Tag: Italy

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.”

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When the Masons tried to kill Don Bosco

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Published in italian at el tiempo as “The two assassination attempts on Saint John Bosco by a Freemason group”

03/02/22: John Bosco, or Giovanni Melchiorre Bosco in Italian, is known today as Don Bosco . He was a 19th century priest, writer, and educator who founded the Salesian Family congregation.

Much is said about the work of this priest with the poorest young people. The subject always bothered him and he tried to help them with what he could. Although Don Bosco was a good person, the Freemasons hated him and wanted to kill him . In fact, they tried to do it twice. So it happened. The Freemasons had a secular view of education and proposed that schools should be secular and free of any religious value.

Precisely, these ideas generated a conflict with the Salesian sectors for their way of imparting their beliefs in schools .

Don Bosco considered that evangelization was done through the school. In fact, the Salesians wanted to convert the indigenous people and train them under their religion.
For this, a missionary and educational project was carried out where they visited different schools, parishes, hospitals and orphanages.

…….

On June 1, 1980, an article called ‘Bollettino Salesiano ‘, by the Salesian Family, was published. In it, they relate how the assassination attempts against Don Bosco were, under the title ‘Purpose: to get rid of our Don Bosco’. The article commemorates almost 100 years since the assassination attempts against the priest. According to the ‘Bollettino Salesiano’, at the end of June 1880, a former student of Don Bosco, the young Alessandro Dasso, asked to speak with him.

“ His eyes were anguished ”, recalled the publication.

He indicated that “ Don Bosco received him with his usual kindness ”, but faced with the “growing agitation” of the young man, the founder of the Salesian Family told him: “What do you want from me? Speaks! You know that Don Bosco loves you”. The young Dasso knelt down, began to cry and told Don Bosco the truth .

He admitted that he was affiliated with the Freemasons, who had condemned the priest to death. “Twelve men had been drawn; twelve individuals had to succeed with that order to carry out the sentence”, reads the Bollettino Salesiano.

Also, he confessed that he was the first one they commanded, but that he did not want to kill him. At the end of his confession, the young man threw the weapon he had hidden on the floor and quickly left for his house.

Days later, Alessandro Dasso tried to commit suicide by throwing himself into the river, but was rescued by some policemen. Don Bosco helped him escape from Italy, and he lived in hiding until the day he died.

St John Bosco, 1880

Months later, in December 1880, a 25-year-old man visited the priest. Don Bosco admitted that his gaze gave him mistrust, as his eyes had a ‘sinister’ gleam. In the article they comment that the young man had a small six-shot revolver hidden, but without realizing it, his gun slipped out of his pocket and fell on the sofa.

“Don Bosco, without him realizing it, deftly placed his hand on it and slowly put it in his pocket”, recounted the ‘Bollettino Salesiano’.

Some time passed and the young man realized that he did not have the gun in his pocket and was surprised. The priest, who had the weapon, asked him: “What are you looking for, Lord?”

The young man told him that he had something in his pocket but he did not know where it was.

“ Don Bosco, quickly approaching the door and bringing his left hand to the handle to be ready to open it, pointed his gun at it and without getting angry said: ‘This is the tool you were looking for, isn’t it?’ Seeing this, the scoundrel was stunned ,” the article recalled.

The text also tells that the young man tried to take the revolver from him, but Don Bosco did not allow it and threw him out of the place. Finally, the boy had to leave with his companions, who were waiting for him outside in the car.

Don Bosco died on January 31, 1888 at the age of 72. Some time later, on June 2, 1929, exactly 39 years later, he was proclaimed blessed. On April 1, 1934, he was canonized by Pope Pius XI.

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Occult specialist brought in for Italian church design

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NOTE: This article was updated on Feb 21, 2022, to include the link to this video from Rome Reports. In the video, you can see the architect explaining that the rough stone altar represents ‘giving oneself to the earth.”

When we see a church like the newly-completed San Giacomo Apostolo in Ferrara, Italy, our second question is usually, “Why?” (Our first question might be along the lines of, “Is this for real??”)

Designed by a secular architectural firm who tried to create something that “didn’t look like a church”, the building does have most of the essentials of a church – even though they are rather dark, distorted versions. There is an altar, baptistry, Blessed Sacrament chapel, nave, spartan Stations of the Cross, and multiple crosses, although none appear to hold a corpus.

The design is the result of a competition run by the Italian Bishops Conference, who needed a new church for the city of Ferrara. The exterior is meant to echo the finale of the local hot-air-balloon festival, in which the balloons slowly deflate. I suspect that this does not represent the hopes and dreams of the Fathers fading away after the Council, but it would make an apt metaphor.

In the words of the architect, one enters the church through a grove which seems innocent enough until one realises that groves are often associated with paganism and with the occult. They are even mentioned in the Bible in connection with the worship of false gods. Of course, this may be simply a turn of phrase, as the poplars surrounding the site were obviously planted long before this church was built. But it is an odd choice of words, seeing as the trees are lining the perimeter, rather than being grouped together, as the word “grove” suggests.

Above the altar is an oculus, (Latin for eye; in architectural terms this refers to any eye-shaped feature, such as a hole at the centre of a dome); these are quite often found in churches. This particular one is decidedly creepy, though, surrounded by cold concrete and interwoven timbers, punctuated by the immense, rough cross, and crowning the almost windowless church. The overall effect is less than inviting, and the lack of windows is, well ….. somewhat Masonic.

View of the sanctuary, topped by the oculus, with the cross suspended over it – all the charm of a Goth nightclub.
Another view of the enormous cross, which looks ready to crush the occupants, and gives little assurance that Our Lord will help us to carry ours.

To the left, you can see the way both crosses almost intersect, with another cross mounted at an angle on the far wall; the clashing, intersecting crosses found in Paul VI’s Masonic-inspired portrait come to mind – more on that here.

The cross that adorns the wall behind the sanctuary is not a Christian one: the radiating arms of the cross are of the same length, suggesting a Rosicrucian cross. Rosicrucianism is an occult movement, linked

with Freemasonry and which contains elements of Kaballah, Alchemy, Christian Mysticism and Hermeticism. Jewels surround this cross: these have no apparent Christian reference, but the architect thought they might remind the faithful of angels. At least that’s what she told the media.

The jewels, stone crosses and bizarre black statuary are the work of the occult-artist, Enzo Cucchi, who was invited by the architects to collaborate with them. The designers describe Cucchi’s black statues, which represent scenes from the Old and New Testaments, as resembling “oozing basalt.”

One of the many cement crosses, all sans corpus, represented as being ‘taped’ to the wall.
“Oozing basalt” statues and …. fireflies???

Enzo Cucci is part of an art movement known as transversalism, and was included in an art exhibition entitled S*** and Die. (Caution – there’s some mild nudity if you click on the link.) The whole thing gets even worse: a documentary film made about that exhibit was called “Seance.”

The baptismal font (right) in this unappealing chamber sits atop what looks like a bidet. Decorum prevents me from drawing a parallel with the art show mentioned above.

The stone font is actually an authentic liturgical antique: it came from an abandoned church in Bergamo. Bergamo, for the historically-minded, is the birthplace of John XXIII and was once the bishopric of the (rather evil) Cardinal Radini-Tadeschi.

Back to the occultist, Cucchi: here’s what one biographer had to say about him:

“Cucchi is the painter as seer, demon and saint, possessor and possessed, he is at once the creator and subject of his tale. He is the painter as mad visionary, participant in and witness to the nether world from which one can emerge after a ritual of fire and purification, to the realm of the sublime.”

Description of Cucchi by a devoted fan and art critic.

The painter as demon? Hardly the kind of man one would want working on a church. Unless, of course, one wanted a church reminiscent of an occult-themed safe-room.

The Archbishop of Ferrara, Gian Carlo Perega, is an interesting character. He is by no means a traditionalist, as you would expect after seeing this strange building, but he recently – and post Traditiones Custodes – set up TLM personal parish. Perhaps this was to appease, if not to protect, the rather large traditionalist base in his Archdiocese. Perego is, however, better known as a progressive who promotes the plight of migrants.

I know the sedevacantists like to have fun with churches like this one: I suppose they see it as a vindication of their position. To me, it is just sad. Sad for the people who worship there and don’t know any better. Sad for the priest who doesn’t understand his vocation. Sad for the bishop who thinks being edgy will make him popular. And very sad for the liturgical designer who thinks there are no eternal consequences for making occult motifs an integral part of a Catholic church.