France: Lift Excommunications of Freemasons – And Dialogue to Death!
(Paris) On the 26th of November 1983, the Roman Congregation reaffirmed with Pope John Paul II’s express approval, a declaration of incompatibility of Freemasonry with the Catholic Church.
The ruling was then deemed necessary by then Prefect of the CDF, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Since January 1983, membership was in the Masonic lodge was not explicitly mentioned in the new Code of Canon Law, as it occurred in several countries, there was the assertion, including Austria, that Freemasons were no longer excommunicated. Catholics, therefore, asked Rome for clarification, and that took place with particular haste in November of the same year.
“The negative judgment of the Church on Masonic associations, therefore, remains unchanged because their principles have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church and therefore membership in them continues to be prohibited. The faithful who belong to Masonic associations are therefore in the state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.”
This excommunication was reaffirmed and clarified:
“It is not within the competence of local ecclesiastical authorities to give a judgement on the nature of Masonic associations which would imply a derogation of what is ruled from above.”
La Croix wants a lifting of the excommunication for lodge brothers
Nevertheless, there are “wordly Catholics” who brush aside the excommunication or deny it flatly. “Some people have no qualms about openly showing their disapproval. Belonging to the Masonic Lodge is more important than obedience to the Church,” said Corrispondenza Romana .
The most recent example is La Croix , the daily newspaper of the French Bishops’ Conference . On January 25, it complained that there are many severe “exclusions” which are really “painful” that only include “Masons,” “who profess the Catholic faith”.
According to La Croix there are “judgments”, like that justified by the CDF justified and “understood” for a time in which the lodges were avowedly been anticlerical. Today, however, that is, at least according to the newspaper of the French Bishops’ Conference, no longer the case.
Instead of a justification for this assertion, La Croix introduces that omnipresent commitment to “dialogue” onto the field: “Is it really applicable in a context such as the present, that condemnation no longer benefits dialog?” In order to “liberate” the apron clad brothers from the self-imposed exile from church, the newspaper refers to the “Holy Year of Mercy”, “Why not finally eliminate this charge from the category of ‘serious sins’ for the Year of Mercy?”
The daily paper of the French Episcopal Conference can think of no reason why the Masons should be excommunicated. To be precise, the newspaper makes no attempt to find a reason. It merely refers to a “past” that is no longer applicable now without explaining when to what and why it should be changed.
“The answer is quite simple. The accusation of grave sin can not be eliminated because Freemasonry has neither changed nor has ever done anything to change. Its goal is to be the destruction of organic and natural society. It supports positions and behaviors that are absolutely incompatible with the Catholic faith from an ethical and social point of view and those things about which they rather avowedly disagree, such as divorce, abortion, homosexuality, gender ideology, euthanasia and many others,” said Corrispondenza Romana .
If the distance were reduced, it would be because the progressive part of the Church have come closer with their “holes” to the positions of the lodges, “if it is not result in a deadly embrace.”
The outspoken condemnation on April 28, 1738 by Pope Clement XII. with the Bull In Eminenti has lost none of its validity. Most importantly, it leaves no room for doubt. “It would not be bad if those in the daily newspaper of the French bishops consider it and perhaps would read this excommunication on occasion,” said Corrispondenza Romana .
Vienna cathedral minister Toni Faber and his Aproned Lodge Brothers
Among those who flout the current condemnation of Freemasonry, is Vienna’s cathedral pastor, Msgr. Toni Faber. In 2010 he was with the former Grand Master of the Austrian Grand Lodge guest on the private television channel TW1.
When asked about the statement of the CDF and the excommunication upon entry into a lodge, Faber said: instead of Cardinal Ratzinger we are more obliged “thankfully, to Cardinal König”. In Austria, “Thank God, it’s always” been “that Masons who have asked the Cardinal König: ‘Is it permissible for me as a sincere Catholic to belong in the Lodge,’ have always received approval from him.”
Faber gave the impression that the attitude to Freemasonry is merely personal judgment call. The “approval” that Cardinal König gave, according to Faber, however, was null and void because he had no responsibility to make the decision.
Faber’s outspoken representation illustrates that ecclesiastical regulations are thwarted in the highest places. Faber was open in the broadcast about his personal contacts with “many” Freemasons, which he invariably called “convinced Catholics”, only to boast about them, because he could be sure to be fear nothing from the supervising office.
The alleged harmlessness of the lodges by Toni Faber in 2010, and now of La Croix is so far that one might wonder why supposedly “upright” and “convinced Catholics” find it important to live in disobedience to their own Church, to belong to an allegedly so harmless a club. Source
Comment:
Athanasius, one of our regular bloggers, has just reported that schismatic nuns (Russian Orthodox) have a piety stall in one of Glasgow’s churches – St Mungo’s. Click here to read it for yourself.
Ecumenical and inter-Faith events across the world mean that religious indifference is embedded in the once Catholic mindset. Now we have a call from the French Bishops, via their official newspaper, to lift the penalty for Catholics who are Freemasons.
What next? Surely, this is a scandal… Or is it time to re-think the ban on Freemasonry?
Comments (23)
…..’Around the same time, Franco Bellegrandi, a former member of the papal court and contributor to L’Osservatore Romano, was penning his revelatory memoir, Nikita Roncalli. Finally published in 1994, the redoubtable Cardinal Silvio Oddi saw fit to attend its release. In his book, Bellegrandi relates what he saw and heard at the Vatican, including this incident in September 1958, just before the conclave that elected Angelo Roncalli as John XXIII:
I was in a car with a person whom I knew to be a highly placed Mason who was in contact with the Vatican. He said to me: “The next Pope will not be Siri, as the gossip has it in certain Roman circles, because he is too authoritarian a cardinal. A conciliating Pope will be elected. He has ALREADY been chosen, and is the Patriarch of Venice, Roncalli.” To this I replied: “Are there Masons in the Conclave?” “Certainly,” he said. “The Church is in our hands.”
The following day, Count Stella [of a well known Italian family] wrote in an official document, which today is in a notary’s safety deposit box, the first and last name of this person as well as his stupefying declaration, complete with the month, year, day, and time of day. (p. 62)
Presto! With Cap’n John positioned at the helm, the sea change in ecumenical policy quickly followed…..’
Copied from http://www.christianorder.com/editorials/editorials_2015/editorials_may15.html
So, it would appear that the rot set in when John XXIII was elected ‘pope’. Should we be surprised there’s been nothing but confusion, error, dissent and disobedience ever since?
Pat McKay,
That is all very interesting, but I don’t know why you put ‘pope’ in inverted commas, because no matter what wheeling and dealing is done, when popes are elected by the necessary majority, they are the pope. Pope John XXIII was the pope, no matter what went on behind the scenes to get him elected.
MM
Good point. Think on, Patrick!
Ladies, we all know what ‘CINO’ stands for – Catholic In Name Only.
Alas, there are also PINOs – Popes In Name Only. Pius XII was the last one worthy of the title, IMHO.
Pat McKay,
The worthiness or otherwise of the Pontifical title is not for us to debate or decide. There have been a number of Popes throughout history who have been less than worthy successors of St. Peter. Our duty before God is to respectfully highlight personal papal errors that threaten the faith, while at the same time remembering that he holds the sacred office of Peter and as such is worthy of both our prayers and our obedience, the latter being incumbent upon us under pain of serious sin when there is no risk to faith in what the pope teaches or commands.
It is a great temptation to lose respect for the persons of the Popes today, especially as they are far from the noble Pontiffs the Church was privileged to have prior to Vatican II. That temptation has to be resisted vigorously if we are to remain free from the poisonous effects of a schismatic mindset. I know that many Catholics are frustrated with the wanton destruction of the faith that has gone on under the conciliar popes, whose Modernism and weakness in governing the Church has been all too apparent and scandalous. Nevertheless, as St. James warns us: “the anger of man worketh not the justice of God”. I urge you to reflect on these words and on the moral limitations we subordinates are called to operate under in this present crisis. We should all take the example of little Jacinta of Fatima and pray much for the Holy Father.
Here’s a bit of trivia.
Pope Pius XII instituted the Feast of the Queenship of Mary on Sunday 22nd August, 1954 – the day yours truly was born. This may just have swayed my opinion somewhat.
Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy…..
Pat,
Yes, It’s a fine day to call your birthday all right. I share mine with Pope John Paul II. Now there’s providence for you!
Pat,
Thank you for posting the link to the CO editorial – terrific. I have copied a key passage to paste here (for the sake of those lazy beggars who won’t visit the link!):
Masonic Infiltration and Interfaith Apostasy
…we also feature a summary explanation of Freemasonry and its infiltration of the Church; wherein the mainstreaming of Masonry and its malign spirit dovetails with the workaday corruption and convergence. It has reached such humdrum levels that the French bishops did not hesitate to choose as their latest figurehead, a man accused of Lodge affiliation.
In April 2013, Archbishop Georges Pontier was elected to replace Cardinal Vingt-Trois as head of the French Bishops’ Conference. Ordained in 1966, consecrated bishop in 1988, and Archbishop of Marseilles since 2006, the 72-year-old Pontier was once considered too left-wing to be a serious contender for such a prominent role. Nowadays, even a shocking revelation by the online Riposte Catholique, that he had regularly attended Lodge meetings, and could well be a paid up member of the Grand Orient, was no barrier. According to the report, when questioned about the matter by his flock during a pastoral visit, His Grace did not deny the charge.
Yet none of this raised a solitary murmur within official ‘Catholic’ circles. Commented Médias-Presse-Info:
One can only wonder what Pope Leo XIII would think about the present state of affairs in the French hierarchy. It is not difficult to guess that he would take action to stop the bold plans of the Masons to “combine together” evil with the good, as he warns in his encyclical Humanum genus of April 2, 1884:
“What, therefore, the sect of the Freemasons is, and what course it pursues, appears sufficiently from the summary We have briefly given. Their chief dogmas are so greatly and manifestly at variance with reason that nothing can be more perverse. To wish to destroy the religion and the Church which God Himself has established and whose perpetuity He insures by His protection, and to bring back after a lapse of 18 centuries the manners and customs of the pagans, is signal folly and audacious impiety. […]
This Lodge-led pagan regression — to blasphemous filth — was moronically manifest in the “Je suis Charlie!” outpouring. Indeed, it is noteworthy that several of the murdered Charlie Hebdo staff and fellow-travellers were either Lodge members (Michele Renaud and Bernard Maris), or related to Masons (a parent of Bernard ‘Tignous’ Verlhac, and the wife of Wolinski who belongs to the Grande Loge féminine de France). The son of a ‘Brother’ was also among the wounded.
“In this insane and wicked endeavour,” concludes Pope Leo, “we can see the implacable hatred and spirit of revenge with which Satan himself is inflamed against Jesus Christ.”
‘Brother’ Pontier, Reinhard Marx, Walter Kasper, Timothy Dolan et. al., are the smug and smiley maturation of this anti-spirit that seized the clergy long ago.
To cite just one among the endless public betrayals under Paul VI: in 1975, the Cardinal Primate of Brazil offered a Mass to celebrate the 40th anniversary of a local Masonic Lodge — on Christmas day! END.
So, we can’t be too surprised that the French bishops seem to be sold on the idea of lifting the excommunication of Freemasons, I suppose. Another case of “no surprise” but “utterly shocking”.
This is perhaps the most tin foiled conspiracy about the Papacy I’ve seen since the 17th century.
I suppose the first question to ask is, how many of the bishops in the French Conference of Bishops are themselves Freemasons? As for excommunications of Masons being “painful” (according to La Croix), this is distinctly reminiscent of the militant homosexual propaganda, which describes Christian morality as “hurtful.” That is, when they find it useful to employ a kinder, gentler term than “hateful.”
But this deliberately created Freemasonry confusion in the Vatican struck home for me recently when I discovered that Danny Thomas, the well-known American actor and entertainer, founder of the St. Jude Research Hospital and contributor to the National Shrine of St. Jude, and a “devoted Maronite Catholic,” was also a Freemason:
“Thomas was initiated, passed, and raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason Freemasonry at Gothic Lodge #270 F&AM located at Hamilton Square, NJ, on March 15, 1984, by special dispensation of the NJ Grand Master. During May 1985, he was made a 32° Mason and also a Noble in Al Malaikah Shrine located at Los Angeles, CA. Thomas also filmed the introduction to the Masonic Service Association’s movie, When the Band Stops Playing.”
Apparently he forgot to consult his patron Saint before making that disastrous move….
RCA Victor
“I suppose the first question to ask is, how many of the bishops in the French Conference of Bishops are themselves Freemasons?”
I think you’re right, that is the question that needs an answer. If their official newspaper is asking for an end to the ban, there must be some at least who are members, shocking as that is to say.
RCA Victor
“Danny Thomas, the well-known American actor and entertainer…”
Never heard of him! 😀
Editor,
No wonder – he never appeared in any Columbo episodes!
What next, indeed!
Something that bothers me is that Catholics do join the Rotary Clubs and those had their origins in Freemasonry. They seem to be all about charitable works in the community now, and not actually affiliated to the Masons, but I can’t help wondering why any Catholic would choose to be a member of the Rotary instead of doing their good works through a Catholic organisation. Am I being a bigot?
Michaela,
I’m also interested in the Rotary clubs because I know there are Catholics who join them. It sounds very like the Freemasons to me, career minded people wanting to get on in the world, to make contact with other people of like mind, and the charity work is a good cover.
“La Croix wants a lifting of the excommunication for lodge brothers”
It is not surprising as La Croix belongs to the same press group as Le Monde!…
Lionel (Paris),
Poor France! As if it’s not had enough trouble in recent weeks, due to the awful terrorist attack in the capital city, now they have faithless Catholic bishops to add to the mix! Shocking!
Editor,
I share your sentiments. Most of our bishops are like those constitutional bishops during the révolution; they look like “civil servants”. I do not listen to them anymore… many of them are members of the freemasonry. WE CANNOT TRUST THEM AT ALL! they are miserable… Let them dance “la Samba”!
Thank you LD
ERRATUM
I mean: wretched not miserable
The clearest evidence for masonic infiltration of the higher clergy in the Church is ecumenism. That particular error was born and practiced in the lodges for a long time before Vatican II.
Anyone who may sympathise with masonry and its claims to be being just a friendly brotherhood should read Leo XIII’s Humanum Genus, here: http://w2.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_18840420_humanum-genus.html
Freemasonry is a false religion, a form of Deism with a sinister “Luciferian” add-on. Few even among Freemasons realise how sinister their creed is.
No sincere and well-informed Catholic can have any truck with Freemasonry.
The pressure for a reconciliation with the Masons comes only from some Western nations, where sincere Catholicism is at a premium, especially in the higher reaches of the Church.
Not that any of this is new – masonic priests were common in the Italy of Padre Pio’s youth. The saint saw a vision of them all – then saw Jesus beside him, exclaiming “Butchers !” at those infidel priests.
Editor,
Should Catholics be allowed to be Freemasons?
Yes [26.5%]
No [73.5%]
Although probably not the final vote count, these percentages are disturbing. For those catholics who may not be aware of the true nature of Freemasonry, this article exposes its danger to souls. It is indeed, a sobering read.
Please note: The article is thorough, BUT THIS IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT OF THE WEBSITE.
http://www.cuttingedge.org/free11.html
Also
Recall the words of Pope Paul vi about smoke of Satan entering the church through some crack in its structure – I wonder if the info in the below link was what he thought was its source?
.https://mumbailaity.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/list-of-masons-in-the-roman-catholic-church/
And on the bright side, my favorite quote from St. Padre Pio – “Pray, hope and don’t worry”!!
Freemasonry on the Continent, especially in places such as France (Grand-Orient), Italy (Grande-Oriente, Grande-Loggia, P2) and Spain, is fanatically anti-Catholic and anti-Clerical. No wonder then, that the likes of Garibaldi and other figures of the Italian Unification were members and who actively suppressed the Papacy and the Church until 1929, as Our Holy Mother defended its temporal rights in opposition to their machinations. Likewise, the Masons strongly backed the French Revolution. It is France where the Masons have had the most dangerous and pernicious influence. Emile Combes was a staunch freemason and viciously anti-Catholic, and it was his government in 1905 which enforced the French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State, which basically forced the Church out of public life, suppressed many religious orders and forced Priests and Religious out of schools and hospitals. Also, Combes went all J. Edgar Hoover on the Church in France, and in 1904-5, with General Louise Andre, launched the Affaire de Fiches which involved massing files, or cards, on members of the French armed forces and public officials, monitoring who attended Mass, if their families attended Mass and if they were members of any Catholic sodalities. If they were, then they would not be promoted. Luckily, under the wise rule of the Marshal Philippe Petain, many of these injustices were lessened and the Church began a return to its true place at the centre of public life in France.
Another issue with the Lodges is divided loyalties. Members have to take oaths, not to serve the One, True God, but to serve a nebulous and vaguely named, ‘Supreme Being’. The Masons term this as the Great Architect of the Universe, hence the compass in their monogram. Freemasonry in its entirety is an evil exercise in religious indifferentism and relativism, condemned by every Pontiff up to, and including, Pius XII, because it supports secularism, religious freedom and ecumenism. We can see the influence of Freemasonry in Dignitatis Humanae, Lumen Gentium, Unitatis Redintegratio, and Nostra Aetate. These documents assert a false dignity of man. The dignity of Man is based on his being a child of God endowed with a soul and with reason and free will. Man’s dignity does not translate to the supposed right to choose his own religion, because, while man’s reason and free will cannot be impugned even to impose the good or the truth, it cannot at the same time be used to justify man’s right to choose evil in the form of freedom of religion, which is a heresy espoused by Dignitatis Humanae, but condemned by Mirari Vos, Quanta Cura, the Syllabus of Errors and Mortalium Animos. Similarly, Nostra Aetate and Unitatis Redintegratio all promote the ecumenism and indifferentism so vociferously condemned by Pius XI in 1928. All of this reaches its natural conclusion in the Satanic Assisi gatherings, which Archbishop Lefebvre denounced by saying the Church had never before been “humiliated to such an extent in the course of her history”. The Pope is not a Mason and I doubt his predecessors were, but they had such an influence over John XXIII and the composition of key Vatican II documents, that the subsequent Popes who accept the Council, the robber Council, are doing the Freemason’s bidding.
No true Catholic can be a freemason. End of.
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