Le Cercle: Puppetmasters

Welcome to the seventh and final installment in my examination of the highly mysterious group known variously as Le Cercle, Pinay Cercle or the Pinay Group (which in some accounts was held to be the inner circle of Le Cercle). As was noted in the first installment, Le Cercle had its origins in the United Europe movement as well as early ties to the Bilderberger group. However, the dominate faction in Le Cercle always seems to have been reactionary Catholic groups such as Opus Dei and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM). By the late 1970s David Rockefeller and the rest of Bilderberger clique broke with Le Cercle over its extremist agenda.

With part two I began to consider two of the chief figures behind the formation of Le Cercle: former French prime minister and sometimes namesake Antoine Pinay and his close associate and fellow Frenchman Jean Violet. Violet was suspected of being an agent for French, West German and Vatican intelligence. He has also been linked to the fascist paramilitary network known as La Cagoule in 1930s France. As was noted in that installment, La Cagoule is suspected of having its origins in Martinism and synarchy, a prospect that is quite important in the later installments of this series.

The third installment considered the Brussels-based Academie Europeenne des Sciences Politiques (AESP, often referred to simply as the Academy) and Briton Brain Crozier's 6I network. Both of these two groups effectively served as private intelligence networks for Le Cercle. Even more ominously, both networks had extensive ties to the alleged elite pedophile rings in Belgium and the UK that were initially exposed in the wake of the Dutroux affair and the Westminster pedophile dossier, respectively.

Brain Crozier

Part four addressed the extensive network of groups and organizations that comprised the Cercle complex. These included the American Security Council (ASC,examined at length on this blog before here), the World Anti-Communist League (WACL, explored at length here), Aginter Press (addressed before here and here), Propaganda Due (P2, addressed at length here), the International Committee for the Defense of Christian Culture (ICDCC), the Unification Church, the Family/Fellowship (addressed at length here), the Heritage Foundation and the Safari Club. These groups played an enormous role in the rise of Christian fundamentalism in the United States beginning in the late 1970s as well as the rise of Islamic extremism in the Third World. For this reason I have dubbed Le Cercle a proponent of clerical fascism.

With the fifth installment I considered two other curious associations of Le Cercle: the network of Georges Albertini, another Le Cercle member linked to synarchy as well as the Information Council for the Americas (INCA, a group closely linked to the JFK assassination) and Colonia Dignidad (Dignity Colony or simply the Colony), a Christian commune based in Chile extensively linked to Operation Condor and the greatest extremes of the Pinochet regime. Its founder, Paul Schafer, was a "former" Nazi and arch pedophile. The Colony was also reputed to have employed numerous "behavioral modification" techniques, as noted before here.

the Colony

Also noted in that installment were the possible links Le Cercle had to the alleged Franklin pedophile ring. From there, part six considered the possible ties Le Cercle had to David Ferrie, another arch pedophile linked to the Kennedy assassination, as well as the possibility Ferrie was also involved in a pedophile ring in New Orleans during the 1960s. Ferrie was allegedly trained as a hypnotist by the notorious William Joseph Bryan, who is also believed to have been a priest or a bishop in one of the several churches David Ferrie was ordained in.

As I wrapped up that installment, I noted that Bryan has been described as wearing ritual apparel similar to that employed by both La Cagoule and Propaganda Due (which were closely linked via the Academy, as noted before here). Ferrie and Bryan could have easily been linked to Le Cercle via either the INCA or a mysterious secret society known as the Sovereign Order of Saint John (SOSJ). From there I proposed that the bizarre regalia that La Cagoule, P2 and Bryan employed may have been evidence of some type of secret society or cult within Le Cercle which, via its proxies in Europe, the United States and South America, seems to have played a major role in Operations Gladio, Northwoods and Condor.  And that is where I shall pick things up.

a P2 initiation ceremony

Clearly something very strange was going on. Le Cercle seems to have had definite links to the pedophile rings in Belgium and the UK. There is also a strong chance they were linked to the alleged Franklin network as well as David Ferrie, who seems to have active in pedophile ring in New Orleans during the 1960s. Ferrie was alleged to have been a very skilled hypnotist, as was William Joseph Bryan, another individual possibly linked to Le Cercle and who consulted with Project Artichoke personnel (noted before here). As noted above, the Colony also seems to have been engaged in "behavioral modification" techniques as well.

For years there have been dark rumblings of an international network of pedophiles rings catering to elites. In many cases these rings were also linked to arms and drug trafficking as well as terrorism. Certainly one of Le Cercle's key partners, the World Anti-Communist League, had extensive ties to arms and drugs, as I outlined in an extended examination of the WACL. Groups linked to Le Cercle were deeply implicated in Operation Gladio, a program long linked to state-sanctioned terrorism, as was noted in the prior installment. The WACL is reputed to have played a key role in the similar Operation Condor of South America as well. And here we find Le Cercle, with likely ties to pedophile rings in both Europe and the United States, Operation Gladio, and which seems to have dominated the WACL at the upper levels.

This researcher does not believe, however, that Le Cercle was the ultimate control mechanism for this complex. As this researcher has tried to stress throughout this series, the Cercle complex seems to have been under the control of Opus Dei and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. The great Institute for the Study of Globalization and Covert Politics (referred to as ISGP throughout this installment), which as compiled the most extensive membership list of Le Cercle presently available, has noted that at least 20 percent of the known Cercle members belonged to either Opus Dei and/or the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. More than a few other members belonged to like organizations as well, lending the whole organization an air of religious fanaticism.

Beyond Opus Dei and SMOM, there are also ample members who belonged to other Catholic sects or orders of knighthood such as the Sovereign Order of Saint John, the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, the Dominicans, and even the Jesuits (though on the whole the Society of Jesus does not seem to have exerted any real influence over Le Cercle and indeed many of its members held it in contempt). On the whole then, Le Cercle seems to have been steeped in the most reactionary strains of Catholicism.

the cross of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George

Effectively then the agenda and modus operandi of Le Cercle and these groups, but most especially Opus Dei and SMOM, is in complete harmony with one another. With this in mind we can now consider intrigues involving Opus Dei and SMOM with an awareness that these acts fall firmly within the Cercle complex.

AmeriCares, Covenant House and the Sons of Cristeros

Let us now turn our attention to AmeriCares, an NPO allegedly geared toward disaster relief and various healthcare initiatives. AmeriCares was founded in 1979 and would soon be staffed by various globalist heavy weights. It was highly active in war-torn Central America during the 1980s. Allegedly this was for purely humanitarian purposes, but evidence emerged that AmeriCares was in fact playing a key role in supporting the Contras and their allies in this region of the world.

"... The Vatican quarreled publicly with the Nicaraguan government, which had Jesuits in cabinet, and important Vatican allies began funding, in cooperation was Sun Myung Moon, about twenty private US-based organizations, the anticommunist governments and guerrilla movements of Central America...

"With the refusal of Congressional aid (reversed a year later), the slack was taken up by the Moonies and other private groups, including evangelical churches, the Taiwan-sponsored World Anti-Communist League, and Soldier of Fortune magazine. Not the least of the participants was a 'private, humanitarian organization' called Americares Foundation, which formed a cooperative program with the Opus Dai-linked Order of the Knights of Malta to channel money to El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. Most of the money was earmarked for hospitals but some reportedly went for funding the Contras and creating Vietnam-style 'model villages' for the Guatemalan Indians."

(Hot Money, R.T. Naylor, pg. 157)

Note that another component of the Cercle complex, the World Anti-Communist League, was also active in Central America with AmeriCares during this time. But even more disturbing, however, was AmeriCares' ties to an organization known as Covenant House.

"... Covenant House. The youth organization's director, Father Bruce Ritter, was alleged to have molested youth who took refuge with him.

"Lauded by the Reagan and Bush Administrations as a showcase for the privatization of social services, Covenant House had expanded into Guatemala as a gateway to South America. According to intelligence community sources, the purpose was procurement of children from South America for exploitation in a pedophile ring. The flagship Guatemalan mission of Covenant House was launched by a former business partner of Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza, Roberto Alejos Arzu, who had ties to the CIA, according to the Village Voice of February 20, 1990. The Voice quoted Jean-Marie Simon, author of Guatemala Eternal Spring, Eternal Tyranny: 'It's like having Idi Amin on the board of Amnesty International.'

"A top source of money for Covenant House has been Robert Macauley, founder of Americares, a service organization implicated in channeling funds to the Contras. A close friend of the Bush family since Connecticut, Andover and Yale days, Macauley has George Bush's brother Prescott on the Americares board. Father Ritter was a vice president of Americares, at least until he had to resign from Covenant House in February 1989, and spent weekends at Macauley's estate in Connecticut, according to a former Covenant House employee."

(The Franklin Cover-Up, John DeCamp, pgs. 180-181)

It should be noted that there is nothing available that confirms DeCamp's allegations that Covenant House was being used to traffic children in the Americas. Its head, Father Bruce Ritter, was definitely brought down over sexual improprieties, however. It also seems all but certain Ritter was in fact a pedophile and that he did recruit some of his victims through Covenant House, but beyond that the details are rather vague.

As for some of the AmeriCares members, let us consider there affiliations: Both Macauley and Alejos were members of the Knights of Malta, as was Father Bruce Ritter. William Simon, another member of the Knights of Malta, was a member of the AmeriCares' board of directors along with former Cercle member Zbigniew Brzezenski. Barbra Bush, wife of George H.W. Bush (an honorary member of SMOM) served as AmeriCares "ambassador-at-large" during the 1980s. Prescott Bush Jr. was also a member of the board as well as a Knight of Malta.

So yes, the scandals that rocked AmeriCares and Covenant House during the 1980s seem to have been firmly under the dominion of the Maltese knights. Even more eyebrow raising are the allegations that Guatemala was being used as a staging ground to abduct children from Central and South America for a pedophile ring. As was noted in the prior installment, David Ferrie was reportedly flying children into Cuba, Honduras and Guatemala for reasons no one has ever been able to explain (Ferrie claimed he was taking them on "mining" expeditions). It is interesting to note that Ferrie's one-time boss, Guy Banister was, like the above-mentioned Maltese knight Roberto Alejos Arzu, a former partner of the Somoza family:

"... Banister was also instrumental in the Anti-Communist League of the Caribbean, a pet project of Nicaragua's General Somoza, and was part of a global network of right-wing hard-liners. The Anti-communist League of the Caribbean was one of a global family that originated with the Asian People's ACL. A creature of the Nationalist Chinese, and included the pro-Batista ACL of Cuba and the Chicago-based ACL of America. Banister's associate, Maurice B. Gatlin, Sr., of New Orleans, was counsel to the ACL of the Caribbean as well as a member of the steering committee of the umbrella World ACL, along with Richard Nixon's good friend Alfred Kohlberg of the China Lobby. The ACL affiliates engaged in propaganda and lobbying and collaborated with the intelligence branches of their respective governments."

(Deadly Secrets, Warren Hinckle & William Turner, pg. 231)

Guy Banister

This Anti-Communist League of the Caribbean eventually became a part of the WACL which, as noted before, had ties to Colonia Dignidad as part of Operation Condor. There were also allegations that children were being abducted from Germany and shipped to Colonia Dignidad in Chile, noted here.

Ferrie was also employed by attorney G. Wray Gill. Gill is who also assisted Ferrie in combating his numerous pedophilia charges. Another of Gill's clients was notorious gangster Carlos Marcello. Marcello is widely believed to have had extensive business dealings with the Somoza family as well.

Is it possible then that Covenant House was actually a continuation of a pedophile ring that had been active since at least the 1960s and engaged in trafficking children to and from the Americas and Europe? Obviously this all very circumstantial, but it is most curious these right wing pedophile networks seem to keep cropping up in the same regions of the world.

On the topic of right wing pedophiles, there is a possibility that the Legion of Christ also had ties to the close Cercle partner the World Anti-Communist League. The Legion of Christ is little known in the English speaking world, but it was quite influential in Latin America throughout the second half the twentieth century until the downfall of its founder in the early twenty-first century. Here's a bit of background about the Legion:

".... Father Marcial Maciel's Legion of Christ was a favorite order of Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. So enamored of Father Maciel was John Paul II that he invited him on his plane on several occasions when traveling to South America. The two organizations, Opus Dei and the Legionaries, have much in common – indeed the pope saw them in the same light, with Maciel's group boasting of its roots in Mexico and Escriva's in Spain. Both were in bed with aristocratic millionaires, extremely hierarchical, extremely patriarchal, admiring of uber-right causes (Maciel of Pinochet, the Chilean dictator), and run very tightly. In fact Maciel's had a special twist to it: a vow was demanded of its members that they never criticized Maciel or their other superiors and that they report anyone who did. Secrecy trumped everything, spying was part of the vow. Both were fully committed to papalolatry. Whatever the pope says goes. They made the perfect vanguard for new and anti-Vatican II religious movement...

"Maciel founded the Legion of Christ in 1941 and devised a scheme of greasing the palms of many a cardinal and Rome to ensure its success. One Mexican widow of a successful industrialist is said to have donated $50 million to the Legion. In 1958 Maciel managed to build a seminary in Salamanca, Spain, from monies he was given from Josefita Perez Jimenez, the daughter of a former Venezuelan dictator.

"The facts are these.'Maciel was a morphine addict who sexually abused at least 20 Legion seminarians from the 1940s to the '60s.' Bishop John McGann of Rockville Centre, New York, was informed of a seminarian who was sexually abused by Maciel from age thirteen to twenty-six. Father Vaca wrote Maciel: 'I have arrived at the Legion in my childhood, with no sexual experience of any kind... It was you who initiated the aberrant and sacrilegious abuse that night; the abuse that would last for thirteen painful years.' Bishop McGann did the right thing and sent a letter by this former Legion priest with the complete allegations to the Vatican in 1976, again in 1978, and again in 1989. Nothing was done. Ratzinger did nothing. Ratzinger, it seems, was too busy denouncing theologians the world over than to go after a darling of the pope. Come the 1980s, Maciel set up three families, two in Mexico and a third in Switzerland. In total he appears to have fathered six children by three women and adopted the seventh. His middle son, Raul, now twenty-nine, tells the story of how his father molested him and his brother from ages of eight to fourteen. As teenagers they resisted his advances. Maciel met Raul's mother in 1977 when she was nineteen years old and working as a domestic servant. Maciel was 57. Raul sought $26 million from the order to remain silent; he is now suing the order. Maciel supported his girlfriends generously, leaving just one of them homes valued at above $2 million. The two older sons protected Maciel's third son, younger and adopted, by pushing Maciel away and refusing to allow him to be in the room alone with the youngest son. His daughter with also was sexually abused by 'Our Father.' There was even an occasion when Father Maciel brought his children to receive communion for the pope, telling him they were his 'nephews.' " 

(The Pope's War, Matthew Fox, pgs. 125-127) 

Father Marcial Maciel

The relationship between Opus Dei and the Legion of Christ has always been ambiguous. Here's a few more details concerning it:

"The Legion of Christ, much smaller and not nearly as well known as Opus Dei, has a similar kind of messianic Hispanic spirituality and unswerving fidelity to the pope. Both groups believe in money and power to advance the aims of the church; they work hard to recruit orthodox Catholics and view each other as rivals... The Legion... has an affiliated organization, Regnum Christi (Kingdom of Christ), the claims 'tens of thousands of laymen and women, as well as deacons and priests.' They are the Maciel's cadre for infiltrating and 're-Christianizing' existing Catholic organizations. Maciel claims the idea for Regnum Christi came to him in 1949. Several ex-Legionaries say he borrowed the 'lay apostlate' idea from Opus Dei in the 1960s and took the name from a defunct European pious association."

(Vows of Silence, Jason Berry & Gerald Renner, pgs. 244-245) 

There is another possible source of influence for the Regnum Christi which we shall get to in just a moment. Nonetheless, it clearly seems that Opus Dei wielded some type of influence over the Legion and that the differences between the two organizations had little to do with ideology and everything to do with competition for converts. In this sense they were rivals, but more often than not they traveled in the same circles. Opus Dei was also extremely close to Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI (formerly Joseph Ratzinger) as well. There is one especially compelling instance of overlap between these two groups that saw be noted in a moment.

As for the WACL, this researcher is unaware of a direct connection between it and the Legion However, the Legion had its origins in the Cristero Revolt that plunged Mexico into a civil war during the 1920s. One of Marciel's uncles was a general in the Cristeros. The name of the Legion was derived from the Cristeros, who at times were referred to as the "Legion of Christ the King."

Los Cristero

There was at least two other right wing extremist organizations to emerge from the Cristeros in Mexico. One was the bizarre secret society known as Los Tecos ("the Owl"). This organization was closely tied to the WACL, as I noted before here. This researcher has been unable to establish a relationship between the Legion and Los Tecos, though it would certainly seem that a fair amount of Mexican bloggers believe a relationship exists. Obviously this is hardly proof, but given that both groups emerged from the Los Cristeros movement and were firmly steeped in fanatical Catholicism, it seems highly likely they were aware of one another.

The other extremist movement to emerge from the Cristeros was the Unión Nacional Sinarquista, or National Synarchist Union. Catholic to the core, the movement has been linked to both the Legion of Christ and Los Tecos as well as Opus Dei, though this researcher has been unable to reliably confirm any of these connections. It is clear, however, that Father Marcial Maciel had contact with the Mexican synarchist and was infleunced by their movement.

"The infiltration strategy is rooted in Mexican history. In the 1930s, after the government crushed the Cristero Revolt, holdout Catholic rebels turned to terrorist tactics. In one village they cut off the ears of a man whose two daughters were socialist schoolteachers. Bishops, fearing retaliation from the government, worked with lay activist and a covert group called Las Legiones. With a secret oath of loyalty to the bishops, Las Legiones infiltrated the radical Catholic groups and purged the leaders. Las Legiones' high command worked with a secret tier of secondary leaders in forming alternatives to socialist unions, and creating an organization of small landowners allied with capital and labor, called Sinarquismo, as a counterforce to communism and dictatorship, while strengthening the rights of Catholics.

"One lesson of Las Legiones was the value of stealth. No one learned it better than Father Maciel. The Legion has made a mission of converting Catholics to its cause as a counter to progressives in the church. Regnum Christi members are expected to obey orders and contribute money to the Legion. Recruitment is a top priority; so is disguising their goals to win recruits."

(Vows of Silence, Jason Berry & Gerald Renner, pg. 245)

In other words, the Legion's lay organization, Regnum Christi, was potentially born out of a duel influence from Opus Dei and synarchy. That will be a most interesting tidbit in just one moment.

But as for actual ties between Opus Dei, the Legion, Los Tecos and the Mexican synarchist, things are a bit more hazy. Lyndon LaRouche's Executive Intelligence Review has insisted that there is in fact a link between the Mexican synarchist and both the Legionnaires and Los Tecos. Their account is very compelling, but I cannot endorse this narrative without more credible evidence. Still, this researcher finds such connections to be highly plausible.

Saint Catherine of Siena, Great Falls, VA

Opus Dei has cropped up in recent years in relation to one of the United States' most notorious pedophile scandals in addition to the bizarre death of sitting Supreme Court Justice also accused of involvement in a pedophile ring. Both of these intrigues revolve around the same church, Saint Catherine of Siena. Located in Great Falls, Virginia, the sect was established around 1981. It first gained notoriety in 2001 when one of its members, former FBI agent Robert Hanssen, was arrested for being a spy for the Soviet Union and later the Russian Federation. This led to intense scrutiny of the church and some interesting things turned up.

For one, it reputedly has longstanding ties to Opus Dei, with many members belonging to the obscure Catholic sect and Opusian clergy regularly hearing confessions there. And of course there are the high profile individuals who have regularly attended Saint Catherine at one time or another.

Saint Catherine of Siena

At least two of these high profile members were linked to the scandal surrounding Jerry Sandusky, the long time defensive coordinator of the Penn State Nittany Lions. In 1977 Sandusky founded the Second Mile, an NPO designed to assist underprivileged and at-risk children. Then, in 2008, allegations emerged that Sandusky was an arch pedophile who had been preying upon children via his foundation for decades. In 2012 Sandusky was found guilty of 45 of 48 charges against him, virtually all of them stemming from child sexual abuse. All of Sandusky's victims had been recruited through Second Mile. What's more, there were dark rumblings that Sandusky was not alone and that his Second Mile foundation provided boys for other pedophiles linked to Penn State.

This was a dramatic fall from grace for Sandusky and his Second Mile foundation. In 1990, honorary SMOM member President George H.W. Bush praised Second Mile as a "shining example" of charity work in a letter. And then there's Rick Santorum of Saint Catherine's. Santorum has been widely reported as a member of Opus Dei, though he insists that he is merely a "great admirer" of the sect. Santorum also had ties to Penn State and Second Mile:

"Santorum attended Penn State. He claims his grades suffered because of his conservative beliefs. Santorum once sponsored Sandusky in 2002 for a Congressional Angels In Adoption award."

Santorum

Naturally, Santorum has insisted that he never met Sandusky, though there are strong indications that he was friendly with Sandusky's boss, legendary football coach Joe Paterno. Indeed, Santorum would attack the so-called "Freeh report" (more on that in a moment) for its linking of Paterno to the pedophile scandal:

"ThinkProgress notes that when the story broke last winter, Santorum said he’d be 'rooting for' head football coach Joe Paterno and wished him the best. Santorum said it was unfair Paterno was fired.

"Paterno passed away in January, and observers now say the Freeh report demonstrates that Paterno would’ve likely faced criminal charges such as child endangerment, perjury and conspiracy in his neglect to report Sandusky to authorities."

Joe Paterno

Given that Santorum is a Penn State alumni, possibly friendly with Joe Paterno, and sponsored Sandusky's organization for a Congressional award, his claim that he never met Sandusky does not seem especially credible. But what is even more incredible is that this is not even the first time Santorum has backed an organization headed by an arch pedophile. Consider:

"Mr. Santorum has been a supporter of Regnum Christi, the lay wing of a conservative, cultish order of priests known as the Legion of Christ. In 2003, he was the keynote speaker at a Regnum Christi event in Chicago that drew protesters because the group’s charismatic founder, who had spent years denying that he had sexually abused seminarians, was scheduled to share the podium.

"The founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, did not show up, but critics faulted Mr. Santorum for agreeing to appear at the group’s forum. 'He was certainly lending them legitimacy,' said Jason Berry, a documentary filmmaker and the author of a book about Father Maciel."

Indeed, Santorum's appearance occurred well after numerous allegations concerning Maciel's pedophilia had been widely circulated. And yet Santorum would opt to speak in support of Maciel, just as he later who for Peterno. And it is of course most interesting to that Mr. Santorum seems to have balanced his commitments to the allegedly "rival" groups, Opus Dei and the Legion. But let us now return to the other strange connections Saint Catherine has to Sandusky.

That is of course the fact Louis Freeh, the former FBI director hired by Penn State to conduct a private investigation of the scandal and whose report Santorum bashed, was also a member of Santorum's church at one point. Freeh is also believed to be close to Opus Dei as well:

"Today, former FBI Director Louis Freeh is known to be close to Opus Dei. According to Bucciarelli, Freeh’s children attend Opus Dei schools and Freeh knows Opus Dei members..."

Isn't it odd that one of the biggest Penn State supporters and a former backer of Second Mile as well as the man hired by Penn State to investigate the scandal aren't merely close to Opus Dei, but even attended the same exact Opus Dei-linked church at one point?

Louis Freeh

The blogosphere has alleged that there is another connection to the Sandusky scandal and Opus Dei as well: the Catholic fraternal order known as the Knights of Columbus. In Their Kingdom Come Robert Hutchison notes that the Knights of Columbus had grown close to Opus Dei ever since the 1980s. The present head of the Knights is one Dr. Carl A. Anderson. Of him, Hutchison notes: "A Reagan White House aide at the time was Dr. Carl A. Anderson, who served as a liaison officer for special interest groups – e.g., Opus Dei – at the White House. Anderson was an Opus Dei member and as such his apostolate was to attract others in his milieu into the Work..." (pg. 360).

This is all quite interesting but there is one problem: This researcher has been unable to reliably confirm Paterno's membership in the Knights of Columbus. Numerous conspiracy websites are making this claim but they provide no reliable source for it. That an effort could have been made to expunge the net of references linking Paterno to the Knights is certainly possible, but this claim should at present be held with much suspicion.

Another claim making the rounds at present that should be regarded with much suspicion is that recently deceased Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was involved with a pedophile ring. Scalia himself has long been linked to Opus Dei and attended the same church that Santorum and Freeh did. It is alleged that either Scalia or his wife were members of Opus Dei, though this has been vigorously denied for years.

As for the accusations of pedophilia, they did not emerge until after Scalia's death and they have their origins with a series of articles published on the highly controversial Veterans Today website earlier this year (2016). For those of you unaware, here are some of the height lights of VT's claims:

"Justice Antonin Scalia was surprised when he was ordered to the White House. This was not a man you gave orders to, especially not President Obama. It was Justice Antonin Scalia who vacated the long sacrosanct immunity from civil lawsuits, opening the door for a weakened presidency.

"Sources say that Scalia was the single actor behind the impeachment of Bill Clinton. President Obama was aware of this and had ordered the FBI to set out traps for Scalia. We will now outline the downfall of Antonin Scalia. Yes, this is a story of secret societies, operating worldwide and ritual Satanic child abuse that permeates Washington.

"When Scalia left the White House after a meeting with the president just before flying to Texas, the manila envelope he was carrying had printouts from a computer seized by FBI Special Agent Jeff Ross of the Salt Lake City, Utah field office, or so informants tell us.

"Scalia left the White House carrying 'slam dunk proof' that would lead to the arrest, conviction and, of course, impeachment of a seated Supreme Court Justice, files that contained names of victims and details on sex acts, preferred 'types' along with dates and places. All of this was on the seized computer and these files went 'up hill' from the FBI to the Department of Justice and directly over to the White House...

"The computer itself belonged to a Stirling David Allen, arrested and charged with child rape and sodomy by the FBI after an investigation that began with a meeting in Rome, Italy. The FBI had known about Allen for some time, had wanted to arrest him since 2014 but had been blocked, they just didn’t know why or who was behind it, not until Justice Scalia died. Within 9 days, Allen was jailed, and the evidence he held began to yield gold...

"We were shown an email from Allen where he tells of his January 15, 2016 meeting with Agent Ross at which time his computers were seized by the FBI. What we are told was on Allen’s computer and what Allen told agents is astounding. Allen confessed, we are told, not only to his own sex crimes but to being recruited by a powerful international organization that provided him broad protection from prosecution."

Antonin Scalia

The above-mentioned Sterling David Allen was apparently arrested on charges of pedophilia earlier this year in Utah. But this is effectively all of VT's claims that can be reliably confirmed. Otherwise, all we're left with are VT's unnamed White House sources who claim that references to a "sitting Supreme Court Justice" were found on Allan's hard drive. Obviously this is incredibly sketchy and until credible evidence emerges that conclusively links Scalia to Allen, this entire scenario should be viewed with much skepticism.

Sterling David Allen

Still, the sudden death of Scalia and the circumstances surrounding it were curious, as was the mysterious secret order that was present at the time of his death. Here's a bit more about that death and that order courtesy of the Washington Post:

"When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died 12 days ago at a West Texas ranch, he was among high-ranking members of an exclusive fraternity for hunters called the International Order of St. Hubertus, an Austrian society that dates back to the 1600s.

"After Scalia’s death Feb. 13, the names of the 35 other guests at the remote resort, along with details about Scalia’s connection to the hunters, have remained largely unknown. A review of public records shows that some of the men who were with Scalia at the ranch are connected through the International Order of St. Hubertus, whose members gathered at least once before at the same ranch for a celebratory weekend...

"Cibolo Creek Ranch owner John Poindexter and C. Allen Foster, a prominent Washington lawyer who traveled to the ranch with Scalia by private plane, hold leadership positions within the Order. It is unclear what, if any, official association Scalia had with the group."

One particular sentence from the above-quoted Washington Post set the blogosphere on fire:

"The society’s U.S. chapter launched in 1966 at the famous Bohemian Club in San Francisco, which is associated with the all-male Bohemian Grove — one of the most well-known secret societies in the country." 

Bohemian Grove

No doubt the conspiratorial right shot its proverbial load over this revelation, with none other than Alex Jones leading the charge. Jones of course famously infiltrated Bohemian Groves and proclaimed that the grainy footage he took there depicted a baby being sacrificed by the Luciferian elite, or something along those lines. But Jones is hardly a credible source --indeed, the great ISGP has recently published an epic article meticulously detailing Jones' ties to the US intelligence community. Thus, the bulk of Jones' claims should be considered highly dubious.

Alex Jones

This is not to say that there may not be something sinister about Bohemian Groves --few would dispute how utterly bizarre the camps and their rituals are. But as ISGP detailed in a host of other excellent articles (such as this one and especially this one), very little is actually known about Bohemian Grove, its purpose and customs. Anyone who claims otherwise is merely speculating.

There are some other interesting things about the International Order of St. Hubertus that neither Jones or his legions of space monkeys have bothered considering. For starters, lets consider the regalia of this order:

And here is the symbol the Order uses as its emblem:

Now, consider these historic depictions of the Knights Hospitallers (which the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the Sovereign Order of Saint John claim descent from):

And for good measure, here are images of SMOM (top) and SOSJ (bottom) members in their regalia:

To spell it out for you: All of these groups employ the Maltese cross and as part of their regalia deploy it on a cloak. Clearly all of these groups derived inspiration from the Knights Hospitallers. Even more telling, however, are the Order's "royal protector" and Grand Master. Its website states:

"The International Order of St. Hubertus is a true knightly order in the historical tradition. The Order is under the Royal Protection of His Majesty Juan Carlos of Spain, the Grand Master Emeritus His Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke Andreas Salvator of Austria and our Grand Master is His Imperial and Royal Highness Istvan von Habsburg Lothringen, Archduke of Austria, Prince of Hungary."

"His Imperial and Royal Highness Istvan von Habsburg Lothringen, Archduke of Austria, Prince of Hungary" is more commonly referred to as Archduke Karl von Habsburg, the son of Otto von Habsburg. The latter was a major figure in the Cercle complex and it would appear his son followed suite. Since 1986, Archduke Karl headed the Austrian branch of the Paneuropean Union (PEU), which by this point in time was firmly under the control of the Habsburg family. As was noted here and here, the PEU was one of the organization from which a lot of the initial Cercle membership derived and for years afterwards there was much overlap. The ties between the PEU and Le Cercle were further spelled out in David Teacher's groundbreaking Rogue Agents. And as I noted in part one, both Le Cercle and Opus Dei seem to have both had the agenda of reviving the Holy Roman Empire with its former royal family, the Habsburgs, playing a key role in it.

Archduke Karl

And then there's King Juan Carlos I of Spain. He has very close ties to Opus Dei as well:

"Finally, Franco decided to skip don Juan, instead naming as heir his young son Juan Carlos.  Don Juan remained in exile, while Juan Carlos was brought to Spain to be educated in accordance with Franco's traditional values.  Much of Juan Carlos's education was entrusted to members of Opus Dei, including his chaplain, Fr. Federico Suárez.  This is documented in Prof. Paul Preston's 2004 biography of King Juan Carlos."

King Carlos

And of course there's the fact that both King Carlos and Archduke Karl are also members of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Thus, it would seem that the International Order of St. Hubertus' Grand Master and "Royal Protector" were both very close to Opus Dei and likely Le Cercle as well (in the case of Karl von Habsburg, this is all but certain) in addition to being initiates of SMOM. And of course there are those persistent rumors that either Scalia himself or his wife (or both) were members of Opus Dei. At a minimum, Scalia attended an Opus Dei-linked church and surely was in contact with the Opusians.

Hence, this researcher has no hesitation in suggesting that the International Order of St. Hubertus is likely a part of the Cercle complex and almost surely linked to both the Knights of Malta and Opus Dei. Naturally Alex Jones, Vigilant Citizens and countless other hacks have totally missed this connection and are still hallowing at the moon about Satanic cults of Illuminati when it comes to Scalia and his alleged pedophilia. And that's a real pity, as it sure seems like the Cercle complex would be the most logical place to look for some type of international pedophile network what with its links to the Dutroux affair, the Westminster pedophile ring, Colonia Dignidad, Franklin, and possibly even a 1960s New Orleans-based ring involving David Ferrie...

An Opusian Initiation and Operation Gladio

This present series was born out of an earlier one focusing on pedophile rings and the strategy of tension in Belgium. In researching this series, one of the most bizarre and disturbing accounts I encountered came from a former member of the youth wing of the Belgian political party Parti Social Chrétien (PSC).

As was noted in an installment in the series concerning Belgium, the PSC was the party most commonly linked to the pedophile rings in that nation. Two major figures involved with the PSC, Paul Vanden Boeynants and Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin, were key players in the Academy (effectively Le Cercle's intelligence network throughout the 1970s) and extensively linked to the pedophile rings as well as with ring wing paramilitary groups linked to Belgium in the 1980s (noted before here).

Vanden Boeynants (left) and Baron de Bonvoisin (right)

The individual who gave this account, Jacques Thoma, worked under PSC mover and shaker Jean-Paul Dumont who in turn was said to be a close associate of both Paul Vanden Boeynants and Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin. Thoma was so disturbed by what he had seen that he reported it to the Brigade Speciale des Recherches (BSR) of the Gendarmerie. ISGP has kindly translated the parts concerning Opus Dei into English in which it is alleged Thoma participated in Black Masses with said members. During these sessions he was drugged and witnessed sexual acts with girls from Eastern Europe in the 13-14 age range. He was told it was all part of an Opusian initiation ceremony and that Opus Dei was "Nec Plus Ultra" (Latin for "nothing further beyond").

Jean-Paul Dumont

Richard Cottrell also mentioned Thoma's account and provided some interesting details about his boss, Jean-Paul Dumont:

"More disturbing questions were raised by an allegation from a former treasurer of the Parti Social-Chretien (PSC) youth division Jacques Thoma. He is on public record as claiming he was once invited to mass orgies by his superior, an associate of Jean-Michel Nihoul and Marc Dutroux. They were explained to him as 'an Opus Dei initiation test.' Once again we find mystical current seeping from neo-Nazis and the paedophile gangs, implying the possibility of seamless connections to the Vatican's so-called 'church within a church.' Opus Dei, which translates to 'Work of God,' has been accused by its detractors of various ungodly activities, featuring the intimidation of members, denigration of women and infiltration of governments. The organisation bonding practices are said by critics to involve self-mortification, with devotees obliged to wear spiked chains around their thighs, whip their buttocks and sleep on hard boards. For all its protestations to the contrary, it is certainly true that Opus Dei operates well below visible radar and venerates secrecy. When I undertook the European Parliament's high-profile probe into family-splitting cults, Opus Dei attracted by far the largest response to my mailbag, more even than high-profile organisations like the Moonies and Scientology. It was excluded from the report after heavy lobbying from the Vatican hierarchy and its powerful supporters in Strasbourg, including perhaps the most prominent Euro-MP, the late Austro-Hungarian archduke Otto von Habsburg."

(Gladio: NATO's Secret Dagger at the Heart of Europe, Richard Cottrell, pgs. 302-303)

ISGP confirms that Dumont likely did have a relationship with Nihoul (a close associate of Dutroux who, in some accounts, Dutroux was providing under age girls for) and possibly even Dutroux himself. And what of Cottrell's claim of Otto von Habsburg's covering up the findings of a European Parliament investigation of subversive cults as it related to Opus Dei? Certainly it would seem highly plausible, considering Robert Hutchison describes Archduke Otto as "one of Opus Dei's most treasured Old Guard supernumeraries" (pg. 154) in Their Kingdom Come. And keep in mind dear reader, that it is Archduke Otto's son, Archduke Karl von Habsburg, who is the current head of the International Order of St. Hubertus.

Archduke Otto

Both Vanden Boeynants and Bonvoisin have been named as members of Opus Dei as well. Such a connection would hardly be surprising, given their ties to the terror attacks that rocked Belgium in the 1980s (noted before here) as well. These attacks were likely a component of Operation Gladio (as noted before here and here) and Opus Dei is reputed to have been a key partner in such intrigues. In 1990 the Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende, reacting to an account given by former CIA director William Colby in his 1978 book Honorable Men: My Life in the CIA (specifically in reference to his involvement in setting up stay-behind armies in the Scandinavian countries), dug up some curious details concerning Denmark's stay-behind units and their links to other Gladio operations across the continent:

" 'Berlingske Tidende can reveal that Absalon is the Danish branch of the international Gladio network. This has been confirmed by a member of Absalon to Berlingske Tidende who wishes at present to remain unnamed,' a Danish daily newspaper sensationally headlined its discoveries in 1990. The source, named Q by the newspaper, confirmed what Colby had revealed in his book. 'Colby's story is absolutely correct. Absalon was created in the early 1950s,' the source Q related. The network, according to Q, was composed of right-wing men in order to guarantee staunch anti-Communism. 'Colby was a member of the world spanning laymen catholic organization Opus Dei, which, using a modern term, could be called right-wing. Opus Dei played a central role in the setting up of Gladio in the whole of Europe and also in Denmark, Q claimed..."

(NATO's Secret Armies, Daniele Ganser, pgs. 169-170)

the seal of Opus Dei

As I hope this series and this installment specifically have demonstrated, there is ample evidence indicating that Opus Dei, along with their close partners in the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and their proxies in the Cercle complex, were engaged in even more nefarious things than stay-behind armies participating in the strategy of tension.

What Does It All Mean?

And now it is time to wrap up this series. Over the course of it I have endeavored to show that the Cercle complex has extensive links to terrorism related to Operation Gladio and similar programs (i.e. Operation Condor) as well as elite pedophile rings. It stands accused of subverting the political process in Britain (noted in part three) and engaged in electioneering in the United States and various other allied nations through a combination of propaganda and infiltration of domestic political parties. Blackmail, likely stemming from its extensive international network of pedophile rings, was surely a key component as well. 

The conspiratorial right has of course long alleged that an international networks exists involved in drug and arms trafficking, false flag terrorism and pedophilia. Le Cercle would certainly fit the bill, but there is little else the conspiratorial right got right. This network has often operated through far right organizations and highly conservative Christian sects. There are indications of a series of secret societies and cults behind these networks but one finds few of the usual suspects are present. An incomplete list of these institutions includes: the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Opus Dei, the Dominicans,  Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, the Sovereign Order of Saint John, the Old Roman Catholic Church, the American Orthodox Catholic Church, the Family/Fellowship, the Unification Church, Propaganda Due and the other Propaganda lodges, La Cagoule, and possibly even the International Order of St. Hubertus as well as the unholy trinity the Cristeros spawned: the Legion of Christ, Los Tecos and National Synarchist Union.

most researchers stop with this

Virtually all of these organizations are publicly Christian. There are Masons, but primarily from the Propaganda network. These lodges, while many things, had no real ties to the Scottish Rite, the Grand Orient or any other mainline Masonic lodge. Like La Cagoule, the Propaganda lodges were likely based upon Martinism and synarchy, the proponents of which by and large despised mainline Freemasonry (as noted before here).  On the whole, it would be grossly inaccurate to describe this network as "Masonic."  Nor does this researcher find many ties to Aleister Crowley and certainly not the Bavarian Illuminati or the Communism International. 

Nor are there many indications that these networks operated through the New Age movement, as is commonly claimed. While their are compelling incidences of this (i.e. the Finders, though even the narrative surrounding the Finders has been challenged of late), many of these alleged New Age centric-cults can traced back to the Cercle complex. The Process Church, the Manson Family and the alleged Son of Sam cult all had ties to the same neo-Nazi/patriot underground (noted before here and here) that was dominated by the Sovereign Order of Saint John (noted before here). Colonel Michael Aquino, a long time whipping boy of the conspiratorial right and widely alleged to be involved in Satanic ritual abuse, was likely a member of the American Security Council (one of Cercle's closest American partners for decades). The Order of the Solar Temple, responsible for mass suicides in France and Canada in the mid-1990s, had extensive ties to Cercle's Belgium partners (as noted before here). The Brotherhood of Eternal Love, the so-called "hippie mafia" that was at one point the largest distributors of LSD in the world, was eventually co-opted by Ronald Hadley Stark, a likely intelligence asset with ties to the Italian fascist underground (noted before here).

Ronald Stark

Likely the use of these New Age groups by largely neo-fascist individuals and organizations constituted a continuation of the strategy of tension, which called for terrorism to be committed by both the left and right to advance a fascist government. Frequently liberal organizations were co-opted by the forces of the right to achieve these ends. This aspect of the strategy of tension was detailed throughout my examinations of Ronald Stark and the P2.

What's more, many of the sources credited with "exposing" Satanic cults can also be traced back to the Cercle complex. Alex Jones has already been noted. Here are just a few more examples:

Maury Terry
Author of The Ultimate Evil, the first work to link the Manson Family and the alleged Son of Sam cult. Terry cut his teeth working for Rupert Murdoch's New York Post, who supported Terry's bid to "expose" the cult conspiracy. Murdoch is a long time backer of the American Enterprise Institute, which frequently collaborated with American Cercle partners such as the ASC and the Heritage Foundation.

Ted Gunderson
A "former" high ranking FBI agent once in charge of the LA division. Upon retiring, Gunderson became the key figure in "exposing" Satanic cults during the 1980s. Whether it was the alleged Son of Sam cult, the Finders, Franklin or McMartin Preschool (as well as a legions of lesser known instances), Gunderson was there. As investigative journalist Cheri Seymour reported in her groundbreaking The Last Circle, Gunderson was very close to alleged CIA asset Robert Booth Nicholas (who was involved in the PROMIS scandal and may have been the last person to meet with journalist Danny Casolaro before his alleged suicide). Nichols was on the board of the First International Development Corporation (FIDCO) in the 1980s, an organization with ample intelligence connections as well as to the MacArthur clique that dominated the American Security Council.

John DeCamp
A former CIA officer who was involved in the Phoenix Program. Phoenix was very similar to Gladio and Condor, two operations Le Cercle seems to have played a key role in. DeCamp's boss and a key contact over the years was the above-mentioned former CIA director William Colby, a member of Opus Dei who had also met with Le Cercle.

On the whole, these are considered to be many of the most credible researchers into Satanic ritual abuse. It probably goes without saying, but the waters are quite muddied in this field.

As for the Bilderbergers, the Trilateral Commission, and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), clearly these groups had some involvement in Le Cercle. But this involvement seems to have ceased by the late 1970s. This is quite significant as this period marked the rise of Thatcher and Reagan, both of whom were closely connected to Le Cercle. It also witnessed the scrapping of "detente" for the more vigorous policy of "rollback" in regards to the Soviet Union. The Rockefeller faction was particularly engaged in detente, having pursued it vigorously through both Henry Kissinger and in the early years of the Carter administration. But by 1980 the landscape had changed dramatically with policies long backed by Le Cercle coming to the forefront. This was all noted over the course of the third and fourth installments in this series.

David Rockefeller hobnobbing with Le Cercle VIPS; one of them is reputedly alleged pedophile Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin 

On the whole, the Bilderbergers, the Trilateralists and the CFR were primarily composed of bankers and other financial interests. Their overriding concern was thus international trade. Le Cercle, by contrast, was dominated by reactionary Catholic factions such as Opus Dei and SMOM, old guard European aristocracy and powerful military and intelligence officers as well as defense contractors from the United States. The primary objective of these interests until the collapse of the Soviet Union was the confrontation with Communism. It probably goes without saying, but the duel objectives of these two factions were not always compatible. What's more, as I noted before here and which ISGP addresses in much greater depth, there are indication that more than a few Bilderbergers were ensnared in Belgium's pedophile rings, which had close ties to Le Cercle. One suspects that blackmail played a key role in Le Cercle's rise to power.

*****

As for the beliefs that potentially underpinned Le Cercle and the secret societies surrounding it, this is not a question that can be easily answered. Very little credible information is available in this regard, though there are ample indications of an occult doctrine. So it should be stressed that the following is highly, highly speculative. This researcher in no way, shape or form wants it to be taken as fact, but merely theories of the researcher.

With that disclaimer out of the way, let us begin. There seem to be three potential systems, two of which the evidence for is rather slim. Let us then start with the weaker of the two:

Satanism: This is a tricky topic to address. This researcher would like to make clear that when I am discussing Satanism here, I am referring to the historical system that began to appear roughly around the time of the Crusades and not the modern manifestations such as Anton LaVey's Church of Satan  or the "nu-Satanist" movement currently polluting the landscape in the United States. These movements are little more than Randism with a bit of ritual trappings for the photo ops. As was noted before here, historic Satanism was very rare and almost always was practiced by individuals with ties to the Catholic Church. In point of fact, it is impossible to perform a "proper" Black Mass unless it is done by an ordained priest.

Certainly this would not have been a problem for David Ferrie or even members of Opus Dei. But on the whole, actual evidence of Satanism within Le Cercle is rather scarce.

Evola: As I noted before here, many of the Italian neo-fascist groups linked to P2 were followers of the occultist and philosopher Julius Evola. I have found no evidence that elements of the Le Cercle complex outside of Italy were influenced by Evola, but certainly the possibility exists. Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin, an Academy member widely linked to both Opus Dei and pedophilia, was friendly with the notorious Italian neo-fascist terrorist Stefano Delle Chiaie as well Ordine Nuovo (noted before here). Both Delle Chiaie and the Ordine were influenced by Evola.

Guido Giannettini, who SOSJ member General Pedro del Valle had invited to address the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1961 (noted before here), was close to Ordine Nuovo founder Pino Rauti, who in turn was heavily influenced by Julius Evola. General Charles Willoughby, another SOSJ initiate, was active in Spain during the 1960s and could have easily encountered Delle Chiaie, Rauti, or any number of other Evola-ites during this time frame. This could help explain how General Pedro del Valle was aware of Giannettini from such an early date. But this is all highly, highly circumstantial.

And that brings us to the most compelling suspect...

Martinism and synarchy: Certainly there were two prominent individuals involved with Le Cercle, Jean Violet and Georges Albertini, that have been compellingly linked to synarchy and possibly Martinism as well (noted here and here). As I noted before here, P2 Grand Master Licio Gelli has also been linked to the Rite of Memphis-Misraim which is often incorporated into Martinism and synarchy as well.

What is now generally considered to be Martinism first emerged towards the end of the nineteenth century and was largely the creation of the legendary French occultist often referred to as Papus. Synarchy in turn seems to have emerged from Martinism.

Martinism was based upon a host of influences that included the Rite of Martinism (derived from the order's namesake, Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin), the Egyptian Rite, and the  Rite of Memphis-Misraim, among others. The original Rite of Memphis (which was not combined with the Rite of Misraim until around 1872 by John Yarker) was said to have been inspired by the legendary occultist Alessandro di Cagliostro. It is interesting to note that Cagliostro claimed to have been a member of the Knights of Malta and that he had been left on Malta as an orphan. There seems little dispute that Cagliostro was on friendly terms with Grand Master Manuel Pinto da Fonseca, who was himself said to have been an alchemist.

Grand Master da Fonseca

Certainly all of this is most curious in light of how many members of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta have been involved with Le Cercle over the years.and seemingly working in harmony with synarchists. In the case of Propaganda Due, not only was it tied to synarchy, but its entire hierarchy was dominated by members of Opus Dei or the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (noted before here and here). And as was noted earlier in this installment, the entire Mexican synarchist movement essentially emerged from the far right wing Catholic Cristero movement.

In a prior installment I also noted the similarities between the regalia of the synarchist-inspired La Cagoule (of which at least two French Cercle members were involved with) and P2, which are somewhat akin to black Klansman's robes. One of my readers was kind enough to point out that these customs as well as those of the Klan itself seem to have been inspired by the parade costumes of the Spanish Nazernos that are used during the Spanish Holy Week. Consider:

the KKK

La Cagoule

P2

Nazarenos; note the use of the Maltese cross within a red circle; this seems to be a variation upon the solar cross symbolism that is also employed at times by the Knights of Malta and which appears in the seals of Opus Dei and the International Order of St. Hubertus and within the banner of the Paneuropean Union 

more Nazarenos

The Klan was historically dominated by Protestants deeply steeped in Scottish Rite Freemasonry and was vehemently anti-Catholic. It is likely then that if the Nazarenos influenced modern KKK regalia (which largely emerged around the time of Birth of a Nation) it was a form of mockery. But in the case of La Cagoule and P2, this may well have constituted a kind of hat tip to their real inspiration. I have been unable to determine if the Knights of Malta had any historic ties to the Nazarenos (who first emerged in the sixteenth century and who began to employ the costumes around the seventeenth) but they apparently do participate in modern Nazarenos outings.

Interestingly, the Spanish Wikipedia (and Wikipedia in general is never the most reliable source) claims that the first order to sport the hoods was known as the "Brotherhood of St. John Lateran and Our Lady of the Hiniesta Seville." As has been noted throughout this series, several secret societies linked to Le Cercle claim origins from or derive inspiration from the Knight Hospitallers, whose full title was the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem. In general, Saint John seems to have had special appeal for many of these sects.

John the Baptist

As was noted before here, Papus was something of a progressive (and was even an early supporter of women's rights), but he and many of the individuals involved in the Martinist revival(the original Rite of Martinism had fallen out of use by the middle of the nineteenth century) thoroughly despised mainline Freemasonry. Papus considered himself to be a kind of Christian mystic, as was noted in this series' earlier account of Martinism and synarchy.

Whether it was Papus' intention or not, synarchy seems to have become a thoroughly Catholic-centric system by the 1930s as evidence by the Mexican branch's origins in the Cristeros and the litany of radical Catholic groups French Cercle synarchist would later associate with. And indeed, the presence of radical Catholic groups affiliated with what eventually became Martinism can be traced back to Cagliostro and his relationship with Knights of Malta Grand Master Manuel Pinto da Fonseca.

Of course, the blogosphere is overflowing with conspiracy websites that claim the Knights of Malta are themselves a part of Freemasonry. This researcher does not find such claims compelling, however. One of the most notable speculative histories on Freemasonry is John J. Robinson's Born in Blood. As I noted before here, Robinson argued for a Knights Templar origin of Freemasonry but noted that the Knights of Malta were the longstanding rivals of both the Templars and the Masons. He even goes so far as to claim the Maltese knights were one of the three "Juwes" or "unworthy craftsmen" in the Masonic myth of the murder of Hiram Abiff.

In the essay "Knights and Freemasons: The Birth of Modern Freemasonry" two thirty-third degree Freemasons, Albert Mackey and the notorious Albert Pike state: "In an inquiry into any pretended connection of the Crusaders with Freemasonry, we may dismiss the two Orders of the Knights of Malta and the Teutonic Knights with the single remark that in their organization they bore not the slightest resemblance to that of Freemasonry. They had no arcana in their system, no secret form of initiation or admission, and no methods of recognition. And besides this want of similarity, which must at once preclude any idea of a connection between the Masonic and these Chivalric Orders, we fail to find in history any record of such a connection or the faintest allusion to it."

While one could quibble with the notion that the Maltese knights "had no arcana in their system," on the whole this essay is consistent with the view typically put forth by high ranking Masons such as Mackey in relation to the Maltese knights. Thus, this researcher has no hesitancy in proclaiming this tradition that includes the Maltese knights, Opus Dei, Martinism and the synarchists to be firmly rooted in Catholicism.


And with that I shall wrap things up. As the song goes, this entire series has been one long, strange trip. I hope the reader has found this information as compelling as I have. Until next time, stay tuned.