Identity

Identity of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM)

This is what the Knights of Malta or Order of Malta or SMOM in brief, says about itself:

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Mission of the Order The Order of St John of Jerusalem is one of the oldest institutions of Western and Christian civilisation. Present in Palestine in around 1050, it is a lay religious Order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. Its 12,500 members include Professed Friars and others who have made vows of obedience. The other Knights and Dames are lay members, devoted to the exercise of Christian virtue and charity. What distinguishes the Knights of Malta is their commitment to reaching their spiritual perfection within the Church and to expending their energies serving the poor and the sick. The Order of Malta remains true to its inspiring principles, summarised in the motto "Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum", defence of the Faith and assistance to the poor and the suffering, which become reality through the voluntary work carried out by Dames and Knights in humanitarian assistance and medical and social activities. Today the Order carries out these activities in over 120 countries. Characteristics of the Order The Sovereign Order of Malta is a sovereign subject of international law, with its own constitution, passports, stamps, and public institutions. The 78th Grand Master, Fra' Andrew Bertie, was elected Head of the Order for life in 1988. The Order has diplomatic relations with 100 countries - many of which non-Catholic - and missions to major European countries, as well as to European and international organisations. The Order of Malta is neutral, impartial and non-political, which is why it can successfully act as a mediator between States. The Order and the Republic of Malta The Order has recently returned to Malta, after signing an agreement with the Maltese Government which granted the Order the exclusive use of Fort St. Angelo for a term of 99 years. Located in the town of Birgu, the Fort belonged to the Knights from 1530 until the island was occupied by Napoleon in 1798. Today, after restoration, the Fort hosts historical and cultural activities related to the Order of Malta.

http://www.orderofmalta.org/missione.asp?idlingua=5
The hierarchy of the SMOM is as follows:

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The three Classes According to the Constitutional Charter, the members of the Order are divided into three Classes. The members are to conduct their lives in an exemplary manner in conformity with the teachings and precepts of the Church and to devote themselves to the humanitarian assistance activities of the Order. Members of the First Class are Knights of Justice, or Professed Knights, and the Professed Conventual Chaplains, who have made vows of "poverty, chastity and obedience aspiring to perfection according to the Gospel". They are religious for all purposes of Canon Law but are not obliged to live in community. The members of the Second Class, by virtue of the Promise of Obedience, are committed to living according to Christian principles and the inspiring principles of the Order. They are subdivided into three categories: - Knights and Dames of Honour and Devotion in Obedience - Knights and Dames of Grace and Devotion in Obedience - Knights and Dames of Magistral Grace in Obedience The Third Class consists of lay members who do not profess religious vows or the Promise, but who live according to the principles of the Church and the Order. They are divided into six categories: - Knights and Dames of Honour and Devotion - Conventual Chaplains ad honorem - Knights and Dames of Grace and Devotion - Magistral Chaplains - Knights and Dames of Magistral Grace - Donats (male and female) of Devotion The requisites for admission to the various classes and categories are determined by the Code.

http://www.orderofmalta.org/knights_malta.asp?idlingua=5



Unfortunately for the SMOM, its self-image is not shared by everybody. Let's address what more impartial and critical researchers say about the SMOM:

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The Knights of Malta is a world organization with its threads weaving through business, banking, politics, the CIA, other intelligence organizations, P2, religion, education, law, military, think tanks, foundations, the United States Information Agency, the United Nations, and numerous other organizations. They are not the oldest but are one of the oldest branches of the Order of the Quest in existence. The world head of the Knights of Malta is elected for a life term, with the approval of the Pope. The Knights of Malta have their own Constitution and are sworn to work toward the establishment of a New World Order with the Pope at its head. Knights of Malta members are also powerful members of the CFR and the Trilateral Commission. (p.86) The Knights of Malta ALL have diplomatic immunity. They can ship goods across borders without paying duty or undergoing customs check. Does that ring any bells? In any case, that is power. The Knights of Malta is held up by a backbone consisting of nobility. Nearly half of the 10,000 members belong to Europe's oldest and most powerful families. This cements the alliance between the Vatican and the "Black Nobility." The Black Nobility is mostly the rich and powerful of Europe. The head of the Black Nobility is the family that can claim direct descendancy from the last Roman emperor. Maybe now you can see that things are beginning to fall into their proper place. Membership in the Knights of Malta entails obedience to one's superior in THE ORDER and ultimately to the Pope. Therefore, a U.S. ambassador who is also a member of the Knights of Malta faces a conflict of interest. Why is this fact ignored? President Bush appointed Knight of Malta Thomas Melledy to the post of U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican.

William Cooper's - Behold a Pale Horse (pp88-89)

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In their investigations of the SMOM, LaRouche's associates "discovered to their surprise that the mere mention of its name inspires awe and terror in the minds of highly placed government officials, central bankers, senior military and business leaders, and senior diplomatic and intelligence executives," as recorded in a pamphlet issued by the LaRouche organization at the time, "The `Black International' Terrorist Assassination Plot to Kill Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr." The pamphlet further reported, "The power that the Order concentrates is primarily financial, through direct control of most of the Western world's leading investment houses" and far, far more. The pamphlet also noted, "A second source of power is an absolutely unmatched intelligence capability." Which is to say, the SMOM is a leading organizational arm of the Synarchy, bringing together the world's leading aristocrats, financiers, and particularly military and intelligence officials. Its members yearn for the ultramontane world which existed before the rise of sovereign nation-states during the Renaissance, which meant a loss of power and privilege of their families. To them, that vanished world is as if yesterday. Indeed, it has by no means entirely disappeared, but lives on, centered—like the Knights themselves—on the Venetian-descended "independent central banks" of virtually every nation in the world, as LaRouche has emphasized.

http://larouchepub.com/other/2005/3205_italy_black_prince.html

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KNIGHTS OF DARKNESS THE SOVEREIGN MILITARY ORDER OF MALTA INTRODUCTION The Sovereign Military and Hospitaler Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, known also as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, or SMOM, is juridically, politically, and historically unique in the world today. Representing initially the most powerful and reactionary segments of the European aristocracy, for nearly a thousand years beginning with the early crusades of the Twelfth Century, it has organized, funded, and led military operations against states and ideas deemed threatening to its power. It is probably safe to say that the several thousand Knights of SMOM, principally in Europe, North, Central, and South America, comprise the largest most consistently powerful and reactionary membership of any organization in the world today. Although an exclusively [Roman] Catholic organization, in this century it has collaborated with, and given high awards to non-Catholic extremists in its current crusade against progressive forces in the West, the national liberation movements, and the socialist countries. To be a Knight, one must not only be from wealthy, aristocratic lineage, one must also have a psychological worldview which is attracted to the "crusader mentality'' of these "warrior monks." Participating in SMOM Ñ including its initiation ceremonies and feudal ritual dress Ñ members embrace a certain caste/class mentality; they are sociologically and psychologically predisposed to function as the ''shock troops" of Catholic reaction. And this is precisely the historical role the Knights have played in the wars against Islam, against the Protestant "heresy,'' and against the Soviet ''Evil Empire." [...] SMOM's Sovereign Diplomacy As its name suggests, SMOM is both a ''sovereign'' and, historically, a "military" organization. Its headquarters, occupying a square block in Rome at 68 Via Condotti, enjoys the extra-territorial legal status granted to an embassy of a sovereign state. The Italian police are not welcome on its territory, it issues its own stamps, and has formal diplomatic relations and exchanges ambassadors with a number of countries. On November 13, 1951 Italian President Alcide de Gasperi recognized the diplomatic sovereignty of SMOM, although he held off formal exchange of diplomatic envoys.2 On January 11, 1983 the New York Daily News announced that, "The Vatican and the order of the Knights of Malta, believed to be the smallest sovereign state in the world, have agreed to establish full diplomatic relations, a joint statement said today. " President Reagan's Ambassador to the Vatican, William Wilson, is, coincidentally, a Knight of Malta.3 On September 5, 1984 French Foreign Minister Claude Cheysson signed a formal protocol with SMOM for various cooperative projects including "aid to victims of conflicts."4 (See below on Americares.)

http://www.mosquitonet.com/~prewett/caqsmom25.1.html

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The Knights of St. John were founded in the late 11th Century, and rose to prominence in the First Crusade of 1095. In 1120, Pope Urban II officially recognized them as a military religious order, and for centuries they remained one of the most powerful military forces in Christendom, first from their headquarters on the island of Rhodes, and then on Malta, from which they were finally driven by Napoleon in the late 18th Century. The Knights were recognized as a sovereign state by a Hapsburg Emperor in the 16th Century. They remain a sovereign state, run from their headquarters at 68 Via Condotti in Rome. They maintain their own fleet of aircraft, have diplomatic relations with 92 nations as well as the United Nations and the Holy See, and enjoy diplomatic immunity. The order is entirely Roman Catholic, and its higher ranks must document an aristocratic lineage and coat-of-arms of at least three centuries. The Grand Master of the order is both a secular prince, and a cardinal of the Church. Reflecting its history, its membership is still heavily comprised of individuals with a military or intelligence background. Pope Pius XII ordered an investigation of this nominally Catholic organization in the 1950s. The Papal Commission charged, among other things, that the Order should not have the sovereignty of a state, and ordered modifications of the SMOM "to bring them into conformity with decisions of the Holy See." However, Pius XII died before the Order could be fully reined in. In addition to the Roman Catholic SMOM, there are four Protestant orders of the Knights, all founded within the last 150 years or so, and all run by ruling houses of Europe. The Roman Catholic and Protestant orders effectively merged on Nov. 26, 1963, four days after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The Sovereign Head of the British Knights is Queen Elizabeth, while the Netherlands Knights were headed until his death by the former SS official, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, consort of Queen Juliana.

http://www.illuminati-news.com/112606b.htm

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From: An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and Its Kindred Sciences," etc. by Albert G. Mackey, M.D., Thirty-Third Degree, Volume I, published by the Masonic History Company, Chicago, New York, & London, 1925, Volume One, pp. 392-95: "This Order, which at various times in the progress of its history received the names of Knights Hospitalers, Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights of Rhodes, and lastly, Knights of Malta, was one of the most important of the religious and military orders of knighthood which sprang into existence during the Crusades which were instituted for the recovery of the Holy Land. It owes its origin to the Hospitalers of Jerusalem, that wholly religious and charitable Order which was established at Jerusalem, in 1048, by pious merchants of Amalfi for the succor of poor and distressed Latin pilgrims.... [big section on its history over nine centuries] "The Organization of the Order in its days of prosperity was very complicated, partaking of both a monarchial and a republican character. Over all presided a Grand Master, who, although invested with extensive powers, was still controlled by the legislative action of the General Chapter.... "...There are now two bodies-one Catholic and the other Protestant, but each repudiates the other.... "The degree of Knight of Malta is conferred in the United States as "an appendant Order" in a Commandery of Knights Templar. There is a ritual attached to the degree, but very few are in possession of it, and it is generally communicated after the candidate has been created a Knights Templar...." [end of quote] The Knights of Malta are the militia of the Pope, and are sworn to total obedience by a blood oath which is taken extremely seriously and to the death. The Pope as the head of the Vatican is also the head of a foreign national power. As a member of the Knights of Malta, and by virtue of your blood oath of obedience to the Pope, you are required to support to the death the desires of the head of the Order of the Knights of Malta-in this case, Pope Benedict XVI -over and above any other allegiance you may feel or pretend to feel toward any other loyalty-such as a loyalty to the Constitution for the united States of America. Those who are presently members of the Knights of Malta must on penalty of death support those policies advocated by the Vatican. It is not hard for them to do this. They BELIEVE in these policies and principles. The polices which are espoused and proclaimed by the office of the Pope are as follows: 1. End of sovereignty for the United States and other countries. 2. End of absolute property rights. 3. End of all gun rights. 4. The new international economic Order (world government). 5. The redistribution of wealth and jobs. 6. Calls for nations to trust the United Nations. 7. Total disarmament. 8. Promote the United Nations as the hope for peace. 9. Promote UNESCO, the deadly educational and cultural arm of the United Nations. 10. Promote interdependence. 11. Support sanctions honoring Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin-the New Age Humanist Priest. 12. Support the belief that the economic principle of traditional Christian or Catholic social doctrine is the economic principle of communism. 13. Promote the Pope as the acting go-between for the United States and the Soviet Union. It doesn't really matter what kind of religious or political affiliation a member professes, when they take an oath as a Knight they are obligated by that blood oath of obedience to follow the political lead of the Vatican and will do so to their dying breath-as all good Knights of Malta do. Their first loyalty is to the Vatican, anything else is secondary. Each and every member is under complete and total obedience to the Vatican's political ambitions. The "Knights of Malta" are the militia of the Pope. In the book "Behold a Pale Horse" you will find research into this. It is one of the NWO SECRET SOCIETIES that are determined to overrun and destroy America. The Pope is not innocent of this either. The Pope wants to be the leader of the world. He meets with world leaders to promote "peace" as his means of public acceptance. It's a conspiracy of darkness. Members include: Paul Cain, Mark Joyner, Benny Hinn, Bob Dole, William Casey, former director of the CIA, George H.W. Bush, Pat Buchanan,

http://www.alaskafreepress.com/msgboard/co.../reply/304/2085

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The American Association of SMOM In Europe SMOM's membership had been traditionally limited to those who could prove a requisite purity of noble blood for several generations. Nevertheless, as a concession to the rising political, economic, and military power of the United States, in 1927 SMOM agreed to incorporate an American National Association whose members were not obliged to prove their genealogical pedigree. When the American Association of SMOM was created in 1927 the founding members included Patrick Cardinal Hayes, Edward L. Hearn, Nicholas F. Brady, Howard F. Carry, Patrick E. Crowley, James A. Farrell, James A. Fayne, Edward N. Hurley, James J. Phelan, Morgan J. O'Brien, John J. Raskob, and John D. Ryan. By 1941 Francis Cardinal Spellman was listed as the "Grand Protector" and "Spiritual Advisor" of the Order, with John J. Raskob as Treasurer. Members included John Farrell, then President of U.S.Steel, Joseph P. Grace, and John D. Ryan. In 1934 Raskob, inspired by the French fascist Croix de Feu, and working closely with Morgan Bank's John Davis, had been a principal financier in the plot to organize a fascist coup in the U.S. The plan failed when General Smedley Butler, who had been set up to lead the project, denounced it. The 1941 list also included Joseph J. Larkin. According to Charles Higham's Trading With the Enemy (see review in this issue), Joseph J. Larkin . . . [vice-president of Chase Manhattan Bank in charge of European affairs] kept the Chase Bank open ....... in Nazi-occupied Paris throughout World War II. .... [He] had received the Order of the Grand Cross of the Knights of Malta from Pope Pius XI in 1928. He was an ardent supporter of General Franco and, by extension, Hitler. Morgenthau first suspected him as a fascist sympathizer in Octoher 1936. ..... With the encouragement of Schacht, Larkin took on the Franco account and the Reichsbank account, though the Reichsbank was under the personal control of Hitler. ..... 7

http://www.mosquitonet.com/~prewett/caqsmom25.2.html


http://www.pehi.eu/AppendixA.htm

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With headquarters in Rome, the group is recognized by some 40 countries as the world's only landless sovereign nation. In that role the Knights mint coins, print stamps and issue passports to their diplomats. American network. The U.S. membership of about 1,OOO-70 percent men - accounts for one tenth of the worldwide total. Nearly all are prominent in business, government or professional life and include such well-known figures as Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca and Central Intelligence Agency Director William Casey. At least two U.S. senators also are members: Republicans Jeremiah Denton of Alabama and Pete Domenici of New Mexico. Other members active in conservative politics include former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, former Treasury Secretary William Simon and columnist William F. Buckley. The president of the Knights' American branch is J. Peter Grace, chairman of the W.R. Grace Company, which provides a national focus for the organization by including seven other Knights on its board. The main purpose of the Knights is to honor distinguished Catholics and raise money for charity, especially hospitals. But the close personal ties among members contribute to what some observers call a potent old-boy network of influential decision makers dedicated to thwarting Communism. The annual induction ceremony for new members at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City is the only function of the U.S. chapter open to nonmembers. Because many Knights and recipients of the Orders honors have worked in or around the CIA, critics sometimes suggest a link between the two. But members deny any connection, noting that the pattern of conservative members with overseas ties emerges naturally from the order's role as an international defender of the church.

http://www.mosquitonet.com/~prewett/usnewsmar84.html

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[...] most knights insist that SMOM is simply a charitable organization. The knights raise money for various philanthropic endeavors, particularly in areas of health care and international relief efforts. They still direct some of the infirmaries and hospitals they established centuries ago, in addition to running modern clinics, research centers, leprosariums and schools for the deaf and blind. SMOM administers a first aid station in St. Peter's Square and has sent volunteer medical personnel to the Muslim and Christian sections of war-torn Beirut. But charity typifies only the public face of SMOM. In private ceremonies, the knights have decorated Nazi spies and CIA operatives. Certain SMOM members have been involved in a litany of questionable activities, ranging from secret deals with organized crime to bloody coups in Latin America that have destroyed democratically elected governments. They have played a significant role in spearheading the cold war revival and the emergence of the New Right in the U.S. When Casey, Buckley, Luce and others dress in medieval garb, these modern crusaders rekindle the mystical mission to defeat all enemies of their notions of the church.

http://www.mosquitonet.com/~prewett/ncrdateunknown.html

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Who Are The Knights Of Malta? The Knights of Malta are a Roman Catholic organization with quasi mystical practices used mainly to advance Vatican influences in the political sphere. It is more exclusive than the Roman Catholic 'Knights of Columbus' and is rooted somewhat in the ethos of the barbaric Knights Templar of the Crusader Period (so too are St. John's Ambulance service, but they are more secular and benign). Unlike the OPUS DEI cult founded by the fascist Jesuit Jose Marie Escrive, the Knights of Malta confer honorary membership on non Catholics in certain circumstances as a means of forging relationship with persons of power and influence. Moriel and Jacob Prasch of course warn against this organization and we regard both it and the ecumenical agenda it fronts for as being sinister and incompatible with biblical Christianity.

http://www.moriel.org/articles/discernment/...are_nights_of_balta.htm