He Criticized the 'Cult of Money' Driving the World Financial System.

Francis’ emphasis on the poor, and a style that is more akin to that of a parish priest, albeit one with a billion parishioners, was transforming perceptions within weeks of his selection. In a speech to diplomats accredited to the Holy See in May 2013, Francis spoke of the need for more ethics in finance. “We have created new idols," he said. "The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal.”

He's Not Afraid to Criticize the Church ...

Six months into his papacy, Pope Francis sent shock waves through the Roman Catholic Church with the publication of his remarks that the church had grown “obsessed” with abortion, same-sex marriage and contraception, and that he had chosen not to talk about those issues despite criticism.

... Or to Change Its Structure and Leadership.

Francis took on a Vatican bureaucracy so plagued by intrigue and inertia that it contributed, numerous church officials now believe, to Benedict's resignation.

Francis replaced traditionalists with moderates as the church prepared for important debates about the Vatican's decision-making process and the nature of the family.

He Endorsed the 'State of Palestine'.

Pope Francis put himself directly into the collapsed Middle East peace process in May 2014, issuing an invitation to host the Israeli and Palestinian presidents for a prayer summit meeting at his apartment in the Vatican.

Francis took the unexpected step in Bethlehem, where he became the first pontiff ever to fly directly into the West Bank and to refer to the Israeli-occupied territory as the “State of Palestine.”

He Could Change the Church's Stance on Divorce.

Francis set in motion a high-level debate about whether the church could change its posture toward divorced people without altering a doctrine that declares marriage to be permanent and indissoluble.

It is a hot issue within the church. The battle lines are clear: Some high-level church officials, most notably the conference of German bishops, want the church to relax its rules.

He Is Holding Bishops More Accountable for Sex Abuse.

Francis approved the creation of a Vatican tribunal for judging bishops accused of covering up or failing to act in cases of child sexual abuse by priests, a step long demanded by victims in the more than three decades that the Roman Catholic Church has publicly dealt with the abuse scandal.

He Is Reviving Liberation Theology.

Francis cleared the path for the slain Archbishop Óscar Romero of El Salvador to become a saint. Thousands attended his beatification, the last step before sainthood, in May.

For years, Vatican critics of liberation theology and conservative Latin American bishops helped stall the canonization process for Archbishop Romero, even though many Catholics in the region regard him as a towering moral figure: an outspoken critic of social injustice and political repression who was assassinated during a Mass in 1980.

He Is Pushing for Action on Climate Change.

On June 18, Francis released his second teaching letter, known as an encyclical. Entitled "Laudato Si'," it called for a radical transformation of politics, economics and individual lifestyles to confront climate change. It attributed environmental destruction to apathy, the reckless pursuit of profits, excessive faith in technology and political shortsightedness.

The central bank continued its freeze on emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) after Germany issued a humiliating ultimatum to Greece, warning that the country would be cast adrift and left to go bankrupt unless it agreed to much deeper concessions than anything offered so far. Sigmar Gabriel, the German vice-chancellor, said the landslide rejection of EU austerity demands in the Greek referendum changed nothing, demanding that the Left-wing Syriza government must accept further belt-tightening without any prospect of debt relief if it wishes to remain in the eurozone.

“The final bankruptcy now appears imminent,” he said. The Greek leaders have been told that they have a deadline of Tuesday afternoon to come up with far-reaching proposals. The draconian terms followed Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras' move to rally five political parties behind a national unity declaration.

It called for “substantive talks” on debt relief, an investment blitz to fight mass unemployment and an immediate shot of liquidity for the country’s banking system. The show of unity marked the start of what increasingly looks like a national emergency government, though it may have come too late to prevent an implosion of the banking system and a rapid slide towards "Grexit" over coming days.

The only surprise was that anybody was surprised: a day later, Greece remains a sclerotic, over-regulated economy; it still requires tens of billions of euros in debt write-offs; its banks remain illiquid and shut (now at least until Thursday); the country will run out of essential supplies by the weekend at the very latest; and the eurozone remains torn about whether it should surrender to the Greeks or inflict an exemplary punishment upon them.

The Greek opposition has backed the government on its negotiation, demanding write-offs and debt restructuring as part of any new deal, while the French have been making dovish noises, but other than that we are where we were last week. Even the news that the US wants Greece to stay in the euro, presumably to prevent the country from falling under Russian influence, is merely a restatement of its existing position.

The real day of reckoning has merely been delayed. One of the European Central Bank’s jobs is to provide liquidity to the banking system when it needs it by handing over euros, while requiring this funding be guaranteed against the Bank of Greece’s assets. Given that commercial banks have almost run out of cash, and the run from panicked depositors, Greek banks are desperately reliant on this liquidity support.

"The result is a tired, stumbling European Union that is dying on its feet before our very eyes. Credibility for the project is fading fast as citizens right across Europe awaken to the reality of its authoritarian instincts that seek to run roughshod over public opinion. With younger generations now turning against the EU project, we can see support for the EU's dream of a United States of Europe fading fast. An outdated European Union has been found out and rejected emphatically by young Greeks in the 21st century.

"It is all too clear to see why: both the euro single currency and the European Union itself have done great harm to the prospects of young people who are now realising that we do not need a single currency or a political union to be friends, neighbours and trading partners. Far more important than this European Union is the concept of national democracy, of which this Greek referendum and its result are a beaming example."

Because while the ECB could at least in theory contain the Grexit fallout with a few hundred billion in bond (and stock, since Europe is pretty much fresh out of bonds it can monetize) purchases, it will not be able to halt the contagion once it spreads to Italy, Spain and Portugal. But once it reaches France, and Marine Le Pen engages in the same type of negotiations with the Troika as Greece just did, it's all over.

Unfortunately for the ECB, that's precisely where it is headed because as Reuters just reported, "French far-right leader Marine Le Pen welcomed the early results of the Greek referendum on terms for a bailout from Europe as initial tallies showed the 'No' camp leading with results still being counted." Le Pen, the leader of the anti-immigration, anti-euro National Front party, said in a statement that the anticipated result was a victory against "the oligarchy of the European Union".

"This 'No' from the Greek people must pave the way for a healthy new approach," said Le Pen. "European countries should take advantage of this event to gather around the negotiating table, take stock of the failure of the euro and austerity, and organize the dissolution of the single currency system, which is needed to get back to real growth, employment and debt reduction."

Here is why we suggest the ECB panic: Le Pen's star has been on the rise in France and in Europe in the past year since her National Front party performed well in European parliamentary and French regional elections. Surveys suggest she could make the second-round run-off in the 2017 presidential election, if not win outright.

The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen close down 6.8 percent, while the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 5.9 percent. With nearly half the market on a trading halt and another round of margin calls forcing leveraged investors to dump whatever shares could find a buyer, blue chips that had been supported by stabilization funds earlier in the week bore the brunt.

"I've never seen this kind of slump before. I don't think anyone has. Liquidity is totally depleted," said Du Changchun, an analyst at Northeast Securities. "Originally, many wanted to hold blue chips. But since so many small caps are suspended from trading, the only way to reduce risk exposure is to sell blue chips."

More than 30 percent has been knocked off the value of Chinese shares since mid-June, and for some global investors the fear that China's market turmoil will destabilize the real economy is now a bigger risk than the crisis in Greece.

In any normal summer, a 30 percent fall in the Chinese stock market – a loss of value roughly equivalent to the UK’s entire economic output last year – after an ascent which had seen share prices more than double within the space of a year would have been front page news across the globe. The dramatic series of government interventions to stem the panic – hitherto unsuccessful, it should be added – would similarly have been up there at the top of the news agenda. Yet the pantomime of the Greek debt talks, together with the tragi-comedy of will they, won’t they leave the euro, has relegated the story to little more than a footnote - even though 940 companies, more than a third, have now suspended trading on China’s two main indices.

The parallels with 1929 are, on the face of it, uncanny. After more than a decade of frantic growth, extraordinary wealth creation and excess, both economies – America in 1929 and China today – are at roughly similar stages of economic development. Both these booms, moreover, are in part explained by extremely rapid credit growth. Indeed, China’s credit boom dwarfs that of even the “roaring Twenties”. Borrowed money, or margin investing, played a major role in both these outbreaks of speculative excess.

True, the Chinese stock market bubble is only a one-year wonder, whereas the build-up to the Wall Street Crash of 1929 was more sustained. Even so, the comparison still holds. As noted by JK Galbraith in his classic account, The Great Crash 1929, even as late as 1927 it was possible to argue that American stocks represented fair value. It was only in the final year that the “escape into make-believe” happened in earnest, when the stock market rose by nearly 50 percent. This applies to the Shanghai Composite, too. Stripping out the lowly-rated banking sector, valuations for just about everything else have rocketed, making those that ruled on Wall Street in the run-up to October 24, 1929, look relatively modest. Nor do the similarities end there. As in 1920s America, China’s stock market boom has ridden in tandem with an equally speculative real estate bubble.

Already, there are warning signs of a slowdown, similar to those that front-ran the 1929 crash – depressed commodity prices and a virtual hiatus in global trade growth. The Chinese economy is like one of those cartoon characters who manages to keep running long after leaving the edge of the cliff, only belatedly to look down and plunge into the abyss.

Greece's default and the risk, dubbed 'Grexit', that it may crash out of the shared euro currency is the most immediate challenge to the long-standing notion of an "ever closer union" of European states and peoples. "The longer-term consequences of Grexit would affect the European project as a whole. It would set a precedent and it would further undermine the raison d'être of the EU," Fabian Zuleeg and Janis Emmanouilidis wrote in an analysis for the European Policy Centre think-tank.

Though Greece accounts for barely 2 percent of the euro zone's economic output and of the EU's population, its state bankruptcy after two bailouts in which euro zone partners lent it nearly 200 billion euros ($220 billion) is a massive blow to EU prestige. An economic collapse of Greece, apart from the suffering it would cause and the lost billions for European taxpayers, could aggravate all three of Europe's other crises and destabilize the fragile southern Balkans.

With tension already high in the eastern Mediterranean due to civil war in Syria, the eternal Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the unresolved division of Cyprus and disputes over offshore gas fields, a shattered Greece might turn to Russia for help. In exchange, it might veto the next extension of EU sanctions against Moscow, or even offer access to naval facilities once used by the United States.

Athens is already struggling with an influx of refugees from the Syrian and Iraqi conflicts who wash up on its Aegean islands, seeking the safest transit route to Europe's prosperous heartland in Germany or Sweden. Britain's demand to renegotiate its membership terms and put the result to an uncertain referendum by 2017 raises the risk of the EU losing its second largest economy, main financial center and joint strongest military power. A long, agonizing Greek economic meltdown, whether inside or outside the euro zone, with social unrest and political havoc, might reinforce those who argue that the UK economy is "shackled to a corpse".

Given Russia's lingering Cold War hostility towards Britain, seen in Moscow as the United States' most loyal ally, Putin would likely be delighted by any prospect of the UK leaving the EU. It would weaken those in the EU seeking a robust response to Russian behavior in Ukraine and Georgia and detach Washington's trusty partner from the continental bloc, although Britain would remain a member of NATO. That could strengthen Putin's hand in dealings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has led European diplomacy seeking to restore Ukraine's control over all its territory.

Rem Korteweg of the Centre for European Reform compares the interlocking crises to the four horsemen of the apocalypse in the New Testament Book of Revelation: harbingers of a "day of judgment" representing conquest, war, famine and death. "The EU's leaders will find it hard to tame these four horsemen," the Dutch thinker wrote in an essay. "If a European answer cannot be found, the horsemen will continue to promote chaos, instability and mutual recrimination within the EU."

After I gave my speech that night at my alma mater, the European Business School at Fontainebleau, Chirac and many others were appalled. I said that joining the euro would exacerbate recession in some countries, and that some would find themselves ‘trapped in a burning building with no exits’ – a phrase that brought me a fair amount of controversy and abuse.

I was regarded around the EU as a rather eccentric figure, almost pitiable in being unable to see where the great sweep of history and prosperity was heading. One former senior colleague in Britain said I had become ‘more extreme even than Mrs Thatcher’, as if this was an unimaginable horror. Idealistic heads in Brussels were shaken in sorrow that the dreaded eurosceptics were not only growing in the Conservative Party but had now taken it over, with me having become, astonishingly, its Leader.

There is no doubt that I was wrong about quite a few things when I was leading my party. But I hope the Eurozone leaders meeting today will remember that those of us who criticised the euro at its creation were correct in our forecasts. Otherwise they risk adding to the monumental errors of judgement, analysis and leadership made by their predecessors in 1998.

Those who poured scorn on some of us who predicted ‘wage cuts, tax hikes, and the creation of vicious unemployment blackspots’ – all now experienced in abundance by the people of Greece – should at least now make the effort to understand why these predictions were true.

Over 260,000 Austrians have signed a petition calling for the EU exit for the country, and now the Austrian parliament must discuss a referendum on the issue. Overall, the 261,159 people who signed the petition represent 4.12 percent of the electorate.

Unlike Greece, Austria is an extremely wealthy nation, with one of the highest standards of living in the world. Which kind of makes you wonder, right? Everyone has been talking about the consequences of what would happen if a financial basket case like Greece leaves the EU, but what happens if one of the more stable and functional nations leave? What if the people who are carrying the weight of the insolvent, decide that they’ve had enough?

All this talk about Greece causing the unraveling of the EU hasn’t taken wealthy nations into account, even though the whims of their populations should really scare EU leaders. The woman who launched the petition claims that if their country leaves, each household would save 9,800 euros per year. If that’s truly the case, then it doesn’t sound like the EU can spare Austria.

For many observers of Europe’s torn political landscape, it is hardly a wild exaggeration to suggest that Juncker is a man who not only regards economy with the truth as some kind of badge of office, but also has a well-honed knack of offending people. In an unflattering profile in London’s Daily Telegraph, published soon after Juncker took office as commissioner last November, he was portrayed as the face of “old Europe”, one of the last believers in a federal Europe and a practitioner of the “wheeling and dealing that led to the flawed euro and EU constitution”.

Juncker dismisses such criticism. “Despite what you may read in the British press, I do not want a United States of Europe,” he told Euro MPs. “I do not believe Europe can be constructed against the nation state.” Yet the Greek complaint of insincerity is one Juncker has made it hard to shrug off. While it may be naive to believe that men and women of power and influence never resort to half-truths, Juncker must be a rarity in publicly presenting the necessity to lie as a virtue.

In an earlier stage of the long-running Greek debt crisis, he offered the thought: “When it becomes serious, you have to lie.”

Perhaps the left in the UK should re-consider their pro-EU stance.

Whilst it is true that the Greeks borrowed excessively, they did so because the ECB set the euro bank rate too low for their economy at the time. And the reason for the low rate was to accommodate the earlier turn down in the German economy (by far the largest in the EZ) in the 2000s.

As numerous economists and many eurosceptics warned 15 and 20 years ago, a “one size fits all” monetary policy does not work. Unless, of course, there is centralised tax raising and wealth re-distributing powers to cope with the strains and misery evident in southern EU countries now. And this means a “United States of Europe” is likely, unless the euro collapses.

So UK voters who think they can continue with the EU status quo are in for a shock: given the survival of the euro, a vote to stay in the EU will inevitably result in the UK embarking on a path of being completely dissolved into a new EU superstate. It would be a massive political upheaval with huge attendant risks for business and jobs, and a far greater change than restoring our independence.

Greece will leave the eurozone:

That is what the EU says, and is likely to happen. Without a deal, it will be cut off from long-term funding from the European Central Bank, and will have to default more widely on its debts. The assumption is that it will effectively devalue by printing its own currency, and start again. However, both the Greek government and some financial analysts say there is no reason why it should not default on its debts, agree a new financing deal, and stay in the euro. Although the EU will not want to agree this, it may in the end prefer it to a breach of the principle that eurozone membership is irreversible.

Greece will run out of cash:

All eyes will turn to the ECB, which on Monday will have to decide whether to continue to extend its emergency financial lifeline to the Greek banks. The Greek banks are at risk because they carry a heavy exposure to their government's own debt. If the government can’t pay, and the banks go bust, then … it is not clear what happens to savers’ money.

Greece will have to find a factory to print drachmas:

British firms like De La Rue, which prints 150 currencies worldwide, are believed to have been contacted with a view to providing such services. It's done in great secrecy to prevent currency speculation. The other big problem is the logistical challenges of switching a currency. All ATMs, computers and other machinery of commerce that bears the euro symbol will have to be adjusted. It could, and would, take months.

Greece’s economy will (still) be in ruins:

Many Greeks see the austerity reforms as a much-needed measure to make the country more economically dynamic. They fear that leaving the Eurozone will make Greece even more backward, and remove the one powerful check on Syriza's more radical elements. Feelings are running high on both sides.

What does it mean for the rest of us?

Britain has looked on from the sidelines - but the No vote is a shot across the bows of EU leaders that they cannot take risks with public opinion in eurosceptic nations. On the other hand, Britain’s economy is at risk - as is the rest of the world’s - if the eurozone begins to melt down. EU leaders are confident it will not, but they have been wrong before.

Yanis Varoufakis wrote on his blog that he had been "made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted 'partners', for my... 'absence' from its meetings". The prime minister had judged this to be "potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement", he noted, adding: "I shall wear the creditors' loathing with pride."

Greece's governing Syriza party had campaigned for a "No", saying that the bailout terms were humiliating. Mr Tsipras said late on Sunday that the Greeks had proved that "democracy won't be blackmailed." Speaking in a televised address, he said: "Given the unfavourable conditions last week, you have made a very brave choice. But I am aware that the mandate you gave me is not a mandate for rupture."

He said that Greece would go back to the negotiating table on Monday, adding that an International Monetary Fund (IMF) assessment published this week confirmed that restructuring Greek debt was necessary. But some European officials had already warned that creditors could take a "No" vote to mean that Greeks had rejected further talks.

European leaders were varied in their openness to more talks with Greece after the vote. Germany's Deputy Chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, told local media that renewed negotiations with Greece were "difficult to imagine" and that Mr Tsipras had "torn down the bridges" between Greece and Europe.

However, Italian and Belgian ministers were more conciliatory, with Belgium's finance minister saying that the door remained open to restart talks "literally, within hours".

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who heads the eurozone's group of finance ministers, said the referendum result was "very regrettable" for the future of Greece.

Meanwhile, Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, warned that Europe was entering "a very difficult and even dramatic time" unless the Greek government made "meaningful" proposals in the coming hours.

Greece had been locked in negotiations with its creditors for months when the Greek government unexpectedly called a referendum on the terms it was being offered.

“We still have another stock market bubble and another housing bubble going on, but the big bubble I think is in the bond bubble,” he said Thursday on the Alex Jones Show. “It’s been going on for 35 years, taking interest rates from 21% down to actually negative.” “[Central banks] have been getting away with it, so this means distortion, and not only is there money involved, but it has also distorted all the investments made during this time.”

And the biggest distortion this encouraged, Dr Paul added, is debt. “It encouraged debt for a lot of people, but in particular government,” he continued. “As long as our government is able to print the reserve currency [the US dollar], it’s going to limp along, even though our economy is limping along, but that will come to an end.”

“Right now we’re starting to see the whole thing coming apart; I mean we look at Detroit as an example, we see what’s happening in Greece, they’re worrying about what’s going to happen after Greece is actually recognized as totally bankrupt and there will be other countries.” Dr Paul also warned that the central banks will keep trying to delay the inevitable by printing and spending even more money. “But that’s coming to an end,” he said. “The day of reckoning is at hand.”