Rome, 22 April 2022 – The Magistral Post has updated the stamp issuing programme of the Sovereign Order of Malta for the year 2022.

In particular, a series of stamps dedicated to The Global Fund for Forgotten People, on the 10th anniversary of its creation, has been introduced to replace the issue previously planned for the Order’s Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, which was cancelled following the annulment of the event.

The programme includes 18 individual issues.

All the stamps to be issued in 2022 will be strongly related to the Order’s values and to its historical, artistic and spiritual heritage, and of course to those hospital and charity activities that are the mission of the Order of Malta since its foundation more than nine centuries ago.

Specific stamp issues will be dedicated to the Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem and to the Saint John the Baptist Hospital in Rome (whose 50th anniversary will be celebrated in 2022) and to the “COVID-19 heroes”, namely all the Order of Malta’s members and volunteers worldwide engaged in the front line fighting against the pandemic. Moreover, special stamps will celebrate the Grand Priory of Austria, the church of Saint John of Malta in Venice and the Embassy of the Order of Malta to the Holy See, in the picturesque setting of Palazzo Orsini in Rome. In continuation with previous years, a set of postage stamps will be devoted to both Saint John the Baptist, Patron of the Order, and Our Lady of Philermos, Protector of the Order.

The Sovereign Order of Malta has a history of almost a thousand years and has had its seat of government in Rome since 1834. A subject of international law, it enjoys bilateral diplomatic relations with 112 countries, including the Italian Republic and the Holy See, and multilateral relations with the United Nations, European Union and the principal international organisations The Order’s activities in more than 120 countries around the world focus on social and medical assistance and relief for victims of conflicts or natural disasters

In 1966 the Order instituted its own postal operator, the Magistral Post through which it is possible to send mail to Italy and other 57 countries the Order has signed a bilateral postal agreement with. Mail sent from the Order’s post office are franked with stamps issued by the Magistral Post, bearing a face value expressed in Euro and corresponding to the Italian current postage rate.