Sovereign Military Order of Malta

The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) is better known as the Knights of Malta

It is a world-wide Catholic organization which acts partly as a fraternal 'lodge' (a Catholic counter to the old Protestant Masonic Order -- 'Freemasons') and partly as a global network for business, banking, politics, the CIA, other intelligence organizations.

The head of the Knights of Malta is elected for life (under Papal approval) and the Knights of Malta have their own Constitution, however they are sworn to work for the establishment of a "New World Order" under the direction and control of the Pope. They also control the distribution of papal knighthoods, which confers special privileges and are much prized by top corporate executives.

Knights of Malta seem to have considerable influence among bureaucrats in western departments of Foreign Relations and in the intelligence services (mainly because of their anti-Communist fervour during the Cold War period.)