Europe | Still sovereign

Meet the Knights of Malta

An ancient global order gathers in the Eternal City

Pope Francis receives in audience the Participants of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta
About the size of itImage: Alamy
|ROME (BUT NOT ITALY)

It was enough to captivate any conspiracy theorist: in the grounds of an 18th-century Roman villa more than 100 well-connected men and women from around the world—many of them aristocrats—came together to discuss their common mission. The meeting, from January 25th-27th, brought together the ambassadors of perhaps the oddest entity in international law, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Still sovereign”

From the February 3rd 2024 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Europe

The “Trumpnado”, a wave shaped like Donald Trump's profile, crushing a boat with a European flag.

Can the good ship Europe weather the Trumpnado?

Tossed by political storms, the continent must dodge a new threat

Demonstrators march, shouting slogans against tourists in Barcelona

Spain’s proposed house tax on foreigners will not fix its shortage

Pedro Sánchez will need the opposition’s help to increase supply


Men from Ukraine’s 155th army brigade

A French-sponsored Ukrainian army brigade has been badly botched

The scandal reveals serious weaknesses in Ukraine’s military command


A TV dramatisation of Mussolini’s life inflames Italy

With Giorgia Meloni in power, the fascist past is more relevant than ever

France’s new prime minister is trying to court the left

François Bayrou gambles with Emmanuel Macron’s economic legacy

How the AfD got its swagger back

Germany’s hard-right party is gaining support even as it radicalises