“The fight taking place between Catholicism and Freemasonry is a fight to the very death, ceaseless and merciless.” (Bulletin of the Grand Orient of France P. 183. 1892 and in memorandum of the Supreme Council No. 85, page 48. )
“In 1789, the French Revolution took place and launched a host of religious, political and social errors which the Popes for over 160 years afterwards wrote and legislated against. Yet most of these errors have spread and today have filtered down to the common man…with the result that most people now take for granted many fundamental assumptions that are positively false! But almost from the beginning of these errors, the Popes spoke out as with one voice, inveighing against them. Today, as we see these errors bearing evil fruit, many thoughtful Catholics are returning to those Papal documents which condemned these modern errors, to examine what the Popes have said all along about them”. Ref: The Popes Against Modern Errors by TAN Books – a collection of the 16 most important papal encyclicals against the errors of modernity from Gregory XVI through Pius XII.
Bishop Rudolph Graber quoted a Freemason in his book “Athanasius and the Church of our Time“, “the goal [of Freemasonry] is no longer the destruction of the Church, but to make use of it by infiltrating it.” Since Freemasonry cannot completely obliterate Christ’s Church (Matthew 16:18), it plans not only to eradicate it’s influence of Catholicism in society, but also to use the Church’s structure as an instrument of “renewal,” “progress,” and “enlightenment” to further many of its own principles and goals.
Their end goal to indoctrinate the generations, like us today, with the principles of the French Revolution’s Declaration of the Rights of Man: equality of religions, separation of Church and State, religious pluralism, etc, so that eventually the hierarchy of the Church’s clergy would be infected with the ideas of “liberal Catholicism.”
The Papacy and Freemasonry
Pope Clement XII 1730-1740
Founded in 1717, modern speculative Masonry took on its actual form following the publication by Anderson, a clergyman, of the “Constitutions” in 1723. Fifteen years later, on April 28, 1738, Pope Clement XII in his Pontifical Constitution “In Eminenti” condemned Freemasonry as being Counter-Church and Counter-State. It was the Pontifical reply. Failure to heed it, whether partial or general, by the Church and the State of those days, seems to us as the primordial cause of all our political and religious present day turmoil.
Thus said Pope Clement XII:
“Let us meditate upon the serious evils which are usually the result of those kinds of Societies or centers, not only concerning the peace of temporal States, but still more as regards the salvation of souls. Those Societies are not in agreement with the civil and economic laws of the States.”
“In order to close the widely open road to iniquities which might be committed with impunity and also for other reasons, just and reasonable, that have come to our knowledge . . . We have resolved and decreed to condemn and forbid such Societies, assemblies, reunions, conventions, aggregations or meetings called either Freemasonic or known under some other denomination. We condemn and forbid them by this, our present constitution, which is to be considered valid for ever.”
However, not only is the condemnation by Pope Clement XII extended to Masonic Sects, but it applies also to all the laymen who, although they are not members of Societies called Freemasonic, favor them, in any manner, thus: “We command to the faithful to abstain from intercourse with those societies . . . in order to avoid excommunication, which will be the penalty imposed upon all those contravening to this, our order. None, except at the point of death, could be absolved of this son except by us or the then existing Roman Pontiff.”
The Constitution “In Eminenti” was extended throughout all the Papal States by Cardinal Ferrao’s Edict of January 14th, 1739.
Pope Benedict XIV 1740-1758
Pope Benedict XIV, on March 16, 1751 published the Constitution “Providas” in which he inserted in full In Eminenti, the Bull which had been written by his predecessor, Clement XII, in order to make it very evident that the condemnation of Freemasonry was irrevocable and was to be applied to the future as well as to the present.
As a matter of fact, Benedict XIV, had already denounced Masonry as being Counter-Morality in connection with the Order of Felicity of Avignon, a Secret Society of debauchers; among themselves the members of this Society spoke only in a kind of slangy language usually used by sailors. The Pope mentions it twice in his correspondence. I am here transcribing a few lines from his letter of March 25th, 1744, addressed to the Cardinal de Tencin, who was the Pontifical Ambassador at the Court of King Louis XV: “We have received from Avignon the news that in Nimes and also at Montpellier the Freemasons gave a great entertainment in order to gain proselytes. Women and men from the Avignon Society went to it, and, doubtless, upon their return they will organize a Freemasonic Lodge as they once had already attempted to do under the name of Society of Felicity; they might have succeeded had it not been for the zeal of the Archbishop. We wish you to protest, in Our name, to His most Christian Majesty. so that He Will not authorize in His States, the Sect of Freemasons which other Princes have extirpated from their own country.” (From the correspondence of Pope Benedict XIV by Gmile de Heckeren. )
Furthermore, in his Constitution, “Providas,” Benedict XIV enumerates six reasons which drove Pope Clement XII to strike Secret Societies; they are 1) the Interconfessonalism (or Interfaith) of Freemasons; 2) their secret; 3) their oath; 4) their opposition to Church and State; 5) the interdiction pronounced against them in several States by the Heads of such countries; and, 6) their immorality which the Pope characterizes thus: “Those Societies, according to men who are prudent and honest, are ill-famed, and to become a member thereof, would lead to evil and perversion.”
From the outset, before the 18th century, under the efforts of Masonry which sank us into the horrors of the French Revolution, the Sect had been unmasked by the Popes and exposed before the eyes of the Catholics with its odious triple shame of Counter-Morality, Counter-State, and above all, Counter-Church. Let a Freemason, F. Limousin, in his first number of the Masonic Review called “L’ACACIA,” of October, 1902, using the pen-name of Hiram, gives the following characteristic definition: “Freemasonry is an association . . . an institution . . . so it is said . . . but it is not that at all. Let us lift up all the veils, risking even to evoke numberless protestations. Freemasonry is a church: It is the Counter-Church, Counter-Catholicism: It is the other church — the church of heresy, of Freethought;
The Catholic Church is considered as the arch-type church, the first church, church of dogmatism and of orthodoxy.”
Pope Clement XIII 1758-1769
I wish to add that during the 18th century Pope Clement XIII condemned highly placed Masons in an ordinance of January, 1759, against the work of Helvetius and this Pope published on Sept. 3rd, 1759, his constitution “Ut Primum” directed against the “Encyclopedie” of Diderot and d’Alembert .
Finally, in his Encyclical of November 25th, 1766, “Christianae Republicae Salus,” Pope Clement XIII denounced the peril incurred by Church and State through the published works of so-called philosophers. It meant that all Voltairian and Masonic works were being anathemized in the following terms:
“The enemy of all Good,” said the Pope, “has sown the evil seed in the field of the Lord and the evil grain has grown rapidly, to such an extent, that it threatens to destroy the harvest. It is time to cut it down.”
“In our days nothing is free from the attacks of those who are impious. God Himself becomes the object of their insolent audacity, they represent Him as a being who is mute, inert, devoid of a sense of providence or justice; they lower Him down to the level of animals. As far as they are concerned, matter is all or at least dominates everything. Even those among them who are opposed to such gross errors, but too frequently in our days, are not afraid, in their pride, to scrutinize our mysteries and to submit everything to nothing but their own reasoning power.”
Clement XIII exposes all the sores of Masonry which at the time of the French Revolution had reached the state of gangrene, such as Materialism, Nationalism, Deism and even Atheism which is most imperfectly veiled by the “Grand Architect of the Universe,” a notion which, after all, is only the spontaneous evolution of the universal religion promised in the “Constitutions” of Anderson.
In a last but anxious appeal the Pope entreats all the Bishops in the Catholic world to link their efforts with his own and to beseech all Christian Princes to take in hand the defense of the Sorrowing Church, “Gementis Ecclesiae Causam Exposcite.” Listen attentively, 23 years before 1789 (year of the French Revolution) the Church was in tears, due to the threats held out by Freemasonry; who can vouch for the assumption that 23 years remain to us before the Masonry of the 20th century will add to the tears being shed by the Church — blood tears similar to those shed during 1793? But this time it will not be in France only, but throughout the whole world. Is this not the time to speak again of the Sorrowing Church?
Pope Pius VI 1795-1799
During the last quarter of this 18th century during which Masonry had spent 72 years to prepare for 1789 and the bloodshed which was to last many years, Peter’s Seat had been occupied by Pius VI, who was destined to die in exile. His first Encyclical of December 25, 1775, is the acknowledgment of the tears he has shed, “Nostrarum Vim Pacrymarum Exquirit,” those tears caused by the so-called philosophers, fanatical enemies of the Church, professors of lies. “Magistros Mendacissimos,” leaders of sects of perdition who, with their erroneous beliefs, penetrate into the seats of the Academies, in the houses of the notables, in the Courts of Kings, and what is still more horrible, even penetrate in the Lord’s Sanctuary, “Etiam in sanctuarium insinuant.“
Alas! Those “Sects of Perdition” at the hour of the Revolution dragged along too many members of the regular and secular Clergy whose names appear on the lists of Masonic lodges: “Corruptio optimi pessima.” What of the situation today?
Pope Pius VII 1800-1823
Let us now enter into the 19th century. The wars of the French Revolution and of the Empire spread and favored the creation of Masonic lodges (mostly Military lodges ) and the rapid European expansion of Masonic subversive ideas.
Pope Pius VII became one of its glorious victims. It was therefore, in full knowledge of the subject, that on September, 1821, in his Encyclical “Ecclesiam a Jesu-Cristo the Pope applied to the Carbonari the following text: “They come under the guise of sheep although they are, in truth, none but ravening wolves.” Thus, the Pope reiterated against the Freemasons the condemnations pronounced by Clement XII and Benedict XIV because they propagandize “religious indifference which is, of all, the most pernicious”; They also grant to everyone full liberty to inaugurate for himself his own religion according to his ideas and inclinations; to also profane and sully Our Savior’s Passion in some of their odious ceremonies; to hold in contempt the Sacraments of the Church to which in a horrible sacrilegious manner they substitute sacraments of their own invention and they treat with derision the Mysteries of the Catholic Religion. Lastly, urged by a particular hatred toward the Apostolic See, because of its supremacy, Freemasons form conspiracies of the darkest and most sinister kind, in order to overthrow it.
To what does Pope Pius VII refer when he makes use of the words “they hold in contempt the Sacraments of the Church”; if not to the Masonic 180 degree of the Rose Croix, which is an odious parody of the Sacrament of the Eucharist? What is it that the Pontiff stigmatises when he alludes to the substitution of Masonic sacraments to those of the Church and its ensuing horrible sacrileges if not to the “black mass” and the theft of consecrated hosts which Masons of the highest grades carry on their person as “Sacred Deposit” during the ceremony which precedes the orgy in the course of which they will profane It in the lowest, voluptuous ignominy?
Why should we thus administer such blows to this “Anti Papism”? It is because it is the unbroken chain of Freemasonry and because the Pope is, on earth, the representative of Jesus Christ whose Cross is trampled upon by Masons, and because in the course of their rites, at the 300 initiation grade, they throw upside down the Pope’s tiara and figuratively pierce his heart. Such things occur at the initiation of the degree of Knight Kadosh. Pope Pius VII was well informed.
Pope Leo XII 1823-1829
Soon after his election as Pope on March 13, 1825, Leo XII published his Encyclical “Quo Graviora” condemning the Society called Freemasonry, as well as all other Secret Societies. In this Encyclical he first of all, republished the Constitutions of Popes Clement XII, Benedict XIV and Pius VII. Their appeal had remained fruitless as far as the various governments were concerned and Pope Leo XII wrote:
“We have endeavored to discover the state, number and influence of secret societies and We easily have been able to acknowledge that, if only due to the number of new sects which have joined them, their audacity has increased. The Sect known under the name of “L’universitaire” has especially drawn Our attention: It has established a center in several Universities where young men, instead of receiving the correct teaching are perverted by a few teachers who are initiates of certain Mysteries which might be called Mysteries of Iniquity and are trained to commit crimes.”
Let us note that Pope Leo XII was afraid of the masonic penetration in public school teaching and seemed to foresee the devastation that the “One School” would rapidly inflict upon both the Church and society at large.
Leo XII, in summing up the harm caused by clandestine sects, so evident in works written by their members, wrote:
“They have dared publish works on Religion and Affairs of State, they have exposed their contempt for authority, their hatred of Sovereignty, their attacks against the Divinity of Jesus Christ and the very existence of God: They openly vaunt their materialism as well as their codes and statutes which explain their plans and efforts in order to overthrow the legitimate Heads of State and completely destroy the Church.
“What is definitely ascertained is that those different sects, despite the diversity of their names, are all united and linked by the similarity of their infamous plans.”
Thus speaking, Pope Leo XII, considered he was accomplishing his duty as Supreme Pontiff and he wrote further, this page, which thoroughly throws light on our actual situation:
“Let us use the words of our predecessor, Pope Clement XIII, in his Encyclical Letter of September 14, 1758, addressed to all Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops and Bishops of the Catholic Church, in which he said:
‘I entreat you to become penetrated of the Strength of the Spirit of God, His Intelligence and His Virtue, in order to escape being likened to the mute dogs who, unable to bark, leave Our flocks exposed to the voracity of beasts roaming the fields. Let nothing stop Us, in the fulfillment of Our duty which enjoins Us to suffer all kinds of combats for the Glory of God and the salvation of souls. Let Us constantly keep before Our eyes the picture of HIM who, during HIS lifetime, was also exposed to the opposition of sinners. If we allow ourselves to be shaken by the audacity of evildoers it will be the end of eposcopal strength, the end also of the sublime and divine authority of the Church: moreover, let us abandon even the thought of being Christians if we have reached the point of trembling before the threats or the traps laid for us by perverts’.”
Leo XII ends this magnificent Encyclical anathematizing Freemasons and writing:
“Those men are like those to whom, according to Saint John, the Apostle, hospitality and greetings should be denied. (Second Epistle of St. John, V. 10). They are the same men whom our Fathers, without hesitation, termed the first-born of the devil.”
Pope Pius VIII 1829-1830
Successor of Leo XII, Pope Pius VIII, in his Encyclical “Traditi“, published at the time of his advent on May 21, 1829 renewed all the condemnations of his predecessors, repeating as I showed above, that all Masonic Sects are issued from the “Well of Perdition.” It was under his short reign as Pontiff that a new Lodge of “Alta Vendita” was discovered in Rome, having been formed in 1828 and headed by Joseph Picilli as Grand Master. Following Leo XII, Pius VIII most particularly mentions the Sect called “Unitsersitaire,” saying:
“Its aim is to corrupt youth in schools.”
and he applies to Masons those words of Saint Leo the Great:
“Their law is untruth: their god is the devil and their cult is turpitude.”
Pope Gregory XVI 1831-1846
On August 15, 1832, Gregory XVI, addressing all the Episcopal Hierarchy of the Catholic world, in his Encyclical: “Mirari Vos” wrote:
“Truly indeed we can say that this is the hour granted to the power of darkness to grind the elect as wheat.”
“Evil comes out of Secret Societies, bottomless abyss of misery, which those conspiring societies have dug and in which heresies and sects have, as may be said, vomited as in a privy all they hold of licentiousness, sacrilege and blasphemy.
Just 18 days before his death, on may 13, 1846, Pope Gregory XVI put in the hands of Cretineau Joly, the documents of the Italian Alta Vendita which this author published in 1858 in his book: “L’Eglise Romaine en face de la Revolution” ( the Roman Church facing the Revolution). It would indeed be of the highest kind of interest to have a faithful and complete copy of those manuscripts which are, doubtless, in the Vatican.
Pope Pius IX 1848-1878
Let us proceed further. The chief work of Masonry planned by Cavour, Mazzini and Garibaldi was reaching its goal under the Pontificate of Pope Pius IX, with the downfall of Papal temporal power. According to the theories of those sectarians of Masonry, such a loss was sure to entail also that of spiritual power; accordingly the new Pope fixed the responsibility for the conspiracy upon the Secret Societies when, in the Encyclical following his advent, he wrote on November 9, 1846:
“Venerable Brethren, you also are fully aware of the monstrous errors and devices employed by the children of this century to pursue a merciless war against the Catholic Religion, the Divine Authority of the Church and its laws in order to trample upon the rights of both the Ecclesiastical and Civil power: such is the aim of the guilty machinations against Saint Peter’s Roman See, upon which Christ established the inexpugnable foundation of His Church. Such is the aim of those Secret Societies issuing from darkness for the eventual ruin of Religion and States, and which, on several occasions, have already been anathemized by preceding Roman Pontiffs in their Apostolical Letters. We confirm the importance of such Letters and wish them to be followed with great care.”
Moreover, from Gaete, the place of his exile, in his allocution: “Quibus Quantisque” addressed to the Consistory of April, 1849, Pope Pius IX renewed the identical condemnation in the following terms:
“Those abominable sects of perdition which are as fatally destructive of the salvation of souls as of the welfare and peace of secular society have been condemned by Roman Pontiffs, Our predecessors; We have also personally condemned them Ourselves in Our Encyclical Letter of November 9, 1846, addressed to all the Bishops of the Catholic Church, yet today in virtue of Our Supreme Catholic Authority – We, once again, condemn, forbid and anathematize them.”
The Constitution against Freemasonry and the Secret Societies of which Pope Pius IX speaks are those of Popes Clement XII, Benedict XIV, Leo XII and Pius VIII; he adds his own of November 9, 1846 (Qui Pluribus) in his letter to Monseigneur Darboy, October 26, 1865, concerning the funeral service of Marshall Magnan, Supreme Master of the Order of Freemasons; he adds also, his communication to the Bishop of Olinda (Brazil) of May 29, 1873.
The renewed sentences of anathema by Pope Pius IX strike most particularly the satanism of secret societies. In his Encyclical of November 2l, 1873, the Pope writes of them as the synagogue of satan, and addressing its members he had already castigated them (Consistory of December 9, 1854) using to this effect, the words of Christ:
“You are of your father the devil and the works of your father you will do.”
What are those works? Satan is a liar and a murderer from the beginning of the world, Our Lord tells us. Pope Pius IX denounced the great lie of the so-called White Freemasonry, in his Allocution of September 15, 1865 “Multiplices inter” when he says:
“And now, in order to satisfy the desire and solicitude of Our Fatherly Heart, there remains for US only to warn and exhort the Faithful who might have associated themselves to Sects of this kind to obey wiser inspirations and to leave those evil assemblies so as to avoid being dragged in the abyss of eternal ruin.
“As to all the other faithful, being full of solicitude for their souls, WE strongly exhort them to beware of the perfidious discourses of sectarians who, under a disguise of honesty, are inflamed by an ardent hatred of the Religion of Christ and of all legitimate authority: they have but one thought with the sole aim of exterminating, all Divine and human rights. Let them all be fully conscious of the fact that the affiliates of such sects are as the wolves who, as Our Lord predicted, come disguised with sheeps hide to devour the whole flock: Let the faithful know that such affiliates must be numbered among those with whom the Apostle forbade us to associate, telling us also to even avoid greeting them.”
Pope Pius IX equally denounced the satanic homicide of Red Masonry in a letter to the Bishop of Olinda (Brazil) in the following words:
“The Satanic spirit of the Sect was particularly evidenced, in the past century, during the course of the Revolutions of France which shook the entire world. Such upheavals proved that the total dissolution of human society could be expected unless the forces of this ultra criminal Sect were crushed.”
That letter was dated May 29, 1873; the latest Masonic and Satanic Revolution at that time was that which in Italy had resulted in making Pope Pius IX “the prisoner of the Vatican.” It seems as though the Holy Pontiff was foreseeing such an issue when he uttered his complaint concerning the dual failure of the previous Pontifical condemnations of Masonry. (September 15, 1865).
First, he referred to the failure of the anti-Masonic endeavor thus:
“However, the Apostolic See’s efforts have not been crowned with the success that might have been expected. The Masonic Sect of which we speak has been neither defeated nor overthrown: just the reverse, the Sect has developed to such an extent that, in these days of great difficulty, it shows itself everywhere and with impunity and raises a more audacious countenance.”
Secondly, the Pope outlined the failure of the Catholic side, thus:
“Venerable Brethren, We feel deep sorrow and bitterness, when We see that when, according to the Constitutions of Our Predecessors, action is necessary to condemn this Masonic Sect, many of those whose functions and sacerdotal duty should make them ultra vigilant and ardent over such an important cause have, alas! shown themselves indifferent and as though asleep. If some among them believe that the Apsotolic Constitutions, published under sentence of anathema against the Occult Sects and their adepts and initiates carry no strength in those countries where civil authorities tolerate them, they are most assuredly laboring under a serious mistake.”
“As you well know, Venerable Brethren, We have prohibited and We again today prohibit and condemn this false evil doctrine. In fact let Us ask whether the Sovereign power ‘To feed and lead the universal flock’ which was vested in Saint Peter by Jesus and through which the Roman Pontiffs received the Supreme Authority that they must exercise in the Church depends from civil power — can such civil power constrain and restrain them in anything whatever? Due to those circumstances and fearing that injudicious people and above all, youth, might be led astray, and in order that silence on Our part might induce anyone to lend protection to error, We have resolved, Venerable Brethren, to raise Our Apostolic Voice — therefore, We hereby confirm before you the Constitutions of Our Predecessors and in virtue of Our Apostolic Authority We hold up to reprobation and We condemn this Masonic Society and all other societies of the same order which, although different in appearance, but pursuing the same aim against the Church or legitimate Civil Power are constantly being formed. It is Our order that all Christians of any standing whatsoever, of any rank or high appointment and over all the earth should be informed that the said Societies are forbidden and reproved by US, and incur the same sentences and condemnations as those that are specified in the former constitutions of our predecessors.”
Among the reproved societies must be included such Leagues as: the League of Human Rights (Ligue des Droits de L’homme) and the League for Education (Ligue de l’Enseistnement ) .
Pope Leo XIII 1878-1903
Pope Leo XIII, successor of Pius IX, upon instructions from the Holy Office, dealt, first of all, with the Brazilian Masonic question on July 2nd, 1878. Then later, addressing the whole Church, on April 20, 1884, Pope Leo XIII published his magnificent Encyclical “Humanum Genus.” Taking up once again Saint Augustine’s pages concerning the two cities which, on earth, constitute the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan, the Pontiff reviews the considerable development which Freemasonry has taken and writes:
“Today evil doers all seem allied in a tremendous effort inspired by and with the help of a society powerfully organized and widely spread over the world, it is the Society of Freemasons. In fact, those people no longer even try to dissimulate their intentions, but they actually challenge each other’s audacity in order to assail God’s August Majesty.
“It is now publicly and overtly that they undertake to ruin the Holy Church, so as to succeed, if it is possible, in the complete dispossession of Christian nations of all the gifts they owe to Our Savior Jesus Christ.
“As a result, in the space of a century and a half, the sect of the Freemasons has made incredible progress. Making use at the same time of audacity and cunning, Masonry has invaded all the ranks of social hierarchy, and in the modern States it has begun to seize a power which is almost equivalent to Sovereignty.
In order to strengthen those enlightened observations, Leo XIII refers to his predecessors and writes:
“This peril was denounced for the first time by Pope Clement XII in 1738, and the Constitution promulgated by that Pope was renewed and confirmed by Benedict XIV; Pius VII followed in the footsteps of those Pontiffs, and Pope Leo XII including in his Apostolical Constitution ‘Quo Graviora‘ all the deeds and decrees of the preceding Popes on that subject, ratified and confirmed them for ever. Popes Pius VIII, Gregory XVI and on several occasions Pope Pius IX spoke in the same manner.”
Whereas he approved and confirmed all the Pontifical condemnations issued against Freemasonry from those of Clement XII in 1738, Leo XIII moreover more amply exposed the reason for such actions and gives as his motive for acting thus:
“It is because of the fundamental aim and spirit of the Masonic sect which has been exposed in full light through the evident manifestation of its deeds, the acquired knowledge of its principles, its rules, its rites and its commentaries to which have been added the testimonies of its own adepts . . .
“It is exceedingly important to bring to the notice of all peoples to what extent events confirmed the wisdom of our predecessors. Their foresight and paternal soticitude did not always attain the desired success. This failure must be ascribed on the one hand either to the dissimulation and cunning of men members of this pernicious sect or, on the other hand, to the imprudent lightness of character of those who should, however, have been highly interested in watching it attentively”
Leo XIII refers frequently to the hypocrisy which is the basis of “White Freemasonry” and mentions the fatal evolution of its revolutionary aims which turns it into “Red Masonry.”
Upon being attentively studied this Encyclical most strikingly reveals the triple Masonic character, namely that its aims are:
- Counter-Morality
- Counter-State
- Counter-Church
1. Counter Morality
The Pope defines the Masonic point of view on morality thus:
“The only thing which has found grace before the members of the Masonic sect and in which they request that youth should receive the proper teaching is what they call ‘Civic Morality’, independent morality, free morality, in other words a morality in which religious beliefs find no room. This morality is insufficient and its effects are its own condemnation.
“Furthermore there have been found in Freemasonry several sectarians who have maintained that all means are to be systematically used, in order, to saturate the multitudes with licentiousness and vices; because in their opinion peoples would naturally fall into their hands and become the instruments needed for the accomplishment of their most audacious evil projects. Such counter-morality is that of civil marriage, of divorce, of free love and of irreligious education for youth.
“It aims at the complete destruction of the main foundations of justice and honesty. In this way Freemasons make themselves the auxiliaries of those who wish that, like an animal, man had no other rule of conduct than his own desires — Such a scheme can only dishonor human kind and ignominiously cast him into perdition.”
2. Counter State
On this subject Pope Leo XIII foresaw that Freemasonry, “the power which is almost equivalent to sovereignty,” and which already occupied the place of “State within the State,” would soon form the Super State. It is from such a situation that there was issued the Masonic dogma of separation of Church and State; thence, issued also the anti-religious laws which Brother Bethmont, member of Parliament of the department of Charente Inf’erieure and former President of the Cour Des Comptes, in 1878 was explaining to Monseigneur Pie, Bishop of Poitiers. The prelate then said to him: “Sir, I believe you want to inaugurate anew the fight against the Church; have you any hope of succeeding there, where Nero, Julian the Apostate and your great ancestors of the 1793 French Revolution failed? — He replied:
“Your Eminence, at the risk of seeming too bold, I will say that those ,you have mentioned did not quite know how to act. We shall do much better. Violence against the Church leads nowhere, we shall use other means. We shall organize a persecution which shall be both clever and legal; we shall surround the Church with a network of laws, decrees and ordinances which will stifle it without shedding one drop of blood.”
Who, may I ask, is making those closely woven nets of laws, decrees and ordinances? The State, of course, but it is a Masonic State, an irreligious State under the power of a Super State which at the present moment is the Ruler of the World.
When Leo XIII adjures his Venerable Brethren to unite their zeal to his own efforts in order, “to annihilate the impure contagion of the poison which flows in the veins of human society and causes a state of total infection,” it is with a feeling of fear that one brings to mind the death sentence pronounced against humanity in the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”
“When we introduced into the State organism the poison of Liberalism its whole political complexion underwent a change. States have been seized with a mortal illness — bloodpoisoning. All that remains is to await the end of their death agony.”
Thus, while States are gravitating toward a Universal Republic, the Super-State becomes an infrangible dictature, which according to its will grinds them down or else thoroughly infects them; that Super State is called Judeo-Masonry.
3. Counter Church
Hence the supreme aim of the Sect, as it has been pointed out by the Popes, is none other than the complete destruction of the Church and the Papacy. Pope Leo XIII persistently underscores this rigorous consequence and says:
“Since the proper and very special mission of the Catholic Church consists in the safeguarding of the incorruptible purity of the doctrines revealed by God, as well as that of established authority for their teaching and other God given help for the salvation of mankind; it is inevitable that the major antagonism and most violent attacks of the Sect should be directed against the Church . . . Therefore, even at the cost of a lengthy and opinionated labor the Sect’s purpose is to reduce to naught the teaching, and authority of the Church among the civilian population. . .
“The enmity of the sectarians against the Apostolic See of the Roman Pontiff has increased its intensity . . . until now the evil doers have reached the aim which had, for a long time that of their evil designs, namely, their proclamation that the moment has come to suppress the Roman Pontiff’s sacred power and to completely destroy this Papacy which was divinely instituted.”
Lastly, Leo XIII concludes in unmasking the Satanism of Masonry:
“The facts which we have reviewed throw sufficient light upon inner constitution of Freemasons and show clearly the road they are following in order to reach their goal. Their chief dogmas are so completely and manifestly opposed to sane reason that it is difficult to imagine deeper perversion. In reality is it not the peak of madness and of the most audacious impiety to be so presumptuous as to want to destroy the religion and the Church created by God Himself: and assured of His perpetual protection; and after 18 centuries to want to replace it with the customs and institutions of pagans?
“Still no less horrible nor easy to bear to witness the repudiation of those gifts which, in His mercy, Jesus Christ bestowed first on individuals, then to human beings grouped both in families and in nations. Even the enemies of Christianism acknowledge the supreme value of those gifts.
“There is no denying that in this foolish and criminal plan it is easy to understand the implacable hatred and passion for revenge which animate Satan toward Jesus Christ. We refuse to follow the dictates of such iniquitous masters that bear the names of Satan and of all evil passions.”
Pope Pius X 1903-1914
Pope Pius X, successor of Pope Leo XIII, gave his greater attention to Sillonisme and to Modernism, but, nevertheless he did not forget the destructive work of Freemasonry. He requested the Polish people to abstain from joining any conspiracy schemed by the malevolent Sects.
Later he extended words of consolation to the faithful of France in the following words:
“And now it is to you, Catholics of France, that We speak; may Our words reach you as a testimony of the tender feeling of Our love for your country and as a consolation in the midst of the terrible calamities through which you must pass. You are well aware of the self-assigned aim of the impious sectarians who hare subjugated you under their yoke. With cynic audacity they themselves proclaimed their aim which was ‘Uproot Catholicism in France.’ They want to extirpate from your hearts, namely its last root, the Faith which covered your ancestors with glory; the Faith which brought prosperity and greatness to your Fatherland amidst all other nations; the Faith which will be your support in the hours of your tribulation, which maintains calm and peace in your homes and opens for you the way toward eternal happiness. It is this Faith which you yourselves feel has to be defended.”
Lastly, Pius X loudly affirms that as he has lifted his voice:
“It is not the Church who first raised the standard, she did so only because war had been declared against her.
“For the last 25 years she has only had to bear the struggle. Such is the Truth. Declarations, a thousand times published and republished in the Press, in congresses, in Masonic conventions, in the very halls of Parliament, are proof in themselves that attacks against the Church have been led progressively and systematically. Such facts cannot be denied and against them mere words cannot prevail . . .” (From letter of Pope Pius X to France, January 6, 1907.)
Fundamentally just as did his predecessors, Pius X denounces the maneuvers of the Counter-Church, moreover in his Letter of condemnation of the SILLON, he deliberately designates the Masonic lodges in the following terms:
“We all but too well know the dens of darkness wherein those pernicious doctrines are elaborated . . . Clear minds should not be seduced by them.” (From letter of Pius X to the French Episcopate August 25, 1910.)
Pope Pius XI 1922
For the first time the word “Laicism” (which means irreligious teaching) is to be found in a Pontifical document; it is the fatal and sought for result of both the Masonic doctrine and its direct action. This fact allows me to add to the list of all the Sovereign Pontiffs who denounced and condemned the Masonry; the name of our present Pope, Pius XI, in his Encyclical “Maximam grasissimamque” of July 18, 1924, the Pope most clearly has lifted his voice against “Laicism” (irreligious teaching) in the following terms:
“Whatetier Pius X did condemn, We likewise condemn it. Every time that the word ‘Laicite‘ (irreligious teaching) is used to convey a feeling or an intention contrary or foreign to God or religion, We condemn it. We fully reprove this ‘Laicism’ and We openly declare that it must be reproved.”
In my own case, during the private audience which on November 16, 1923, he granted me, His Holiness, Pius XI, asked me to continue my fight against Freemasonry because, said he:
“Masonry is our mortal enemy.”
Later, as I was recollecting the kind words addressed to me by Pope Benedict XV in the decree “Proestantes“:
“With constancy and courage you have upheld the rights of the Catholic Church and have done so even at the peril of your life.” and adding that so far I had not yet become the victim of Freemasons, His Holiness replied in a paternal manner:
“Did not Saint Augustine, who is the patron of your parish in Paris, speak of the martyrs of the pen? (The Parish of which Monseigneur Jouin was head for many years and until his death was called Saint Augustine.)
Such a denunciation of “Laicism“, as well as the encouragement given me to continue the fight against Masonry, confirm the Pontifical condemnations pronounced since Pope Clement XII; it also follows the inspired words of Pope Leo XIII:
“In the realm of spiritual salvation, there is no middle way: one either follows the road to perdition or else fights without limit to the very end.”
Therefore, our conclusion is contained in just two words: unity of purpose and viewpoint and unity of action shown by the Sovereign Pontiffs in regard to Freemasonry. Fifteen years after the publication of the Constitutions of Anderson in 1723, there appeared the constitution “In Eminenti” of Pope Clement XII April 28, 1738. Is there in the history of the Church a heresy which met with such a swift condemnation? Another fact equally remarkable is that all the Popes based their ulterior condemnations on this Pontifical act of Clement XII showing clearly that there was but one Voice, but one cry of disapproval when it came to pronounce the anathema against Secret Societies and striking their members with the most rigorous censure which the Church can apply.
Even though incomplete, here follows a list of documents as proof of the above:
- Clement XII: In Eminenti — April 28, 1738
- Benedict XIV: Providas — March 16, 1751
- Clement XIII: A. Quodie — Sept. 14, 1758
- Clement XIII: Ut Primum — Sept. 3, 1759
- Clement XIII: Christianae Reipublicae Salus — Nov. 25, 1766
- Pius VI: Inscrutabile — Dec. 25, 1775
- Pius VII: Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo — Sept. 14, 1820
- Leo XII: Quo Graviora — March 13, 1826
- Pius VII: Traditi — May 21, 1829
- Gregory XVI: Mirari Vos — Aug. 15, 1832
- Pius IX: Qui Pluribus — Nov 9, 1846
- Pius IX: Omnibus Quantisque — April 20, 1849
- Pius IX: Multiplices Inter — Sept 25, 1865
- Leo XIII: Humanum Genus — April 20, 1884
- Leo XIII: Letter to Italian Episcopate — Dec. 8, 1892
- Leo XIII: Letter to the Italian People — Dec. 8, 1892
- Pius X: Vehementer — Feb 11, 1906
- Pius X: Letter to France — Jan 6, 1907
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