Pope Francis has appointed a Canadian-American attorney as the new leader of the Sovereign Order of Malta, a week after the death of Fra’ Marco Luzzago, the Order’s leader since 2020.

“In his letter of appointment, Pope Francis states that ‘the sudden departure of the Lieutenant of the Grand Master, Fra’ Marco Luzzago, a few months before the celebration of the Extraordinary Chapter General, brings the Order of Malta to a new moment of dismay and uncertainty,” the Order said in a statement.

Dunlap joined the Order in 1996; a dozen years later, he became “the first American to profess his final vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as a Knight of Justice.” At the time, he was a partner in a New York law firm and legal advisor to the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, as well as a lector at daily Mass at St. Agnes Church.