Knights of Malta (secret society) leader technicaly a head of state, page 1

Interesting info on the Knights of Malta:

www.bibliotecapleyades.net...

And another site:
www.knightsofmalta.com...

I didn't know anything really about them befoe reading this other than their name...they are another long-standing secret society that has been around for centuries with medieval roots (founded 1085...much older than the Freemasons it seems), but we don't seem to hear as much about them as we do about groups like the Freemasons, Templars, etc.

Fun Knights of Malta Facts I learned from the above (if its to be believed):

-Technically the head of the order is recognized as a both a Head of State (political) and a Cardinal in the Catholic church (religious), and technically the knights form their own state that is not beholden to any other state.

- The knights have their own "national" flag as well as "Permanent Observer Status" at the United Nations (freaky!)

-You have to be both Catholic and have served in the military to join up. The higher levels are described as "rigidly aristocratic" and you have to have a family coat of arms going back at least 300 years (sorry, guys, looks like those mail-order knighthood certificates from the internet ain't gonna cut it).

-They had Nazi connections and for some reason have been particularly popular among Latin American and African dictators over the years.

-Supposedly the Freemsons and Catholics have long-standing antagonisms but it appears the Freemasons and the Knights Malta (which as stated above is all-Catholic) are quite friendly with each other.

Weird. You learn something new every day. I thought they were just another group of old guys in funny hats who did Lions-club-style stuff like sponsor highways and things. Guess they have a little more torque than that on the world scene...