﻿Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, will participate in this year's Bilderberg Conference, taking place in Turin, Italy today through Sunday, according to the official guest list of 131 participants.

Parolin's attendance marks the first time a high-ranking Vatical official has taken part in the conferences, and may have something to do with the "culture of encounter" encouraged by Pope Francis.

The Pope stressed while receiving the Charlemagne Price on May 6th that ”today we urgently need to engage all the members of society in building ‘a culture which privileges dialogue as a form of encounter’ and in creating ‘a means for building consensus and agreement while seeking the goal of a just, responsive and inclusive society.’”

Parolin took part in the World Economic Forum in Davos last year where he delivered a speech on pontifical diplomacy. His participation in the Bilderberg conference comes on the heels of the May resignation of 34 Chilean bishops over a pedophile priest scandal.

As we reported on Wednesday, while last year's event in Chantilly, VA was focused on the Trump administration and "Why is populism growing?," this year's themes - most of which can be filed under "pleb management" include:

1. Populism in Europe 2. The inequality challenge 3. The future of work 4. Artificial intelligence 5. The U.S. before midterms 6. Free trade 7. U.S. world leadership 8. Russia 9. Quantum computing 10. Saudi Arabia and Iran 11. The "post-truth" world 12. Current events

In other words - why do Europeans care so much about their "borders, language and culture," how to keep blaming Russia for said populism, what to do once AI and automation replace most jobs, and how to shape narratives in a "post-truth" world where nobody believes the MSM anymore.

And as we've been noting, Italy just took a major step towards populism after the country's anti-immigrant League party formed a populist coalition with the 5-Star Party, while League leader Matteo Salvini stepped into his new job as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior last Friday - pledging to deport 500,000 illegal immigrants, eschew globalization, monitor mosques and reinvigorate the country's Christian heritage.

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The whole "post-truth" discussion will likely revolve around "fake news" - the label applied to whatever trending topics do not comport with their desired narrative - facilitated through alternative news platforms and social media.

Paul Joseph Watson of Infowars, per usual, provides a great take on the summit:

Although the mainstream media habitually dismisses Bilderberg as a mere “talking shop” with no actual power, there are innumerable examples of the group exerting its influence over world affairs. In 2010, former NATO Secretary-General and Bilderberg member Willy Claes admitted that Bilderberg attendees are mandated to implement decisions that are formulated during the annual conference of power brokers. If this is the case, it would violate laws in numerous countries that forbid politicians from being influenced by foreign agents in secret. In 2009, Bilderberg chairman Étienne Davignon even bragged about how the Euro single currency was a brainchild of the Bilderberg Group. -InfoWars

Founded in 1954, the secretive meeting has been held annually "to foster dialogue between Europe and North America," according to its organizers.

Around 2/3 of attendees come from Europe with the rest hailing from North America. Around 25% come from politics and government, with the rest from other fields. It's all very hush-hush of course.

"The conference is a forum for informal discussions about major issues facing the world. The meetings are held under the Chatham House Rule, which states that participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s) nor any other participant may be revealed." "[T]he participants are not bound by the conventions of their office or by pre-agreed positions," the organizers state. "As such, they can take time to listen, reflect and gather insights. There is no desired outcome, no minutes are taken and no report is written. Furthermore, no resolutions are proposed, no votes are taken, and no policy statements are issued."

In other words - an orgy of side-deals and master plans...

And if you still think this is all conspiracy theorist craziness and that in fact these elites are meeting to discuss what's in your best interest; simply listen to what a 39-year member of the Steering Committee had to say about one of their main goals.

Although members do not as a rule discuss what goes on within its conferences, Labour MP and onetime party deputy leader Denis Healey, a member of the steering committee for more than 30 years, did offer a clear statement of its intentions when quizzed by journalist Jon Ronson for his book Them in 2001. “To say we were striving for a one-world government is exaggerated, but not wholly unfair,” he said. “Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn’t go on forever fighting one another for nothing and killing people and rendering millions homeless. So we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing.” - Source

And now the Vatican is involved...