The head of the Knights of Malta order has resigned after a row with the Vatican over free condoms.

Pope Francis asked Grand Master Matthew Festing to step down from his position at a meeting on Tuesday, Marianna Balfour, a spokeswoman for the ancientCatholic institution, confirmed to Reuters on Wednesday.

Founded in 1048, the Sovereign Order of Malta is one of the most ancient religious Catholic orders. Grand Masters of the charitable organization usually keep their positions for life.

Festing’s resignation follows a dispute which arose when he sacked one of one of the order’s top knights, Grand Chancellor Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager, in December 2016, apparently because he allowed the distribution of tens of thousands of condoms through aid projects for poor people in the developing world.

Von Boeselager argued the sacking was illegitimate and appealed to the pope. He claimed he had ended two such projects when he found out condoms were being distributed and let a third project carry on for some time as otherwise all medical services for those in need would have been abruptly cut off.

Von Boeselager has claimed Festing used the condom issue as a pretext to increase the order’s power and assert his own conservative views, according to Reuters.The pope ordered an inquiry into the sacking, but Festing refused to cooperate, arguing the Knights have the status of a sovereign entity.

Historically, the Catholic Church has opposed contraceptives such as condoms. But in the last five years the Church has seen a shift, starting with Pope Benedict XVI’s 2010 declaration that condom use is acceptable “in certain cases.”

Pope Francis’ liberal views, particularly around abortions, have been well documented in recent years.

(Newsweek)

(See also here)

In an exclusive interview with ABC News, President Donald Trump said he "absolutely" thinkswaterboarding works and would consider reinstating it as an interrogation technique, depending on the advice of Defense Secretary James Mattis and CIA Director Mike Pompeo.

"I will rely on Pompeo and Mattis and my group. And if they don't want to do, that's fine. If they do wanna do, then I will work toward that end. I want to do everything within the bounds of what you're allowed to do legally," Trump exclusively told "World News Tonight" anchor David Muirduring an interview at the White House. "But do I feel it works? Absolutely, I feel it works."

Trump explained it's important to reconsider the use of waterboarding as an interrogation technique because, he said, "we're not playing on an even field."

"When they're chopping off the heads of our people and other people. When they're chopping off the heads of people because they happen to be a Christian in the Middle East, when ISIS is doing things that nobody has ever heard of since medieval times, would I feel strongly about waterboarding? As far as I'm concerned, we have to fight fire with fire," he said.

"I'm going to go with what they say," Trump said of Mattis and Pompeo. "But I have spoken as recently as 24 hours ago with people at the highest level of intelligence, and I asked them the question 'Does it work? Does torture work?' And the answer was 'Yes, absolutely.'"

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump vowed to bring back the use of waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques.

"Not since medieval times have people seen what's going on. I would bring back waterboarding, and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding," Trump told Muir during the New Hampshire Republican primary debate, co-sponsored by ABC News, in February 2016.

But Trump's position on the use of waterboarding seems to differ from some of his Cabinet picks'. In an interview with The New York Times last year, Trump said he was "impressed" by a recommendation from Mattis, who at the time was under consideration for defense secretary.

"I said, what do you think of waterboarding? He said — I was surprised — he said, 'I've never found it to be useful.' He said, 'I've always found, give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers, and I do better with that than I do with torture.' And I was very impressed by that answer. I was surprised, because he's known as being, like, the toughest guy," Trump told the Times.

During his confirmation hearing to become CIA director, Pompeo was asked whether he would comply if Trump issued a presidential order calling for the reinstatement of enhanced interrogation techniques that fall outside the Army Field Manual.

"Absolutely not. Moreover, I can't imagine I would be asked that by the president-elect," Pompeo said. "There is no doubt in my mind about the limitations placed not only on the DOD but on the intelligence agency, and I'll always comply with the law."

Trump's comments today come amid reports of an administration draft order indicating that he is considering a review of terrorism interrogations and the potential reopening of CIA black site prisons outside the U.S.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Wednesday that the draft order was "not a White House document" but would not provide further comment.

(abcNEWS)

That $221 million transfer to the Palestinian Authority former Secretary of State John Kerry snuck through hours before Donald Trump took the oath of office may not be happening anytime soon, The Times of Israel reports.

A senior Palestinian source told the Times that the Trump administration informed PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah that it is freezing the transfer of the $221 million payout and that the funds "were not expected to be handed over in the immediate future."

On Tuesday, the State Department said it was reviewing the last-minute decision by former secretary of state John Kerry to send the funds to the Palestinians despite objections to the transfer by congressional Republicans.

The department said it would look at the payment and might make adjustments to ensure it comports with the Trump administration’s priorities.

The Obama administration had for some time been pressing for the release of the money for the Palestinian Authority, which comes from the US Agency for International Development, known as USAID, and is to be used for humanitarian aid in the West Bank and Gaza to support political and security reforms, as well as help prepare for good governance and the rule of law in a future Palestinian state, according to the notification sent to Congress.

Even without the $221 million, the Palestinian source noted that in 2016 the PA received $250 million from the US government.

These funds included $180 million from USAID, $25 million to support Palestinian hospitals and $45 million to pay for fuel purchased from Israel.

Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee had placed holds on the Palestinian funding, which the Obama administration disregarded on its way out the door.

President Trump has had a very productive first few days in office. As Scott McKay of The American Spectator noted, while the "ink-stained curs" of the MSM were fixated on his inauguration crowd size and illegal voting, Trump was inside dismantling Obama's entire legacy.

Federal agencies must now “waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay” any portions of Obamacare creating financial burden on states, individuals or healthcare providers — which essentially guts Obama’s signature legislative achievement.

The Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines will now be built.

The federal government will no longer fund abortions performed in foreign countries.

America is withdrawing from the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty.

U.S. airstrikes severely wounded ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi and turned several of his advisers into scrambled egg while trapping ISIS forces on what is for them the wrong side of the Euphrates River in Mosul, in a rapid escalation of the fight against the jihadist network.

Ajit Pai, the foremost critic of Net Neutrality at the FCC, is its new chairman, meaning the free market now has a friendly majority in that body again.

Trump froze all federal government hiring “except for the military.”

Trump essentially shut down the EPA pending Scott Pruitt’s confirmation. He also muzzled the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

There is no longer any content in Spanish on the White House’s website.

The Centers For Disease Control’s planned Climate and Health Summit will not be happening.

And now we can add freezing Obama's $221 million payout to the Palestinian Authority to the list.