The Templars demanded the Pope in Spain

From La Vanguardia, a newspaper from Catalunya, Spain:

"The Sovereign Order of the Temple of Christ Association, which claims to be the heir to the legendary Templars, has filed a lawsuit against the Pope, who require rehabilitation of the order that was suspended by Pope Clement V in 1307, as well as recognition of their property seized, valued at 100,000 million euros in 2008.

The lawsuit, filed in the Courts of Madrid against the Holy Father through the Apostolic Nunciature in Spain, claiming the revision process that ended with the suspension of the Templar order 700 years ago.

The complaint, made against the person of Pope Benedict XVI as successor to Pope Clement V, and not as head of the Vatican State, makes it clear that current Templars do not want restitution of the property plundered in the fourteenth century, which reached currently 100,000 million.

-We're not trying in any case produce the economic bankruptcy of the Roman Church,- the letter adds, -but the court can get an idea of the magnitude of the tranche operation against our Order.-

According to the Sovereign Order of the Temple of Christ Association, legally registered, the Templars had registered 9,000 properties across Europe, not counting rights over land, pastures, mills and port charges, including transport ships and war ships.

In the fourteenth century the Templars, which had more than 15,000 knights throughout Europe, had properties in Spain, France, England, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and Poland.

Demand is awaiting the resolution of the appeal lodged by the order of the Temple at the Provincial Court of Madrid after they were not properly presented in the first instance.

In its first order the judge denied the admissibility for lack of jurisdiction, to understand that it was not for his court to rule on events that occurred 700 years ago -to be subject itself to historians-."

To my knowledge no group has been able to definitively show proof of direct descendence from the original Knights Templar. Before demanding restitution, they'd have a tough job proving that they're entitled to such.

Worth keeping an eye on, nonetheless.