Free Republic

Macron wants to pass a series of laws by decree in order to speed through reforms — and not everyone is happy about it. But can he actually do it? Macron, France’s soon to be youngest ever president at 39, has major plans for France, including a “simplification” of France’s labor laws and cuts to the public sector and public spending. But to bring these plans to action, the president-elect has said he will not wait for the backing of the French parliament — which he he is unlikely to get a majority in anyway. Instead Macron is planning to...

Roughly one month ago I asked what the end game in Venezuela might look like as the country continues to spiral out of control. Judging by what’s been happening this weekend we may be getting close to an answer to that question. Despite the ramped up “militias” of President Nicolas Maduro and the dozens of people who have died in violent clashes between protesters and militia groups, starving and disaffected citizens continue to take to the streets. In one Venezuelan city, a statue of former dictator Hugo Chavez was torn down and smashed in the streets. (Video via the Daily...

On Saturday, 29 April, the Order of Malta elected Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre as the new interim leader of the Order. He will reign for only year. During that year, the Vatican plans to reform the Order fundamentally, including changes to the governance requirements that would open the role of Grand Master to those not among the ranks of the professed Knights (who take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience), but instead from a larger pool of candidates within the Order. This 29 April event has put an end to the hopes of many Catholics that Fra’ Matthew Festing would be re-elected...

The Knights of Malta have done the Vatican’s bidding – and the stage is set for a power grab by Ed Condon posted Monday, 1 May 2017 Knights of Malta walk in procession at Saturday's election in Rome (Getty) Many see the push for 'reform' as a way for one small group to seize control from anotherOn Saturday, the Council Complete of State of the Knights of Malta declined to elect a new Grand Master. Instead, they submitted to the express instructions of Archbishop Angelo Becciu, Pope Francis’s delegate, and elected a Lieutenant ad interim to govern the Order for...

Coup de Grâce? With Election Imminent, Has An Ancient Chivalric Order Been Toppled From Within? This Saturday, April 29, 2017, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMoM) is going to elect its new Grand Master.  As preparations are being made for this election, anonymous sources within the Order have provided us with documentation, giving some depth and clarity on how it all came to this, who is behind it, and what it’s all about.Since December 2016, there have been rumors, accusations, firings, suspensions, investigations, and outright lies regarding the SMoM.  It all began when the Grand Chancellor, Albrecht von Boeselager,...

Grassroots members of the Knights of Malta are directly petitioning Pope Francis as a crucial vote for a new leader looms on Saturday. Members are signing on to an open letter launched by Maltese Knight Dr. Paul J. Camarata. They say want answers to their “serious questions and misgivings” that have arisen after Francis reinstated within the order a fired condom promoter, forced the Order’s head to resign, and effectively removed their patron, Cardinal Raymond Burke, from his post. “The recent unfolding of serious events that have taken place over the past months regarding the Order of Malta have left...

The story of the Knights of Malta, Fra Matthew Festing, Albrescht von Boeselager, Pope Francis, the condoms for “sex trade workers” in Malaysia and the multi-million dollar Swiss trust fund, just keeps getting better and better.Today, Pope Crankypants had a few snide comments about holy obedience…Something on your mind, holiness?Maybe this. “…He is a man with a spine, not put off by danger. A man who comes from fighting stock. A man who rose to the top of a complex and ancient chivalric order not through political calculation, but pure dedication and pluck.And today, we are happy to inform you...

The reformist German party want sweeping changes. But can they win over the voters?Elections always provoke excitement, but in the run-up to the Order of Malta’s leadership vote this weekend, something more can be detected: anguish, anxiety, even a distinct note of panic. The 60 voters – most of them professed knights, who take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience – are being intensely lobbied. Members are sending emails to the voters, asking them to save the order from “corruption and destruction”. Meanwhile, Pope Francis has asked to see 15 of the voters this evening.To simplify things hugely, the contest...

The Pope Stacks the Deck for the New Election of the Grand Master of the Maltese Order  Villa Malta on the Aventine (Rome) On the following Saturday, 29 April, the Grand Council of Sovereigns of the Sovereign Order of Malta will gather in Rome to form the "conclave", to elect a new Grand Master and Prince of the  Order -- the 80th. The election becomes necessary because Pope Francis, with a blatant act, forced the resignation of the reigning Grand Master without naming reasons and now intervenes massively in the election of the successor. Pope has dismissed the Grand Master and now wishes a successor of...

The ousted Grand Master of the Knights of Malta Catholic charity will attend a meeting that could elect his successor, the group said on Wednesday, in a direct defiance of Pope Francis' order for him to stay away. A spokesperson for the Knights said Matthew Festing, who resigned on Jan. 24, had informed the group that he would come to the meeting this Saturday at its headquarters in Rome. It was not clear if he would stand for re-election, as some of his supporters have urged him to. On April 15, Archbishop Angelo Becciu, the Vatican's deputy secretary of state,...

Leaders of the Knights of Malta have recommended that Leaders of the Knights of Malta have recommended that members select an interim leader, as the date for the election of a new grand master approaches. Archbishop Angelo Becciu, named by Pope Francis as a special delegate to supervise changes in the Knights of Malta, has summoned 15 top leaders of the Order to the Vatican a meeting on April 27. Underlining the importance of the session, Pope Francis is also expected to attend the meeting, which will take place on the eve of his trip to Egypt. The vote for...

The Knights of Malta Have an Extra Grand Elector. The Pope > Italiano > English> Español> Français> All the articles of Settimo Cielo in English*To some, the interdict brought down by the pope on the former Grand Master of the Order of Malta, Fra' Matthew Festing, seemed to be going too far. To others, not far enough.The fact is that for 7pm on Thursday, April 27, on the eve of his journey to Egypt, Francis has convened at Casa Santa Marta a hefty representation of the members of the Order who have come to Rome to appoint their new superior...

Who knew? Pope can forbid foreigner from visiting Rome Ever since the Porta Pia fell, in 1870, and Rome became the capital of a newly united Italy, no Pope has ever again claimed the right to forbid anyone from coming to Rome. The city is not owned by the Pope, after all, and the temporal power of the papacy has, since 1929, been reduced to the very small limits of Vatican City and a few additional buildings in the region. Alas, that was before Caudillismo had reached the City! If only John Paul II and Benedict XVI had known about...

Recep Tayyip Erdogan didn’t just win his constitutional referendum — he permanently closed a chapter of his country’s modern history... Whether they understood it or not, when Turks voted “Yes”, they were registering their opposition to the Teşkilât-ı Esasîye Kanunu and the version of modernity that Ataturk imagined and represented. Though the opposition is still disputing the final vote tallies, the Turkish public seems to have given Erdogan and the AKP license to reorganize the Turkish state and in the process raze the values on which it was built.

Republican Sen. John McCain took a veiled swipe at President Donald Trump's attacks on the media, cautioning that suppressing the press "is how dictators get started." McCain, who has broken with Trump on several issues, made the comments in an exclusive interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd, after being asked about the president's condemnation of several media outlets as "fake news" and "an enemy of the American people." "I hate the press. I hate you especially," McCain joked. "But the fact is we need you. We need a free press. We must have it. It's vital."

Pope Francis’ reform of the Knights of Malta could gut the very “heart” of the Order and up-end its 900-year-old constitution. Members of the Order who spoke to LifeSiteNews under condition of anonymity say such drastic fears have been stoked by the Pope’s unprecedented intervention in the Order in the last month. Pope Francis has appointed Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu as his special delegate to the Knights of Malta and entrusted him the task of reforming the lay Order’s religious branch of professed Knights, called the “First Class,” who take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Members of the Order...

No Reasons Given: According to Marco Tosatti, there is still a very strong resistanceamong the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Immaculate against the commissioners Pope Francis has imposed on them. Tosatti points out that to this very day the Vatican has not explained the reasons why it cracked down on the order almost four years ago. Pressure: Tosatti writes that Fr Manelli received last week a Vatican decree which writes: "Father Stefano Manelli is required to issue a statement in which he declares to accept and comply with all provisions of the Holy See and to urge the Franciscan...

Against the evidence there is little to argue. The outstretched hand of Pope Bergoglio to the Society of St. Pius X is the same, which has recently dealt blows to the Order of Malta and the Franciscans of the Immaculate. The story of the Order of Malta ended with the unconditional surrender of the Grand Master and the return of power to Albrecht von Boeselager along with the powerful German group he represents. The story was summarized in these terms by Riccardo Cascioli of La Nuova Bussola quotidiana: “the one responsible for the moral drift of the Order has been...

I am not an expert on Hitler. But my father is. He toured post-war Germany extensively in 1957 and ’58 as a child performer. And he often recounts the stories. He befriended teenage Lebensborn children (if you don’t know what Lebensborn children are …well …before you post anymore about Hitler you should read about them). He visited an SS widow and got a peek at her husband’s uniform and Luger (that he’d committed suicide with), she had stored in an old trunk, in the attic. These and other intense experiences in Germany sent my father on a life-long quest to...

The “Sovereign” Military Order of the Knights of Malta, whose almost millennium-long history includes its critical role in the defeat of Islam at the Battle of Lepanto, has submitted like a whimpering puppy to a naked abuse of power it had every right to resist, and did resist for a few weeks. The effective demise of the Order’s sovereignty is a shocking and disheartening demonstration of the extent to which the Church is now being governed from the top in the manner of a banana republic, wherein the only law is the will of the leader. First, as Edward Pentin...