The Spanish prime minister, Jesuit-educated Mariano Rajoy, is playing a great game of brinksmanship with the Spanish economy, the fourth largest in the eurozone.

He is postponing till the absolute death knock the day of reckoning when Spain will formally ask for bailout assistance for its economy. This, he is doing in the hope of extracting concessions on the imposition of austerity measures, part of any deal for a bailout. Additionally, Rajoy knows that the longer things fester economically in Spain, the greater the degree of social disruption within the nation.

The spreading of such disruption carries with it a strong risk of negative effect on the euro crisis and even on global markets. EU elites know there’s a limit to the market’s patience in tolerating inaction over one of the European Union’s major economies in crisis. It’s now a matter of who blinks first in relation to a rescue plan for the Spanish economy—Rajoy or the bailers out!

Following riots in late September, demonstrations were mounted in various Spanish cities on October 9, with calls for a general strike heating up.

If Rajoy is waiting for a signal from those with the capacity to “rescue” the Spanish economy, the time for such a signal must be very close. The major player in the whole grand scheme to resurrect the Holy Roman imperial system in Europe, which has a particularly strong interest in the survival of the Spanish economy, is the Rome/Berlin axis.

Spain is the largest Roman Catholic country in the EU. Its historic connections to Latin America, where Spanish remains the dominant language and Roman Catholicism the most influential religion, are vital to the increasing hegemonic aspirations of European imperialist elites.

A year or so ago, the nation most mentioned in relation to Germany was France. For decades the Franco-German nexus had been the bastion of strength behind EU growth and expansion. But that all changed around this time last year. If you checked the headlines, in particular since the French elections, there are two nations that since register more than France in relation to their connection with Germany and their vital role in the ongoing euro crisis—Italy and Spain. This, to any keenly aware watcher of European affairs with an eye to history and prophecy, does not seem strange at all. It seems inevitable.

It was by no means accidental that EU elites installed the Jesuit-educated Eurocrat Mario Monti as unelected prime minister of Italy, home nation to Vatican City. Monti’s close connections with his fellow Jesuit-educated EU cohorts, EU Council President Herman van Rompuy and European Central Bank guru, Mario Draghi, have stood him in good stead in handling Italy’s approach to the euro crisis.

Also, as Ambrose Evans-Prichard has observed, “Nor is the Monti-Rajoy axis as weak as it looks. The Latins can inflict a deflationary shock and banking crisis on Germany at any time by walking out of emu and imposing capital controls—as a chorus of leading economists now advocate—if provoked. Who really holds the aces in this game of poker?” (Telegraph, August 5).

Spanish Prime Minister Rajoy, similarly Jesuit-educated and therefore of the same spirit and imperialist orientation as his fellows mentioned above, is enjoying strong support from his Jesuit-educated friends behind the scenes as the Spanish crisis plays out.

That the Spanish economy will be rescued there is no doubt. As to the conditions attached to the rescue, they will guarantee much closer ties to the Rome/Berlin axis, as Spain becomes one of the key nations in the dominant 10-power combine that will soon comprise a reorganized European Union.

The two continents to which EU elites crave more direct access for raw materials and for markets for EU exports are Africa and South America.

The penetration of Africa involves considerably complex interaction with a multiplicity of disparate ethnic groups, often at each other’s throats involved in internecine warfare. Traditionally, imperialistic nations have gained access to that continent’s trove of raw materials by force, not without considerable cost in the process.

By comparison, Spain’s unique history attached to Latin America gives it a considerable diplomatic edge in granting the EU easy access to South America’s raw materials and markets. The common cultural bonds of language and religion ease the process considerably.

Thus we can expect that current events in relation to the rising Holy Roman imperialist expansion will play out similar to past history. One factor will serve to ease the situation somewhat for EU elites. Those pesky Anglo-Saxons who tended to interfere with the progress of Holy Roman imperialism in recent centuries will be nowhere to be seen on this latter occasion. Their influence on European affairs is waning rapidly as their internal problems sap their political will.

Back in 1982, Pope John Paul ii made a pilgrimage to Spain. While there he pleaded with his Spanish audience, and through them to Europe as a whole, to return to their Holy Roman roots. Herbert Armstrong observed of that visit, “On the pope’s recent 10-day visit to Spain, he made an urgent plea for a united Europe. He warned that Europe faces many crises in the immediate future. The solution, he said, lies in the affirmation of Europe’s Christian heritage. He told the audience: ‘Find yourself … discover your origins. Give life to your roots,’ which are Roman Catholic.

“So even the pope now comes out in public advocating European restoration of ‘the Holy Roman Empire’” (co-worker letter, Nov. 22, 1982).

That cry by the pope for the resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire was issued from Santiago de Compostela, the traditional site for pilgrims traveling from Canterbury to Europe, known as the Way of St. James, a prime Catholic pilgrimage route originated from the ninth century.

In 2005, Pope Benedict powerfully endorsed the words of his predecessor: “I would like to do so by thinking back to the pilgrimage in 1982 of my beloved predecessor, the servant of God John Paul ii, to Santiago de Compostela, where he made a solemn ‘Declaration to Europe’ … in which he spoke these memorable words of the greatest timeliness which I now repeat: ‘I, bishop of Rome and shepherd of the universal church, from Santiago, utter to you, Europe of the ages, a cry full of love: Find yourself again. Be yourself. Discover your origins, revive your roots. Return to those authentic values which made your history a glorious one and your presence so beneficent in the other continents.’”

Benedict was, of course, referring to Europe’s “Holy Roman” imperial roots.

Visiting Santiago de Compostela for a pilgrimage in 2010, Benedict confirmed the symbolic linkage between that city and Europe’s future: “I raise my eyes to the Europe that came in pilgrimage to Compostela. What are its great needs, fears and hopes? What is the specific and fundamental contribution of the Church to that Europe which for half a century has been moving towards new forms and projects?” (Catholic Herald, November 7, 2010).

It just so happens that not only is Spanish Prime Minister Rajoy a native of Santiago de Compostela, he was Jesuit educated at the University of Santiago de Compostela. So his own roots run deep in this pilgrim city. The pope’s words would certainly not be lost on Mariano Rajoy.

As you watch the continuing rise of the prophesied seventh and final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire, expect a continuing diminution of influence from France and a concomitant rise in influence in Italy and Spain in consortium with Berlin in the process.

In the immediate term, watch for EU elites to rush together a formula guaranteeing Spain’s survival economically and socially so as to cement that nation’s role as a bastion within the coming 10-power combine that will ultimately comprise the prophesied seventh, and final, resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire.