift from God, inherent in every human being from conception to natural death, and deserving of protection—especially among the most vulnerable.
These are words to keep close to our hearts this Christmas season, words that will call us to action now and throughout the coming new year. Let us make haste to bless, serve, and care for the sick and the poor, to recognise in them the dignity that God has given them, and to remember ever that they are “Our lords, the sick and the poor.”
I wish you and your families a joyful Christmas, and I ask the Christ-child to bless us, one and all.
