Sandra Miesel explains why Catholics can't be Masons

No pope has ever been a Mason. The Catholic Church has warily monitored Freemasonry from the time it penetrated Europe. In 1738, Pope Clement XII condemned the Craft for its dependence on mere natural virtue while ignoring Christ's unique role as Savior. He also denounced the rash oaths it demanded of members to protect trivial Lodge secrets.

Catholics who joined the Masons were excommunicated, with reconciliation reserved to the pope. This decree had little effect, however, because it wasn't published in every land, nor was it always taken seriously where it was published. Eight subsequent popes would have to repeat the message, most forcefully Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Humanum Genus (On Freemasonry).

Denouncing the Lodge as "a deceitful and crafty enemy," Pope Leo declared, "Let no man think that he may for any reason whatsoever join the Masonic sect, if he values his Catholic name and his eternal salvation as he ought to value them." The 1917 Code of Canon Law included these stern prohibitions.

After the Second Vatican Council, however, the long hostility between Lodge and Church seemed to be easing. A reinterpretation of the anti-Masonic canons in 1974 led some Catholics to think that only Masonic groups actively plotting against the Church were forbidden to them.

Even so, some Freemasons had actually been plotting against the Vatican through its bank. In 1981, two of the pope's top financial advisers - known all along as Masons - were unmasked as members of a secret Lodge called Propaganda Due that was plotting a fascist takeover of Italy. Both men later died mysteriously. The Vatican lost $240,000 with the collapse of its bank.

Changing views

Rome's softer view of Masonry was abruptly reversed in 1981 just before the financial scandal broke. Although the current Code of Canon Law issued in 1983 fails to mention the Craft by name, in the same year the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith firmly reiterated the original ban:

"The Church's negative position on Masonic associations therefore remains unaltered since their principles have always been regarded as irreconcilable with the Church's doctrine."

Sandra, by the way, has already finished reading Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol (I'm on page 30 and don't know if I have the strength to continue). I spoke to her yesterday shortly after she had reached the underwhelming conclusion of the novel, and she noted it was a sort of "love poem" to Masonry, with occasional swipes at Christianity. And today she wrote: "I finished THE LOST SYMBOL, which is a tad better than DA VINCI CODE despite being rah rah pro-Masonic propaganda.By no means is it a 'good' book, even for popcorn reading." She is working on a piece about the novel, the Masons, and other esoteric topics for Catholic World Report (so subscribe now!).

What is it about Freemasonry that would cause churches to forbid or openly discourage seventy million Americans from membership? Why have eight popes condemned the Lodge? Why has the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Masonic order been strained for centuries? Christianity and American Freemasonry answers these and many other questions and describes why Christ ianity and Freemasonry are incompatible.

Today over two million American men belong to the Masonic order, the largest and oldest secret fraternal society. In earlier history the Freemasons boasted a prestigious membership, including fourteen American presidents and such founding fathers as Ben Franklin, Paul Revere, and Alexander Hamilton. This is the most complete reference book available on the subject. Chapters discuss the rituals and oaths, the Scottish and York rites, allied organizations such as the Shriners, and the historic antagonism of Christianity toward Masonry. It is thoroughly documented with facts from:

• the three most noted experts on Masonry in America
• Masonic ritual books, encyclopedias, and histories
• three former Masons, now active Catholics, who contributed firsthand knowledge of Masonic ritual and structure.

you’re partially correct, it was amont the intelligensia that the “reformation” took place...it was these “educated” people who decided that they were far too sophisticated to be controlled by the church. Henry VIII pretty much said that if he couldn’t have a divorce, and remarry within the church, he’d start his own church and change the rules. By the was, protestants disagree with Catholocism on, probably the most central of teachings, that is transubstantion...Catholics believe that the Eucharist is the true Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ.....no symbolysm, TRUE CHANGE IN THE BREAD AND WINE INTO CHRIST IN PERSON..kind of a fundamental difference I’d say.......in fact all of Christianity believed that until we were “enlightened “ by Luther et al..pathetic

I would say as a protestant, I find the aims of Masonry to be generally anti Christian...whether one was Catholic or Protestant in worship of that same Christ. I do note that the US branches of Free Masonry are indeed as you state, more of a “social club”, raise money for causes type organizations...though many have suspected that the baseline members (who may be quite Godly and benign of character) are the sap money raiser types, collecting money for the higher up level groups that do use the money for much more darker purposes.

The word is Protestant, not protestant.

We couldn't handle the corruption of the Word and the Roman Catholic Church.

Christianity is a state of the heart, inspired by the Word of God. Catholicism, like all other churches, is a creation of man.

Christ inspired the original church, but it became perverted to trappings and the wealth it could acquire on the backs of the superstitions of the poor faithful. When I visited Mexico, I saw the travesty that the Roman Catholic Church became!

Really? It is apparent your opinion or who ever brainwashed your illogical thinking needs to obtain a second opinion from a real doctor of the truth.

It is apparent you are not a member, remember only a madmen, athiest or fool can never enter the masonic fraternity. Which category do you correlate with in exemption.

Presidents, George Washington, Truman, General Douglas Mac Arthur,and many other good & decent God believing men were/are masons.

Your fiction as opposed to fact is without any preponderance of evidence of what you purport. “Please just keep on supporting your idol Obammy and leave freemasonry alone.”

I am an American Patriot who loves God and Country, so take a hike out of America if you have a problem with catholics being masons.

The Worm Has Turned,
NSNR

Substitute Protestant for the term “Bereans” and study who they were...they were Sola Scripturists in PRACTISE who subjected every teaching and doctrine to the WORD to see if they be true!...Well guess what the early Protestants did?

Yeah, and it’s true that a few made some grievous mistakes as some of their views didn’t hold up to scripture either...like Luther’s later stated antipathy towards Jews. Church history is full of great leaders who at times fell prone to error. Even Moses struck the rock out of anger when God told Moses to speak to the rock, causing him to lose out on crossing over into Israel.

The fact that both Catholic and Protestant pursuasions are still around after 600 years or so of bashing each other, suggests to me that perhaps the Church of Christ is a little bigger and much more beyond the imagination than adherents of either persuasion(and lets not forget the Orthodox) can fathom. The answer to that riddle can be found at the foot of the cross and at the open mouth of an empty tomb!

Didn't the Baptists try to get a handle on their number of Masonic Deacons and lose that battle at a national convention? The masonic hold on Baptist churches is the strongest influence on the Baptist Church.

Isn't it true that a majority of Baptist deacons are masons?

The Roman church recognizes that there are no crucifixes or crosses in masonic temples and that the masons hold all religions are equated as equal in spirit. To elevate one over the other would go against the masonic fundamentals.

To get to the 33rd degree you pretty much have to 'get over Jesus' and have your primary allegiance to the craft - not the son of god.

I am a Mason and I have never.... been asked to treat God as an indifferent Deity.

Most religions have a god but only one historically recognizes the flesh and blood son of God. That is the sticking point for masons. There are no crucifixes or crosses in masonic temples. Universal brotherhood trumps christ in the temple. No one will push the point but the unspoken truths are the loudest.

I have heard and was able to substaniate it to a certain point that most highway patrolmen were also masons.

I also had an uncle who was a high degree mason, he was very secretive, but let a few things slip to indicate that the ilumini were involved in the high degree of the masons
and he spoke of the pyramid as simply a chain of world power.

This was 50 years ago and I was just a dumb kid, he said things that he would not have said to some one older who knew something.

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