Giacomo dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto

Dalla Torre became a Knight of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) in 1985 and took solemn vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as a Knight of Justice eight years later in 1993.[12] Consequently, he joined a select group of approximately 60 professed knights, out of a total of 13,500 knights and dames internationally,[7] and quickly rose through ranks of posts set aside for these knights.[2] In 1994 he was elected Grand Prior of Lombardy and Venice, a position he held until 1999. From 1999 to 2004 he was a member of the Sovereign Council.[12] Dalla Torre was elected Grand Commander of the Order in 2004. Four years later, as Grand Commander, he automatically became Lieutenant ad interim (acting head of the Order) when Andrew Bertie, the 78th Prince and Grand Master, died on 7 February. He held that position for just over one month until the election of a new leader was held on 11 March. Because he was the "leading Italian member" of the SMOM at the time, dalla Torre was viewed as a candidate for the position on a full-time basis.[2] However, that post ultimately went to Fra' Matthew Festing.[13]

Dalla Torre was elected Grand Prior of Rome on 24 January 2009.[4][14] He was re-elected as Grand Prior on 12 February 2015,[15] and held that office until he was elected Lieutenant of the Grand Master and acting head of the SMOM on 29 April 2017.[16] This took place three months after the resignation of Fra' Matthew Festing as Prince and Grand Master.[14][17][18] Dalla Torre served in this capacity until 2 May 2018, when he was elected Prince and Grand Master.[12][17] He was the early favourite to secure the post, having been one of a small number of candidates qualified for it.[2] Before the election was held, a letter written by Ludwig Hoffmann-Rumerstein was sent to Pope Francis without first being vetted by the Sovereign Council. It requested that he grant professed knights two thirds of the seats on the Council and guarantee that the next Grand Master would be selected from among that group, while doing away with the requirement of noble ancestry. These proposed changes were viewed as a bid to stymie dalla Torre's election as leader, and were turned down by the Pope.[7]

Fifty-seven members of the SMOM were chosen to vote on the nomination of dalla Torre as Grand Master. Among them were two women, marking the first time in the history of the Order that female members participated in the selection of a new leader.[10] Upon becoming Grand Master, his full title became "His Most Eminent Highness Fra' Giacomo dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, Most Humble Guardian of the Poor of Jesus Christ".[19][20] He took the oath of office on 3 May at Santa Maria del Priorato Church,[21] in the presence of the Council Complete of State who elected him.[12]

As a Vatican insider, dalla Torre sought to swiftly repair the Order's relations with the Holy See,[22][23] according to the Associated Press.[22] These had been damaged after Festing was requested to resign by Pope Francis in 2017. The Pope had also stepped in to reinstate the Grand Chancellor, Albrecht von Boeselager, whom Festing dismissed from the Order after the SMOM's charity wing under Boeselager's watch was unintentionally implicated in handing out condoms in Myanmar to prevent the transmission of HIV.[11][24] Under dalla Torre's leadership, the Order's conservative bloc was "eased out" in favour of the reform-oriented group,[9] and institutional changes were in the process of being rolled out.[11][23] This led The Daily Telegraph to describe him as being "utterly in the hands of" the progressive German association of the Order.[2]

Dalla Torre informed the Order in a letter issued on 10 June 2019 that all of its official liturgical celebrations had to use the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite and not the Extraordinary Form (also known as the Tridentine Mass).[25][26] These celebrations include the SMOM's investitures, masses during its pilgrimages, memorial masses, and its solemnities and feasts. He highlighted how article 3 of Summorum Pontificum (the motu proprio issued by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007 on the use of the Tridentine Mass) grants the Major Superior of religious institutes like the Order of Malta the authority to decide which form of the Mass to be used.[26] The letter made clear that this directive does not encompass – nor aims to encroach on – the "personal preferences" of members in their everyday lives outside of the Order.[25] The diplomatic public affairs and press officer of the SMOM, Marianna Balfour, stressed that dalla Torre's letter was merely a restatement of existing principles, not the creation of new guidelines, and was "aimed only at fostering unity in the Order".[25]

During his tenure as Grand Master, dalla Torre made state visits to countries such as Benin (January 2019), Cameroon (July 2019), Germany, Slovenia, and Bulgaria.[11][17] On each of those occasions, he paid a visit to the healthcare facilities run by the SMOM, where he staff and patients.[11] In September 2019, he expressed his interest in visiting Russia should he be given the opportunity to by the Grand Chancellor, given the Order's historical relations with the country;[27] Paul I of Russia was his predecessor, serving as the de facto 72nd Grand Master from 1799 until 1801.[28] Dalla Torre was also personally involved with many of the Order's charitable works for the sick and the poor. He served food to the homeless at Termini and Tiburtina train stations on a weekly basis.[11][29] He also participated in the SMOM's pilgrimages to Lourdes, Loreto, and Assisi, as well as its international summer camps for disabled youths.[11][29]

In his last official action as Grand Master, dalla Torre met with the Sovereign Council on 2 April 2020. They agreed to convene an extraordinary General Chapter in November 2020 to approve the reform of the SMOM Constitution of 1961. Dalla Torre issued a letter to that effect on 28 April.[30]

• Bailiff Knight Grand Cross of Justice of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George (House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies) (1995)[33]
• Knight Grand Cross with Star of Gold of the Order of Prince Danilo I (House of Petrović-Njegoš) (31 January 2006)[32]
• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (3 April 2006)[34]
• Collar of the Order of Saint Januarius (17 December 2018)[29]
• Grand Cordon of the Cameroon Order of Valour (18 July 2018)[29]
• Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (21 October 2019)[29]
• Grand Cross of the Order of Stara Planina (13 December 2019)[35]