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		</div><p>The head of the Knights of Malta resigned after a public row with Pope Francis over the ousting of a top official involved in a condom scandal, the ancient lay Catholic order said.</p>
<p>Matthew Festing met with the pope on Tuesday and offered his resignation, Knights of Malta spokeswoman Marianna Balfour said.</p>
<p>Mr Festing had refused to cooperate with a papal commission investigating his ousting of the grand chancellor, Albrecht von Boeselager, over revelations the order&#8217;s charity branch distributed condoms under his watch.</p>
<p>Mr Festing cited the Knights&#8217; status as a sovereign entity in refusing to cooperate.<br />
Last week, the Holy See said in a sharply worded statement it plans to take action to resolve the dispute.</p>
<p>The remarkable showdown is the latest example of Francis clashing with more conservative elements in the Catholic Church, especially those for whom sexual ethics and doctrinal orthodoxy are paramount.</p>
<p>In a January 17 statement, the Vatican called the issue a &#8220;crisis of the central direction&#8221; of the Knights of Malta.</p>
<p>Mr Festing suspended Mr Boeselager on December 8 over revelations the Knights&#8217; charity branch had distributed thousands of condoms to poor people in Burma under his watch.</p>
<p>Church teaching forbids artificial contraception.</p>
<p>Mr Boeselager has said he stopped the programmes when he learned of them.</p>
<p>The order&#8217;s leadership has said the scandal was grave and called it &#8220;disgraceful&#8221; that Mr Boeselager refused an order to obey Mr Festing and resign.</p>
<p>Francis appointed a commission to investigate after Mr Boeselager said he had been told by Mr Festing the Holy See wanted him to quit over the scandal.</p>
<p>The Vatican secretary of state has said the pope wanted nothing of the sort and wanted the dispute to be resolved through dialogue.</p>
<p>The order&#8217;s leadership had said it would not cooperate with the pope&#8217;s commission, citing its status as a sovereign entity.</p>
<p>In a January 14 letter, Mr Festing questioned the credibility of the pope&#8217;s commission, saying there were &#8220;serious accusations of a conflict of interest&#8221; involving three of its five members.</p>
<p>The three, he wrote, were linked to a Geneva-based fund in which the Knights had a financial interest and therefore could not be trusted to address the spat objectively.</p>
<p>He did not elaborate.</p>
<p>The National Catholic Register has reported that three of the commission members were involved, along with Mr Boeselager, in a 118 million dollar bequest to the order. Mr Festing has decided to launch an internal inquiry into the matter.</p>
<p>The commission is made up of a noted Jesuit canon lawyer, three members of the order said to be close to Mr Boeselager, and the Vatican&#8217;s former UN envoy to the UN in Geneva.</p>
<p>In its January 17 statement, the Vatican hinted it plans to take measures based on the commission&#8217;s final report.</p>
<p>The order is also a Catholic lay order and its leadership takes an oath of obedience to the pope.</p>
<p>The Vatican had said it &#8220;counts on the complete cooperation of all in this sensitive stage&#8221; &#8211; an apparent reference to the order&#8217;s refusal to cooperate.</p>
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