Category: Freemasonry and Catholicism

Church teaching on the incompatibility of Catholicism and Masonry

A fascinating article about Freemasons & Catholics from Pillar Catholic

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when catholics could be masons by nico fassino at pillar catholic

For hundreds of years, the Catholic Church has prohibited its members from joining Masonic lodges.

Freemasonry has been denounced by numerous popes, beginning with Pope Clement XII in 1738, on the grounds that it promotes religious indifferentism.

But after the Second Vatican Council, many Catholics around the world suddenly became confused about whether it was permissible for Catholics to become Masons. 

From the Catholic Transcript (newspaper of the Archdiocese of Hartford), September 27, 1974, page 3. Scan via Catholic News Archive, public domain.

In fact, there was a seven-year stretch in the 1970s when the English-speaking Catholic world was taught by its bishops that, although it was not encouraged, it was in fact permitted to become a Mason, as long as certain conditions were met. 

Then, at the end of those seven years, these Catholics were suddenly informed that joining the Masons was actually still forbidden under pain of excommunication – and always had been.

That period in history is all but forgotten today. But a survey of Catholic newspapers from the time period offers a glimpse into the confusion that surrounded the subject of Masonry in the American Catholic world 50 years ago.

Changes anticipated: 1971-1974

While work was underway on the revised Code of Canon Law in Rome in the early 1970s, it became clear that there was widespread anticipation that the Church would soon change her teaching on Catholic participation in Freemasonry. 

In August 1971, National Catholic News Service – the news service of the U.S. bishops – issued a lengthy report which predicted that the Church would soon modify her teaching on the matter. 

Headlined, “Catholic-Masonic Relations Enter Friendly New Era,” the report included commentary from leading experts in Rome, including Fr. Jean Beyer, SJ – Dean of Faculty of Canon Law at the Gregorian University in Rome and a consultor to the Vatican Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law. The syndicated story ran in official diocesan newspapers throughout the nation. 

The Catholic Transcript (newspaper of the Archdiocese of Hartford), August 20, 1971, page 9. Scan via Catholic News Archive, public domain.

Two years later, in June 1973, National Catholic News Service again reported that Church officials were expecting and planning for a change in Church teaching. 

The article, headlined “Church ban on Freemasonry expected to be relaxed,” revealed that the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales had sent letters to all priests in their country, informing them that some “relaxation” in the ban on Freemasonry was expected soon. 

According to the letter from the English hierarchy, “it seems probable that each national bishops’ conference will be left to decide whether Masons will have to resign membership in being received into the Church, and also whether requests from laymen [to] join the Masons may be granted.”

The National Catholic News Service (by the US Bishops Conference), June 27, 1973, wire copy page 1. Scan via Catholic News Archive, public domain.

This news was widely printed in official diocesan newspapers throughout the country and continued to be discussed in newspapers and clerical journals between the summer of 1973 and spring 1974.

The growing consensus — as promoted by the U.S. bishops’ news service — was that the old prohibition would soon be changed.

The St. Louis Review (newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Louis), December 7, 1973, page 9. Scan via Catholic News Archive, public domain.

Continue reading this article at Pillar Catholic:

Note regarding the main image: it was found at this site and is obviously taken more recently than the 1970″s!!

Freemasons at Fatima in the 1920’s

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From “fatima in twilight” by Mark fellows

“Many of the visitors to Cova da Iria also visited Aljustrel to talk to, or pray with, or plead intercession from the three seers. Although the apparitions had stopped, the events at Fatima had acquired a momentum of their own. The attraction increased over the years, despite violent attacks in the Masonic press, the presence of armed troops at Cova da Iria, and the fact that within four years of the last apparition, none of the little seers lived at Fatima anymore.

“Back at Lisbon, Freemason and Editor-In-Chief of ‘O Seculo’, Avelino de Almeida, was raked over the coals by his fellow leftists for daring to report the miracle of the sun as it actually occurred. It was thought that such a public concession to reality only encouraged the forces of reaction, and consequently imperiled the revolutionary cause in Portugal. In Ourem, no one needed to instruct Arturo Santos (“the Tinsmith”) about the party line. To his dying day he denied that anything miraculous had ever occurred at Cova da Iria – although he never set foot there. On October 23, 1917, however, some of his henchmen did.

“The Tinsmith’s agents were joined by members of the Grand Orient Lodge of Santarem (about forty miles south of Fatima). Under cover of darkness they entered Cova da Iria to cut down the holm oak tree, and remove the rustic wooden arch built over it, from which hung lanterns perpetually lit in honor of the heavenly Lady. They also took a table and the small altar resting on it, and an image of the Blessed Virgin. The carload of booty was driven to Santarem, where the thieves displayed the stolen items the next day. For a small fee, one could view the arch and a small hatcheted tree, and receive a Masonic harangue on medieval superstition. That night the Freemasons staged a public procession with their display, “singing blasphemous litanies to the accompaniment of drums.

“Adding salt to the wound was the fact that the Portuguese government had outlawed Catholic religious processions. The Masonic “procession” was so fanatical in its anti-Catholicism that even the secular press was critical of the event. On the morning of October 24 Maria Carreira hurried to Cova da Iria. Her heart sunk when she saw the arch and lanterns missing, then rose when she saw the little stump of the holm oak tree still sticking up out of the ground. The vandals had cut down the wrong tree.

“Lucy went to investigate too. “I then asked Our Lady to forgive these poor men,” she wrote in her Second memoir,” and I prayed for their conversion.” The next ploy of the “poor men” was to post armed cavalry around Cova da Iria to intimidate pilgrims. The crowds only seemed to increase.

“Publicly dismissing the apparitions at Fatima as a “shameful spectacle staged as a ridiculous comedy” ( as one hyperventilating Brother put it), an implacable hatred of the one true God gave Freemasonry no rest. Truth too tell, the revolution in Portugal was menaced. But it was not, as the Masons supposed, the dark plotting of the Jesuits or Portuguese clerics that would stall the force of progress. Most clergy maintained a prudent silence regarding the apparitions, and more than a few were downright skeptical. Rather, it was the prayers, penances and sacrifices inspired by the beautiful Lady at Cova da Iria that posed the real threat to Masonic authority. Before this onslaught of religious fervour Freemasonry could only sputter impotently, and flee.

“On December 8, 1917, the Blessed Virgin began to grind Her heal on the spiteful head of the revolution. Portugal’s government was overthrown by one of its own, a Freemason named Sidonio Pais. The day after his coup d’etat Pais allowed the Portuguese bishops to return from exile. Two weeks later he allowed worship in the churches the revolution had confiscated from the Church. Diplomatic relations with the Vatican were reopened, and other measures were taken to allow freedom of worship in Catholic Portugal. Obviously Pais was no ordinary Freemason. He knew that by his actions he was signing his own death warrant. It is said he felt protected by the Blessed Virgin, and even received “encouraging visions” from Her. Had he lived long enough, it is likely he would have converted. But he had made himself a marked man, and he knew the Masonic reputation for vengeance was justified.

“Nevertheless, Pais persisted. His efforts to allow the Jesuits to re-enter Portugal were rewarded by an assassination attempt. Undaunted, Pais had the police raid the Masonic headquarters in Lisbon. On December 14, 1918, he attended Mass for fallen Portuguese soldiers. Afterwards, he was gunned down at a train station in Lisbon. He died there, his body riddled with bullets, a crucifix resting on his bloody chest.

It was another glorious victory for the champions of liberty, equality, and fraternity. Yet Freemasonry had only killed a messenger; they were powerless against the message, and they knew it. Their days were numbered.”

from fatima in twilight by mark fellows. Marmion publications, niagra falls. 2003.

Masons involved in the Synod on Synodality

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Well, I guess it’s not really surprising.

During Australia’s Plenary Council process, there were lapsed Catholics, alphabet-soup Catholics, Protestants, Moslems, and even atheists all giving their two-cents’ worth on the Church. So it stands to reason that somewhere along the line, Freemasons would want to have some input into the Church’s future – especially seeing as so many of them occupy important positions in the hierarchy these days.

From FSSPX NEWS:

“The Conference of Bishops of the Philippines (CBCP) has just issued a statement reminding the faithful of the impossibility of a Catholic being a part of Freemasonry. A welcome clarification, as it appears that Freemasons in the archipelago had been participating in the preparatory work for the Synod on Synodality.

The declaration of the Filipino bishops is part of the context of the synod organized in the archipelago, as everywhere else in the world. The debate is indeed more and more lively on the participation of “Catholic Freemasons” in synodal consultations.

“We thought that the teachings of the Catholic Church on the matter had evolved. Since several participants in the Synod are Freemasons, we thought that the Church had relaxed its rules on joining Masonry and participating in activities of the Catholic Church,” explains Gloria Buencamino.

For this parishioner from Quezon City, the episcopal development is surprising, because in some churches, “Catholic Freemasons help the priest distribute communion; in our parish alone we have two and they were delegated to the Synod on Synodality. They are good and pious Catholics,” she says.

“Good and pious Catholics?”

Well, of course they are. At least Freemasons believe in the Real Presence, (albeit only in order to profane the Lord) which is more than can be said for the majority of non-Mason Catholics.

As usual, the Masons themselves have no problem with Church membership: it is only the Catholics who are bigoted and exclusive. From the article:

… Frank Munez hosts a lodge in Manila. For this 61-year-old Mason, there is no opposition between Catholicism and Masonry: “It is above all a fraternal community. What’s wrong with that? We have nothing against God, in fact, we encourage our members to be men of faith and good citizens,” he told Ucanews.

One further reason why Masons want to be involved in the Synod? I’ll give you a clue. It rhymes with Synodality. (And here’s what I wrote about it a little while ago)

Pope Francis on the spot over Freemasonry

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SOURce: LifeSiteNews

Italian Freemasons have said they will appeal to Pope Francis for support, after the local Catholic bishop re-iterated the Catholic Church’s condemnation on Freemasonry in light of renewed Masonic activity in the area.

Local Freemasons in the Archdiocese of Chieti-Vasto in eastern Italy have declared that they will seek “rapid and active intervention” from Pope Francis, after Archbishop Bruno Forte reminded the archdiocese of the Catholic Church’s strict ban on participating in Masonic activities.

On February 7, Forte issued a letter to his archdiocese in which he presented the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s (CDF) 1983 document on Masonry. 

Forte stated that: “the condemnation of Freemasonry remains unchanged; second, Catholics who belong to a lodge are in a state of grave sin and cannot take communion; third, no exceptions are allowed.”

His letter was prompted by renewed, public activities organized by Masons of the Sovereign Arabian Phoenix lodge in Forte’s archdiocese, including a conference at the Iacone hotel on “Francesco d’Assisi: mysticism or esotericism?”

Many locals protested the conference, calling the Masons “absolute evil.” The venerable master Ginevra Di Nicola stated that the protests represented “social hatred.” Di Nicola added that the Masons would “invite Bruno Forte to our next meeting.” 

“We are not a religious creed but we believe in a superior being whom we call the ‘great architect of the universe’ who created everything,” said Di Nicola. “We are a brotherhood that embraces every religious belief.”

Days later, Forte – who has led the archdiocese since 2004 – issued his letter which consisted chiefly of the text of the CDF’s 1983 document. That text – signed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and approved by Pope John Paul II – reads:

Therefore, the Church’s negative judgment regarding Masonic associations remains unchanged, since their principles have always been considered irreconcilable with Church doctrine and therefore membership in them remains forbidden. The faithful who belong to Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and cannot access Holy Communion.

The CDF’s ruling further adds that local bishops cannot issue documents which in some way differ from the firm line presented by the CDF regarding the Catholic Church’s relationship with Masonry. “It is not for local ecclesiastical authorities to pronounce on the nature of Masonic associations with a judgment that implies derogation from the above, and this is in line with the Declaration of this Holy Congregation of February 17, 1981.”

In response, the Masonic lodge declared that they would appeal to Pope Francis to intercede on their behalf against Forte. “We will turn to Pope Francis to ask for his swift and proactive intervention in this diatribe, which damages our honorability and, on balance, threatens our security,” Di Nicola told local news.

The Mason also directly quoted from Pope Francis’ 2020 encyclical Fratelli Tutti, citing paragraph 46: “It must be recognized that fanaticisms that lead to the destruction of others also have religious people as protagonists, not excluding Christians, who may participate in networks of verbal violence.”

Such a tactic is noteworthy: Francis’ Fratelli Tutti promotes a “Universal Brotherhood” and also links back to his controversial 2019 Abu Dhabi document on Human Fraternity. Both texts have been widely criticized by Catholics since their publication. Former Papal Nuncio to the U.S. Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò notably wrote that Francis’s concept of fraternity was “theologically blasphemous.”

A prominently vocal German priest also described the text as being interwoven with “Masonic” ideology. Francis’s push for religions to be on an equal footing, Father Frank Unterhalt noted was a key element of Masonic goals:

The striving for universal ecumenism of religions has always been a concern of Freemasonry on the way to its actual goal, namely to bring about the breakthrough of that self-constructed religion in which all human beings are supposedly in agreement.

Indeed, following Fratelli Tutti’s publication, it was welcomed by the Masonic Lodge of Spain, who stated it was “the latest encyclical” of Pope Francis in which he “embraces the Universal Fraternity, the great principle of Modern Freemasonry.”

Continue reading at LifeSiteNews:

Some Freemasons are more Catholic than the Pope

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This little story caught my eye: a non-denominational Christian pastor was expelled from his Masonic lodge for promoting same-sex marriage.

Once a Southern Baptist missionary, “Brother” Tag Thompson was running his own “non-creedal” church which had a particular outreach to the LGBTIQ community. Thompson had become interested in Freemasonry after reading the Da Vinci Code and joined after discovering Masonry’s supposed focus on exterior works such as helping the community and “fraternity”.

A Facebook post in which he offered to officiate at same-sex weddings drew the ire of some of his fellow Masons. Thompson had to face a tribunal of the Tennessee Freemasons and it was established that his behaviour violated their statutes: he was eventually thrown out, although some other Masonic lodges disagreed with the decision. Notably and unsurprisingly, these included California and Washington DC.

The conservative stance taken by the Tennessee Masons is quite a contrast to the attitude of our reigning pontiff who has an open-arms policy towards members of the LGBTIQ community – he has issued no condemnation of the German bishop attending a same-sex wedding, and has had little to say about the German church’s general promotion of same-sex unions. On top of that, the attention shown by the Pope to sodo-priest James Martin is nothing short of scandalous.

“Er, Jimmy, I get the the secret handshake but do you have to make it so obvious?”

So does this mean that Freemasons are becoming more virtuous or that this is evidence that they should be admitted into the Church? By no means at all!

Rather, it is simply another an indication that the human element of the Catholic Church is wallowing in the mire of corruption – so much so that even Masons are capable of making the Pope look bad.

Mary, Destroyer of all Heresies

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Posted at Katholisches.info in 2017 and translated by dodgy online software:

(Rome) Last December 11th, Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider, one of the most remarkable and outstanding bishops of the Catholic Church, gave a lecture in Seville, Spain. The theme was: “Maria, vencedora de todas las herejias” (Mary, conqueror of all heresies). 

The Blessed Pope Pius IX had the Mother of God in his bull Singulari Quadam Perfusi of 9 December in 1854 as “Virgo Beatissima, quae interemit ac perdidit universas haeresas” means: “Blessed Mary, destroyer of all heresies.” The day after the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed, Pius IX gathered. , again to its particular task to meet all the cardinals and bishops who came to Rome for the occasion to “strengthen brothers in faith” that, and provided them with Singulari Quadam, an authentic interpretation of the pronounced Marie dogma.

In his lecture, Bishop Schneider spoke primarily about Freemasonry and its work with a view to their anniversary. Several commemorations will take place in 2017. In the German-speaking area, with some media outlay, the view of Martin Luther’s “500 years of Reformation” is narrowed. This obscures other events of historical importance. These include two major events that began 100 years ago. There is the October Bolshevik Revolution in Russia with the spread of communism, which today still controls a fifth of the world’s population. And on the other hand, the apparitions of the Virgin Mary shortly before that in Fatima, Portugal,

However, in 2017 there is still a major event on the agenda. 300 years ago, in 1717, the first grand lodge was founded in London, to which all Freemasonry refers. So 2017 is indeed a “memorable” year.

Bishop Schneider is best known for promoting the regaining of sacredness in the Holy Liturgy and reverence for the Most Holy Eucharist. He published several writings on the subject of communion. In it he advocates the worthy reception of communion and recommends kneeling communion on the mouth, as Pope Benedict XVI. reintroduced in the papal masses. Because of the special attention paid to Holy Communion, Bishop Schneider is one of the staunch defenders of the sacrament of marriage and penance. For the Synod of Bishops on the Family, he published a publication with 100 questions and answers, with which the efforts of a new doctrine were rejected, to admit remarried divorced persons to the sacraments.

In Seville, Bishop Schneider spoke about the secret society of Freemasonry, which in 2017 can look back on 300 years of turbulent and obscure existence and its revolutionary and subversive endeavors. Bishop Schneider called Freemasonry, which has largely shied the light of day since its foundation, as the “instrument of Satan”.

In his remarks, the Auxiliary Bishop of Astana recalled Saint Maximilian Kolbe and his descriptions of the aggressive behavior of the Freemasons in Rome during the First World War. In 1917, in the middle of the war, the Freemasons in Rome celebrated their 200th anniversary. The Freemasons had openly declared war on the Church. They had covered Rome with posters and demonstratively pulled the black flag of Giordano Bruno to the Vatican. On the posters and the flags “a representation of the Archangel Michael was to be seen, who lay defeated on the ground in front of the triumphant Lucifer,” said Bishop Schneider.

Because of these experiences resolved the young Maximilian Kolbe, who was then at the Gregoriana studied theology, the creation of the Militia Immaculatae (Knighthood of the Immaculate) to “confront the actions of Lucifer”.

According to Bishop Schneider, the aim of Freemasonry is “to eliminate all teaching about God, especially Catholic teaching”. To achieve this goal, Freemasonry has made use of “numerous societies” since it was founded. “They want the dissolution of morality” for a very specific reason. They are in fact convinced of the principle that “one cannot defeat catholicity with logical arguments without corrupting morality”. Masonic action based on this principle is currently “very topical” again, according to the auxiliary bishop from Kazakhstan.

“Undoubtedly, however, the Immaculate Virgin Mary will in the end trample the greatest heresy of all time: the heresy of the Antichrist,” said the auxiliary bishop.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider is the son of Black Sea Germans. His family had been deported with more than a million Russian Germans under Stalin to Siberia and Central Asia, which is why Schneider was born in Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan in 1961. In 1973 the family was allowed to move to the Federal Republic of Germany, where he grew up and in 1982 he entered to the Order of Canon Regulars of the Holy Cross. Saint Anthony of Padua belonged to this order before he joined Saint Francis of Assisi. Schneider has been providing pastoral care in Kazakhstan since 2001. In 2006 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Titular Bishop. As such, he was initially auxiliary bishop of the Karaganda diocese. Since 2011 he has been auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Astana.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: InfoVaticana

Rapprochement from 2017

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FROM KATHOLISCHES – NOVEMBER 2017

In 2017 the Masonic lodges will celebrate their 300th anniversary. Since 1717 the relationship between Lodge and Church has been rife with tension and conflict. In Syracuse there is a new attempt at an understanding with a spectacular aspect: For the first time a Catholic bishop takes part in a public box event and will discuss with the master of the chair. Some insights into the background of a controversial experiment.

Truth and the search for truth

For the Catholic Church the prescribed relativism and the factually practiced syncretism of the Lodge Brothers are incompatible with the truth of reality revealed by God. The lodges reject this revelation as a truth of faith. The orientation of the lodges is not only deistic, agnostic or atheistic, depending on obedience, but was from the beginning significantly shaped by the esoteric “search” for a “different” truth than the Christian one. In the Catholic states the lodges saw and organized themselves as direct opponents of the church. Following their relativistic credo, they want to eliminate the public influence of the church, which is why Freemasonry has always been attached to a striving for power. This battle has been raging for three centuries.

The history of the lodges, however, also knows the phenomenon of church representatives who allowed themselves to be initiated and thus became apostates according to the church’s understanding. Your covert work in the church as “agents of the lodges” is still awaiting investigation. A particularly striking example is the magnificent Benedictine Abbey of Melk on the Danube. At the end of the 18th century there was not only a monk’s convent in the monastery, but also a lodge. A part of the monks belonged to her and thus formed a convention of the “initiates” in the convent.

The status as a secret society, to which the lodges cling to this day, allows the abbreviated brothers undetected to infiltrate other organizations, parties and churches and to create an invisible network.

“Relaxation Exercises” after the Council

One consequence of the Second Vatican Council it was that lodge-friendly church districts ventured with newfound confidence from obscurity. The 1970s were marked by efforts, also in the German-speaking area, to bring about a “reconciliation” between lodge and church. Faithful bishops in the countries and the election of Pope John Paul II put an end to these attempts in the early 1980s.

Lists of alleged or actual church representatives, including cardinals, who are said to be lodge members, circulate repeatedly. The sociologist of religion, Massimo Introvigne, warned against false suspicions and in May 2013 formulated a sure way to clarify the suspicion of lodge membership:

“The crucial core of Masonic ideology is relativism, with all the related political implications, which often lead Masonic obedience to promote laws to legalize abortion, euthanasia, and gay associations. So if you hear about a Catholic church representative or politician saying that he is a Freemason, the question should be: does he represent relativistic ideas? Is he an abortion advocate? Is he in favor of euthanasia or the legal recognition of gay partnerships?

If the answer is ‘yes’, then he is – according to the definition used by the current Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy – a ‘Freemason without an apron’, a companion of Freemasonry, and the question of whether he has an official membership card or not is then only secondary.

If the answer is ‘no’ and the church official or Catholic politician openly opposes relativism and its consequences, then there is good reason to conclude that the allegations are defamatory. “

New signals of rapprochement

Although Freemasonry failed 35 years ago in its attempt to be recognized by the Church, the Lodge Brothers have neither given up their fight for repression against the Church, nor have they tried to make them spiritually submissive to their thinking. Since Pope Francis was elected, the curtailed or unvarnished “brothers” believe they see a new opportunity outside and inside the Church .

Among the signals that point in this direction include not only praise of the pope from Latin America, but also the sensational letter from Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi to the ” Brethren“.

The latest example is a discussion meeting of the Masonic Grand Orient of Italy , to be held at Syracuse next November 12 in the cathedral square. The invitations show Jesus Christ with a compass in hand, a typical Masonic instrument. The circle is one of the “three great lights” of Masonic symbolism, which lies on the altar in the lodge temples.

The theme of the event is: “ Church and Freemasonry – so close, so far? “The portrayal of Jesus is part of the title picture showing the creation of the world. The representation has nothing to do with the Lodge Brothers and their world of ideas. It was created around 1220, 500 years before Freemasonry was founded. The panel discussion is part of the 300-year-anniversary celebrations of the Grand Orient.

The purpose of the event is to present an understanding between lodge and church as possible. It gives the impression of a compatibility that the Church has rejected for 300 years.

Despite the provocative image and an even more provocative title, a Catholic bishop will take part in the discussion. Msgr. Antonio Staglianò, Bishop of Noto and Msgr. Maurizio Aliotta from the Archdiocese of Syracuse will discuss with two Honorary Grand Masters of the Greater Orient, Santi Fedele and Sergio Rosso. The host is the Master of the Chair of Syracuse, Alessandro Spicuglia.

“Communitarianism” as common ground?

Nuova Bussola Quotidiana (NBQ) reports that there are violent protests from devout Catholics against the event. People ask the Archdiocese of Syracuse what this “hug” is about with an organization condemned by the Church.

“It’s about an organization that in southern Italy has always had to do with (often occult) power and always had an esoteric streak between rites and brotherhood that was never really revealed.”

The Catholic Internet newspaper asked Bishop Staglianò what his participation was about. The bishop referred to the spectacular and equally controversial letter from Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi to the “Brothers Freemasons”. The chairman of the Pontifical Council for Culture had “clearly shown” that there could be similarities between the Church and Loge, namely the “communitarianism”. Bishop Staglianò said:

“I assume that he meant the opposition to unbridled individualism, anti-materialism, a certain idea of spirituality and finally also the philanthropy, that is, the solidary aspect.”

However, the Church gave a negative answer to all these alleged “similarities”, which not least had to do with the “danger of a relativistic and deistic methodology”, according to NBQ, which the lodges are trying to do.

“Hug process in progress”

“The reality is that there is a hugging process going on today,” NBQ said. The most recent example: On the discussion in Syracuse, there appeared in the daily newspaper of the Italian Bishops Conference an article by the priest Ennio Stamile, who argued for the “dialogue” with the Freemasons. Bishop Staglianò was one of his theology professors, the priest defends the bishop’s participation. Stamile also refers to Pope Francis, who called for a dialogue “with everyone, no one excluded”.

The priest accuses the critics of rapprochement as “ignorant” and “superficial” because they “have no idea” about Freemasonry. The claim that the lodges are a “power lobby” is a fairy tale that must finally “disappear”.

Fr Ennio Stamile is one of the most famous priests in southern Italy. He is chairman of the Libera Calabria (Free Calabria) association, an umbrella organization “against the Mafia”. The association proves to be a firmly integrated part of the political left through language, symbols, actionism and contacts, and in any case it is fully recognized by this side. Stamile comes from the circle of Don Ciotti, the founder of the association, whom Pope Francis kissed on the hand in March 2014.

The union has received several hundred hectares of agricultural land by the state, confiscated from the members of the ‘Ndrangheta. The ‘Ndrangheta is the group of organized crime in Calabria and the Mafia in Sicily is comparable. The association runs farms on these areas with those who have been released from prison, former drug addicts, immigrants and those who have dropped out of the Mafia.

Lodge and Mafia?

Don Stamile’s request to speak is important not only because of his anti-Mafia reputation. His partisanship for the dialogue with the lodge is interesting. More information could explain this and open the door to a remarkable circular if the entanglement with organized crime – mafia and lodge are “occult” powers, as it has already been said – may even be a regional problem.

Since the 1960s there have been indications that mafia bosses have entered the lodges. Within the Calabrian mafia, the ‘Ndrangheta, there were violent conflicts about it. The initiative for this cooperation seems to go back to Gioa Tauro’s boss, Girolamo Piromalli (1918–1979).

Since then, investigative files by the public prosecutor have repeatedly referred to a “mass mafia”, a merger of Freemasonry and mafia into a Masonic mafia. 2014 protocol extracts were the interrogation of the former Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy, Giuliano Di Bernardo (1990-1993), known. Di Bernardo left the Grand Orient in the wake of the scandal surrounding the mysterious Propaganda Due Lodge (P2). Today he is Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Italy . According to the data Di Bernardo early 90s were 28 of 32 Calabrian boxes from , ‘Ndrangheta has been inspected.

In 2007 mafia boss Sebastiano Altomonte said in a conversation with his wife that had been recorded by the police through acoustic room surveillance:

“There is one you know about and one you don’t know about. There is the visible and the invisible that nobody knows about, except the invisible. “

The statement has been associated with the “Santa” – the group created by Girolamo Piromalli at the highest management level; the ‘Ndrangheta , whose members are all members of Freemasonry. However, this thesis has not yet been confirmed in a court-relevant manner.

In a conversation between mafia boss Pantaleone Mancuso, overheard by the police in 2013, said during a walk:

“The ‘Ndrangheta no longer exists… It once existed. Today ‘Ndrangheta is part of Freemasonry … Let’s put it this way: It is under Freemasonry but has the same rules! … The ‘Ndrangheta no longer exists, all that remains are Freemasonry and the four idiots who still believe in the’ Ndrangheta. “

Against this background, the words of Don Ennio Stamile may have a slightly different meaning, who mentions a connection between Mafia and Freemasonry in his statement, but dismisses it as an invention and attempt at disinformation by people who want to become something without “merits and competencies” and by to whom the Church is not free either.

But it is also a fact that the former President of the Higher Regional Court of Catanzaro (Calabria) and Honorary President of the Supreme Court of Italy, Giuseppe Tuccio, has to answer in court for membership of the Mafia. It was only in 2016 that Tuccio, who was not unknown to Libera Calabria , published a book about the fight against the Mafia. “The Piromalli had judge Tuccio, a Freemason, in their hands,” a key witness had testified in a court case. Even in the wheels of justice of senior judges came in the wake of anti-mafia Operation Gotha .

Bishop Staglianò: Hans Küng and “why I talk to the Freemasons”

But back to the discussion event in Syracuse. Bishop Staglianò justifies his participation with a statement from Pope John XXIII: “Let us look more for what unites us than what divides us.” Despite all condemnations by the Church, especially Leo XIII. With the encyclical Humanum genus and the letter Inimica vis , or the declaration of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of 1983, the bishop sees no problem in “having a dialogue with the lodge brothers, for example when these Freemasons should organize themselves to fight against injustice “. It should be examined where one can act together for the “common good”.

The question remains, according to NBQ, what “common good” means from a Catholic point of view and what it means, however, from the point of view of Freemasonry. Bishop Staglianò admitted that he was not “competent” to answer this question. Literally he let it be known:

“Look, I don’t know anything about Freemasonry. I am in the process of reading up, starting with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith declaration [from 1983]. I think that one can have no other opinion on the condemnation of the Masonic theses. I will say more: it is the first time that I have found myself in the situation of speaking to Freemasons. I think that I will begin my remarks with the text by Hans Küng on the ‘Magic Flute’ by Mozart, who was both a Freemason and a Christian. But we cannot ignore the church at the time of the genius from Salzburg as a bureaucratic institution. Not true?”

Criticism of the “integralist” dialogue

NBQ asks whether it is “credible” when a recognized theologian and bishop like Staglianò describes himself as “not competent”. The bishop’s statement could also be seen as a provocation, since he seems to be saying one thing in a few sentences but seem to mean the opposite.

When asked about the Freemason’s invitation with the representation of Jesus Christ, the bishop said that this “does not scandalize” him:

“Didn’t Arius also attribute the cosmogonic traits of a demiurge to Jesus? If Arius made a mistake, it was – if he did – that he did not ascribe God’s features to the demiurge. “

And further:

“I will go like Jesus to the tax collectors and prostitutes and proclaim Christ. The Freemasons will then determine how close or how far they are to this proclamation. “

Bishop Staglianò condescendingly described criticism of the dialogue with the Freemasons as “stupid, superficial and integralistic”. He used one of those “magical” terms with which progressive church circles bludgeon devout Catholics. Ultimately, the bishop insulted the popes of the past 300 years, who condemned Freemasonry, as “stupid, superficial and integralist”. Leo XIII. wrote in Humanum genus :

“The sect is, according to its whole being and its innermost nature, corruption and vice; therefore it is not allowed to join her and to be of any help. “

Finally, Bishop Staglianò also refers to Pope Francis, who urged to go to the “existential fringes”, “and Freemasonry seems to be one”.

Is the Church still equipped for “dialogue” with Freemasonry?

The question that remains, according to NBQ, goes beyond Bishop Staglianò. In the past few years the church has tried to hardly speak about the Freemasons anymore. The intellectual and scientific preoccupation with the lodges at the relevant academies, institutes and faculties had almost completely come to a standstill. There are hardly any more coherent and thorough studies on the subject. The declaration by Paolo Maria Siano, of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, form a remarkable exception.

It is almost as if one does not want to be labeled with the stigma of a “conspiracy theorist”. However, the boxes are a reality, as the celebrations show. Other church districts have elevated dialogue to the “highest dogma” in which they believe, which is why any form of exclusion is frowned upon – at least any form contrary to the spirit of the times. The attempt at a more or less open distancing from the past with its condemnations of Freemasonry is obvious. This raises the question of “how the Church wants to meet Freemasonry, since its younger representatives have hardly any knowledge of the Lodge and reflexively tend to dismiss criticism of it as a“ yesterday’s conspiracy theory ”of an“ integralism ”that has been overcome.

The signals for a new “dialogue” are increasing, although the church staff seem less and less prepared for it. Or is the willingness to dialogue growing parallel to the loss of knowledge?

Dazu NBQ:

“Dialogue is not a gospel term. Does the church want to use the excuse of dialogue – after the radicals, the Protestants, the anti-clerical atheists and the plutocratic elites – to break the last taboo that lodges, which were once enemies, are now only ‘different’? “

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Wikicommons / Grande Oriente d’Italia (Screenshots)

(Note – the original article was published in German. An online translation rendered some phrases unintelligible.)

Masons on the Church – Then and Now

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Humanum Genus, Pope Leo XIII’s great encyclical warning against Freemasonry, was promulgated in 1884. In it, the Pope condemned Masonry and other secret societies in the most direct and unambiguous way. The scathing nature of his reprisal can be evaluated by the response from Masons of that time.

From the Bulletin of the Symbolic Scottish Grand Lodge:

Freemasonry cannont help but thank the Supreme Pontiff of the last encyclical. Leo XIII, with unquestionable authority, and wth great luxury of evidence has demonstrated once again that there is an unbridgeable gulf between the Church of which he is the representative, and the Revolution, of which Freemasonry is the right arm. It is good that the skeptics cease to entertain vain hopes. All must get used to the new order which does not recognise any other foundation than that of science and human reason, in the spirit of authority and spirit of liberty.

Enrico Delassus, “Il problema dell’ora presente”, Desclèe e C. Tipografi-Editori 1907, vol. 1, p 39. (Via Fr Villa.)

Contrast this appraisal with laudatory comments from the Masons in our present day. The following is a press release from Italy’s Grand Lodge, made after the election of Jorge Bergoglio in 2013.

The Catholic Church has chosen as Pope the Jesuit Jorge Mario Bergoglio who assumed the name of Francis. A clear-cut choice, away from the logic of the Roman Curia and of the temporal power. From the first moment on, Pope Francis, a man who comes “nearly from the end of the world,” rejecting the ermine robe and gold cross and replacing it with an iron cross, made his first tangible act. In his first words of greeting he fostered a desire for dialogue with the world and with mankind, nurturing the vivid hope for laymen and nonbelievers that change is underway. Maybe this is really what the world expects and what it expected. A new Church that knows how to reconnect love with truth in a confrontation among institutions not entrenched in the defense of their own power. It is that same hope for which the world — and especially Latin America, where the Masons Simon Bolivar, Salvador Allende and the same Giuseppe Garibaldi [especially while in Brazil] among the many who have given liberty to those peoples — has always longed for.

A message that Freemasonry itself perceives a sharp break with the past and one which is turned now to listening to the poor, the marginalized and the weakest. To the new Pontiff we send our best wishes for his good work for years to come.

Luciano Nistri, Grand Master GLVDI

(As found at OnePeterFive)

A Canon Lawyer looks at Masonry in the 1983 Code

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This is the abstract of a dissertation by Canon Lawyer Ed Condon on the topic of Freemasonry and Catholics. The entire paper can be read here:

Anonymous Catholic

Heresy by Association

Despite the remarkable continuity, over the centuries, of the Catholic Church’s condemnation of Freemasonry and the clarity of her rationale for doing so, the current canonical discipline of Catholic-Masonic issues is the subject of considerable confusion. The canonical prohibition of Catholic membership of a Masonic Lodge, or society, was expressly articulated in canon 2335 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law, which attached a penalty of excommunication, latae sententiae. Further canonical effects explicitly linked to Masonry were contained in six additional canons spread throughout the Code. The 1983 Code of Canon Law contains no explicit mention of Freemasonry. Canon 1374 provides for indeterminate penalties for those who join societies which “plot against the Church”, but there is no consensus of what the canonical definition of plotting (machinationem) means, nor which societies, if any, might be intended by the canon.

This dissertation seeks, through historical analysis of the origins of Freemasonry itself, and the Church’s teaching against it, to correctly place Freemasonry, specifically membership of a Masonic society by a Catholic, within the penal law of the 1983 Code.

Chapter I traces the origins of Freemasonry and the Church’s opposition to it, through to the codification of the 1917 Code of Canon Law.

Chapter II is a parenthetical consideration of the particular phenomena of American Freemasonry, which is often held out to be somehow less noxious than the often explicitly anti-clerical European variety, and demonstrates its peculiar, but no less damnable, nature.

Chapter III is an examination of the 1917 Code of Canon Law. It considers the canons on associations generally, and various condemned societies in particular, and extrapolates the significance of the canonical context of the Code’s treatment of Masonry as, variously, a crime against the faith and against authority. The chapter also offers a treatment of some basic principles of penal law, including imputability and the nature of crime and punishment in canon law.

Chapter IV traces the canonical prohibition of Masonic membership by a Catholic through the process of reform and revision which resulted in the 1983 Code of Canon Law. It then examines the various scholarly commentaries on the subject, as well as how Masonry has been canonically treated under the ius vigens.

Chapter V advances the argument that a Catholic joining the Freemasons can, in fact, commit two delicts by the same action: the delict of joining a prohibited society (c. 1374); and the delict of heresy (c. 1364). Masonic texts and rites of initiation are examined as possibly containing heretical material which a Mason explicitly embraces. The chapter finishes by establishing the existence, necessity, and justice of an enduring universal canonical prohibition of Catholic membership of the Freemasons.

Read the entire the dissertation here:

Catholicism vs. Freemasonry—Irreconcilable Forever

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This article was reproduced online but was originally produced in pamphlet form by the World Apostolate of Fatima in the 1980’s.

Anonymous Catholic

What is the truth regarding the present official attitude of the Catholic Church toward Freemasonry? To begin this inquiry into that which is now in effect, we should go back to what was stated in the Church’s canon law before there was any doubt about where the Church stood on Masonry. The former code (which, incidentally, was promulgated on Pentecost, May 27, 1917, just two weeks after Our Lady’s first apparition at Fatima) contained a canon which definitely capped all the previous papal condemnations of it. Canon 2335 reads as follows:

Persons joining associations of the Masonic sect or any others of the same kind which plot against the Church and legitimate civil authorities contract ipso facto excommunication simply reserved to the Apostolic See.

In the wake of the Second Vatican Council, however, when the revision of the Code of Canon Law was underway, the prevailing spirit of “ecumenical dialogue” prompted questions among various bishops as to whether or not Canon 2335 was still in force. Responding to these questions, a letter from Cardinal Francis Seper, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to the presidents of all the episcopal conferences, dated July 18, 1974, stated that: (1) the Holy See has repeatedly sought information from the bishops about contemporary Masonic activities directed against the Church; (2) there will be no new law on this matter, pending the revision of the Code now underway; (3) all penal canons must be interpreted strictly and (4) the express prohibition against Masonic membership by clerics, religious and members of secular institutes is hereby reiterated.1

This rather awkwardly structured letter (which, for whatever reason, was not published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the official journal of record for the Holy See) came to be interpreted in many quarters as allowing membership by laymen in any particular Masonic (or similar) lodge which, in the judgment of the local bishop, was not actively plotting against the Church or legitimate civil authorities.

This state of affairs, in which undoubtedly a fair number of Catholics in good faith became Masons, lasted for some years. Then, on February 17, 1981, Cardinal Seper issued a formal declaration: (1) his original letter did not in any way change the force of the existing Canon 2335; (2) the stated canonical penalties are in no way abrogated and (3) he was but recalling the general principles of interpretation to be applied by the local bishop for resolving cases of individual persons, which is not to say that any episcopal conference now has the competence to publicly pass judgment of a general character on the nature of Masonic associations, in such a way as to derogate from the previously stated norms.2

Because this second statement seemed to be as awkwardly put together as the first, the confusion persisted. Finally, in 1983 came the new Code with its Canon 1374:

A person who joins an association which plots against the Church is to be punished with a just penalty; one who promotes or takes office in such an association is to be punished with an interdict.

CARDINAL RATZINGER’S DECLARATION

Following the promulgation of the new Code, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the new Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a new declaration: (1) the new Canon 1374 has the same essential import as the old Canon 2335, and the fact that the “Masonic sect” is no longer explicitly named is irrelevant; (2) the Church’s negative judgment on Masonry remains unchanged, because the Masonic principles are irreconcilable with the Church’s teaching (“earum principia semper iconciliabilia habita sunt cum Ecclesiae doctrina”); (3) Catholics who join the Masons are in the state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion and (4) no local ecclesiastical authority has competence to derogate from these judgments of the Sacred Congregation.3

With these official statements of the Universal Church now on record,4 it should be clear that the lamentable confusion of so many Catholics regarding Freemasonry must be seen as only a temporary aberration—to be written off as one most costly consequence of a mindless “spirit of Vatican II.” But we may hope that, as in other issues that have plagued the Church in the last score of years, there is a providence in this, a veritable blessing in disguise. For now, more clearly than ever before, we should see just why the Catholic Church has been—and will always be—so opposed to Masonry.

It may at first seem plausible that the main (if not only) reason for its being condemned by the Catholic Church is that Masonry is conspiratorial. Its plotting against the Church (and, in the old Code, its also plotting against the State) is the one descriptive statement mentioned in both versions of the Code of Canon Law. Moreover, as the first curial document we cited (that of 1974) seems clearly to imply, the one requisite condition for permitting Catholics to join a Masonic lodge is that the lodge in question was not actively plotting against Church and State. Yet, for all its initial plausibility, this opinion seems to be inadequate. The proof of this is evident not only from the two subsequent curial documents (of 1981 and 1983), but more decisively still from the entire previous history of Roman documents, both curial and papal, treating of Masonry.

Beginning in 1738 with Clement XII’s encyclical In Eminenti (just twenty-one years after the establishment of the Grand Lodge of England, the event usually recognized as the commencement of the modern Masonic movement) and running through ten successive pontificates, the Church’s case against Freemasonry finds its culminating statement in 1884 in Leo XIII’s encyclical Humanum Genus. Masonic deceitfulness regarding its real objectives in society—and its consequent policy of secrecy regarding the authorities of Church and State, and including even the rank-and-file of its own membership—has always been noted by the popes, and most tellingly by Leo XIII.5 And in the century since then and in our own country this conspiratorial policy has been amply documented.6

However useful this knowledge of Masonic strategy is for our understanding of the authentic nature of the movement, it is quite secondary. It is wholly subordinate to that which defines the movement itself: the content in function of which conspiracy is but “method,” the end determining and justifying the means. That content—that end—is what we must now examine, if we are to find the fundamental and explicit reason for the Church’s condemnation of Freemasonry .

This fundamental reason can be briefly stated. The following summary passage from Leo XIII’s Humanum Genus suffices.

. . . that which is their ultimate purpose forces itself into view— namely, the utter overthrow of that whole religious and political order of the world which the Christian teaching has produced, and the substitution of a new state of things in accordance with their ideas, of which the foundations and laws shall be drawn from mere “Naturalism.”…

Now, the fundamental doctrine of the Naturalists, which they sufficiently make known by their very name, is that human nature and human reason ought in all things to be mistress and guide. Laying this down, they care little for duties to God, or pervert them by erroneous and vague opinions. For they deny that anything has been taught by God; they allow no dogma of religion or truth which cannot be understood by the human intelligence, nor any teacher who ought to be believed by reason of his authority. And since it is the special and exclusive duty of the Catholic Church fully to set forth in words truths divinely received, to teach, besides other divine helps to salvation, the authority of its office, and to defend the same with perfect purity, it is against the Church that the rage and attack of the enemies are principally directed.7

Catholicism and Freemasonry are therefore essentially opposed. If either were to terminate its opposition to the other, it would by. that very fact become something essentially different from what it previously was; it would in effect cease to exist as itself. For Catholicism is essentially a revealed religion; it is essentially supernatural, both in its destiny and in its resources. Beyond all natural fulfillment, it tends toward an eternity of ineffable union with God in Himself; and beyond all natural resources, it begins that union here and now in the sacramental life of the Church.

Masonry, on the other hand, is essentially a religion of “reason.” With an insistence and a consistency matching Catholicism’s self- definition, Masonry promises perfection in the natural order as its only destiny—as indeed the highest destiny there is. And it provides for this perfectibility with its resources: the accumulated sum of purely human values, subsumed under the logo of “reason.”

Literally a logo, the Masonic compass and square are the symbol of a Rationalism that claims to be identified with all that is “natural.” The consequent syncretism, blending all the strands of human experience—from the cabalistic mysteries of an immemorial Orient to the technological manipulations of a post- modern West—is the basis for Masonry’s claim to be not just a religion but the religion: the “natural” Religion of Man. That is why its claim to date from the beginning of history—its calendar numbers the “Years of Light” (from the first day of Creation) or the “Years of the World”—is no mere jest on its part. And that is why its opposition to the Catholic Church antedates the Catholic Church’s opposition to it. For it cannot abide the Church’s claim to be the One True Church, and the consequent refusal by the Church to be relegated to the status of a “sect” which Masonry would have it be.

Since the Church’s claim to be the One True Church is ultimately founded and validated on the reality of the One True God, the opposing Masonic claim must ultimately derive from a perception of God that diametrically opposes the Church’s faith. And so it does. Although Pope Leo does not explicitly speak of this essential opposition between Catholicism and Masonry in terms of the First Commandment of God—”I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have strange gods before me”—surely the most radical and simplest way of situating this opposition is to say just this. The Masonic “God” is an idol. What the Masons really worship is Man—or the Spirit who has deceived man from the beginning: the masked Spirit of Evil. This is the one primal reason why the Catholic Church has condemned, and will always condemn, Freemasonry. It is clearly sufficient to stand by itself as the only reason—and in a most fundamental sense, as Leo XIII seems to imply, that is the only reason in fact.

GRAVELY EVIL MISUSE OF OATHS

We can, however, give a second reason for the Church’s opposition to Masonry. Not strictly independent of the first reason, based as that reason is on the First Commandment, we can yet distinguish a second reason—based on the Second Commandment. Some ten years earlier than Humanum Genus, there appeared (even in English translation) a brief (barely more than pamphlet-sized) but penetrating work, A Study of Freemasonry, by the great bishop of Orleans, Felix Dupanloup.8 All the more impressive because of his “liberal” credentials, Dupanloup duly notes the facts, and the gravity, of the Masonic conspiracy. But what he stresses, besides the same primary point subsequently stressed by Leo XIII, viz., the Masonic violation of the First Commandment, is its violation of the Second Commandment by its gravely evil misuse of oaths. The famous (or, rather, infamous) oaths that run through the entire ritual of Masonic initiation are more than mere promises based on personal honor. They formally invoke the Deity, and have for their object a man’s total commitment to a cause under the direst sanctions. The Catholic Church sees in such oaths an inescapable grave evil. Either the oaths mean what they say or they do not. If they mean what they say, then God is being called to invert by his witness loyalties (viz., to Church and to State) already sanctioned by Him. If the oaths are merely fictitious, then God is being called to witness to a joke.

It is not the secrecy of what goes on “behind the lodge door” that elicits and justifies the Church’s condemnation of Masonry. It is rather the formal violation of the Second Commandment which these proceedings inescapably entail. The vaunted Masonic secrets, moreover, are scarcely that secret any longer. There is in fact a frequent Masonic plea to the effect that there are no secrets in Masonry—that all is open to a truly open mind. On this point we may take the Mason at his word: he is speaking more truly than he knows!

The case for the Catholic Church’s condemnation of Freemasonry is open and clear. By its very nature as formulated in its philosophical statements and as lived in its historical experience, Masonry violates the First and Second Commandments of God. It worships not the One True God of revelation—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—but a false god, symbolically transcendent but really immanent: the “god” called “Reason.” And it invokes without adequate cause the Name of the One True God. After such a case as this, to cite the secrecies of initiation and the further secrecies of machination called “conspiracy” is not only anti-climactic, it is beside the point.

To conclude: we Catholics should now see the Masons more clearly for what they essentially are. They are the heirs (unwitting or otherwise is irrelevant) of a religion which purports to be the one religion of the one “God”—and therefore the enemy, intrinsically and implacably so, of Catholicism. Freemasonry in its modern mode is “modernity” in the deepest (i.e., the philosophical and religious) sense of that term. It is, in a word, “Counterfeit Catholicism.” For its “God” is the “Counterfeit God”: the one who would be as God, the one who is the prince of this world, the one who is the Father of Lies.

ENDNOTES

1. “Complures Episcopi,” Notiziario CEI (1974) 191. (From Enchiridion Vaticanum, No. 563, pp. 350-51.

2. “S. Congregation pro Doctrina Fidei,” Acta Apostolicae Sedis 73 (1981) 240-41. (From EV, No. 1137, pp. 1036-39)

3. “Quaesitum est,” AAS 76 (1984) 300. (From EV, No. 553, pp. 482-87)

4. A summary of this documentation was made available in this country by the American Bishops’ Committee for Pastoral Research and Practice, in a report entitled “Masonry and Naturalistic Religion,” published in Origins, 15 (June 27,1985), pp. 83-84.

5. Acta Sanctae Sedis 16 (1883 sic) 420.

6. For an excellent recent survey, with emphasis on the American scene, see Paul Fisher’s Behind the Lodge Door: Church, State and Freemasonry in America (Bowie, MD: Shield, 1988).

7. Acta Sanctae Sedis 16 (1883 sic) 421. The English version used here is from a Paulist pamphlet first published in 1944 and reprinted by TAN (Rockford, IL: 1987), pp. 6-7.

8. The English edition which I used was published in Philadelphia in 1856.

Printed with ecclesiastical permission

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