text: When the Canons Regular of the Holy Sepulchre were suppressed in 1489, Pope Innocent VIII attempted to merge the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre into the Knights Hospitaller, but this was not successful. The Franciscan province of the Holy Land continued to exist, with Acre as its seat. In the territory of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, reinstituted in 1847, the Franciscans still have 24 convents, and 15 parishes.
  Papal Grand Magistry (1496–1847)
  In 1496, Pope Alexander VI restored the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre to independent status, organised as an Order. He decreed that the Knights would no longer be governed by the Custody of the Holy Land, but that the senior post of the Order would henceforth be raised to the rank of Grand Master, reserving this title for himself and his successors.
  The prerogative of dubbing Knights of the Holy Sepulchre was repeatedly confirmed by the Holy See; by Pope Leo X on 4 May 1515, by Pope Clement VII in 1527 and by Pope Pius IV on 1 August 1561.
  The privileges of the order, recorded by its guardian in 1553 and approved by successive popes, included powers to:
  Legitimise bastards
  Change a name given in baptism
  Pardon prisoners they might meet on the way to the scaffold