If the Vatican refuses to reimburse people who can prove descendency from the Knights Templar?

Question

with money and land, do they have the right to enact some sort of biblical punishment?

Answer 1

Good luck with that. I'd suggest getting over it; especially since proving a decendancy claim would be about impossible.

Answer 2

This suit is fascinating, mainly because it doesn't have a snowball's chance in h**l and yet some lawyer took the time to file it!

How on earth would someone even prove any of the claims in this??

So by your read, if they don't cough up millions of dollars, they should what, get some sort of plague upon their houses??  :)  Sure, why not.

Answer 3

With 25+ yrs of genealogical experience... I would love to see someone (1) document who in fact was Knights Templar

(2) document anyone who is descended from them.

Hilarious.  

Answer 4

This lawsuit is very silly.

The "heirs" of the Knights Templar are suing the Pope for assets seized by the Catholic Church in 1307 when the order was dissolved.

The Knights Templar took vows of celibacy, poverty and obedience.

+ Because of their vow of celibacy, the Knights could only have "heirs" if they truly did break their vows. Additionally these "heirs" would not be legal "heirs".

+ Because of their vow of poverty, the property seized belonged to the order and never to any individual.

+ Because of their vow of obedience and the innate power of the papacy, whether the seizure was just or not really does not matter. The Pope had complete power to dissolve the order at any time for any reason.

In the highly unlikely circumstance that the "heirs" win, I guess the Catholic Church could sue Great Britain and the Anglican Church to restore all of the Church property seized during the Reformation to help pay off the "heirs".

Here is an article about the lawsuit: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story...

With love in Christ.

Answer 5

Intersting thought as far as the reparations part goes.

Of course there are decendants running about nowdays. But proving that direct connection with a solid chain of documentation would be impossible. Then that individual would have to prove exactly what was taken from the ancestor.

But here is the kicker. The Templars were bankers and part of an order so money and properties were technically owned by the order. So to successfully sue the order itself would have to sue...... which no longer exists.