What would happen if the Orders of old became militarized, sort of like christian PMCs? How will the world react to that?
>Bonus points if such hypothetical PMCs responded to the Pope

So, I recently looked up what happened to the old chivalric military orders (i.e. Teutonic Order, the Hospitallers, Templars and others) and I was surprised that the Templars were re-founded and most Orders surviving until today, giving up their weapons long ago.