In 1738, Pope Clement XII banned Catholics from becoming Freemasons, and in 1983 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger reminded Catholics that being a Freemason placed them “in a state of grave sin.” Now Rome is having another go at one of the world’s most famous brotherhoods. This comes as more Catholics are flocking to what is known as “the craft,” a term encompassing the ritual, principles, and teachings of the Freemasons.
While nobody is saying it, this story is about a modern act of “anti-Freemasonry,” a movement so old that it has its own Wikipedia page. Anti-Masonry is not a globally organised movement, and it consists of differing criticisms from political institutions and organized religions, that have elite members who despise Freemasonry.
In this recent display of persecution of Freemasons, the Vatican has published a new document, signed by Pope Francis and DDF Prefect Cardinal Victor Fernández, in response to concerns raised by a bishop in the Philippines. The paranoid holy man warned Rome about increasing numbers of Catholics in his diocese enrolling in Freemasonry, and he asked for advice from the top of the Catholic hierarchy.
An article on the Catholic News Agency website explains that the dicastery responded to the Philippines bishop on Nov. 13, suggesting “a coordinated strategy” to address the masonic menace. So dramatic was Rome’s response that they called for “all of the bishops” in the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines to “promote catechesis in all parishes regarding the reasons for the irreconcilability between the Catholic faith and Freemasonry.”
Read that last line again. It’s a modern witch hunt. Right? Rome is not asking its bishops for reports on the numbers of its members who are also Freemasons, but for reasons to support the predetermined notion that Catholicism is incompatible with it’s old rival, Freemasonry.
The traditional claim that Catholicism and Freemasonry are incompatible is a demonstrable farce. For if this was the case, why then are so many Catholics joining Freemasonry? The problem in this instance negates the problem!
Hellbound and Down 