Posted on 04/22/2023 7:33:53 PM PDT by ebb tide
CHIETI, Italy (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.”
READ: A saint who fought the Freemasons has the battle plan against today’s dictatorship
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.”
READ: Is Masonic infiltration responsible for the widespread apostasy among Catholic clergy?
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.”
READ: Abp. Viganò: ‘Fratelli tutti’ means acceptance of everything…except being Catholic
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.”
“Pope Francis’ last encyclical shows how far the current Catholic Church is from its former positions,” wrote the Lodge.
Archbishop Forte’s condemnation of Freemasonry is perhaps surprising given that his own track record on ecumenical matters strays from Catholic teaching. In a conference last year in Rome, the archbishop echoed and made his own a call to end the Catholic Church’s mission of converting the Jews.
He also served as Special Secretary to the 2014 Synod on the Family and was credited with writing the synod’s controversial mid-term report which suggested that the Church emphasize the “positive” aspects of actions it considers to be mortally
“Pope Francis’ last encyclical shows how far the current Catholic Church is from its former positions,” wrote the Lodge.
Ping
bkmk
Masons are a satanic organization....33rd level , not good/evil incarnate.
No they are not, that is just BS,my father,grandfather and great grandfather and uncle were all masons. Just cut the crap
Not satanic, but also not Christian.
CC
So what? Kim Jung Un, himself, his father and his grandfather were all Supreme Leaders of the atheist North Korea.
Let’s be honest about the Masons. They are deists who deny the Trinity and that Jesus is the Savior of all mankind. Their tenets are in opposition to the Christian faith. One cannot be a Mason and a sincere Christian at the same time.
Does that include Islam and Satanism???
The answer is: Joe Biden’s Administration, Pope Francis’ Vatican and the Babylon Bee.
The question is: What three organizations write the most fantastical headlines?
There have been/are Protestant Bishops and Pastors who were/are Masons.
And the Catholic Church/Pope's condemnation of Masons goes way back and was because European Catholic Masons were socially mingling with non-Catholics, were easy scapegoats ( go read about the FACTUAL history of what was done to the Knights Templars and by whom and WHY ), like the Jews, and not as active in church charities.
Be "honest"...admit that all you know about Masons is BS propaganda!
Freemasonry is NOT a religion! It is a social and charitable organization.
True.
Rubbish
Less than $100 to go to reach 21% in our freepathon!
Posted on 4/22/2023, 7:53:41 PM by Jim Robinson
Let’s get ‘er done.
I think it’s fair to say that many great people were and are Freemasons (e.g., George Washington, Harry Truman, Mozart et al.). I don’t doubt that your forbears were good men. One of my own great uncles joined the Masons, and, though I never knew him, I’m under the impression that he was fine person. Many people join these groups for friendship and fellowship and networking, and there’s nothing sinister about that. But, with all that said, Masonic lodges, even at their most benign, are not Christian per se. They’re deist, and they promote not Christianity but the ideals of the French Revolution: liberty, equality and fraternity. And it has certainly been the case that Freemasons in countries like France, Spain and Mexico, have, during certain revolutionary periods, sought to displace Christianity with atheism.
And, let’s face it, there is within some branches of freemasonry, an interest in the occult and Satanism that is obviously antithetical to Christianity. Not to say that such things exist in all or even most Masonic lodges, but there have strains of that in places, cf. the writings of Albert Pike on Lucifer. At Freemasonry’s 200th anniversary parade in Rome in 1917, a banner in the parade read, “Satan will reign in the Vatican. The pope will be his slave.”
Likewise, the Shriners, the EASTERN STARS, Demoley, and Rainbow girls ( and NO, the rainbow was chosen centuries ago and isn't anything at all to do with homosexuals! ) are all likewise social and charity parts of Freemasonry.
You're lying about occultism, Satanism, and whatever else you might care to throw into the mix, is what Freemasonry is about.
Historically, were there people who joined the Masons and then went off to form their own weirdo organization? YES, INDEED, THAT'S FACTUAL; however, they were no longer MASONS! Yes, posters, here, have quoted Pike, in their virulent, specious condemnation of Freemasonry; but, that all used to be easily disputed by FR's very own, once large group of posters who were Masons.
And that old cannard, re that the Masons and the Jews caused/ran The French Revolution, written by an expat Catholic priest, then living in London, is a bald faced lie!
Bookmark
You’re living in a fantasy world if you don’t think that masonic lodges were at the center of the French Revolution. Scores of articles have been written on the subject, and for a long time this wasn’t even controversial. Is it purely coincidental that the founders of the Jacobin Club in Paris were nearly all freemasons? The role that freemasonry had played was so widely known and understood at the time, that you had George Washington et al. going out of their way to assure people that the masonic lodges in this country were benevolent and not up to any mischief.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.