In the church of Santa Maria on the Aventine in Rome, Fra’ Roberto Viazzo was sworn in as the new Grand Prior of the Sovereign Order of Malta by the Grand Master Fra’ John Dunlap.

Witnesses for the Grand Prior were the Order of Malta’s Grand Commander Fra’ Emmanuel Rousseau and the Venerable Bailiff Fra’ Ruy Gonçalo de Villas-Boas.

Present at the ceremony, in addition to many family members and friends, were Cardinal Silvano Maria Tommasi, the Order of Malta’s prelate Monsignor Jean Laffitte, some members of the Sovereign Council, the Order of Malta’s Ambassador to the Italian Republic Stefano Ronca, the Order of Malta’s Ambassador to the Holy See Antonio Zanardi Landi and all the capitulars of the Grand Priory of Rome.

Elected a member of the Sovereign Council between 2022 and 2023, Fra’ Roberto Viazzo managed the Grand Priory of Rome “ad interim” after the death of Fra’ John Critien. He is the first Grand Prior of Rome elected with the new rules of the Constitutional Charter promulgated by the Holy Father in September 2022.