Freemasons and their craft: What Catholics should know

To see why the Catholic Church has strongly and repeatedly condemned membership in Freemasonry or any of its allied movements requires a glance at Masonic teachings and history.

Left: The Masonic Square and Compasses (us.fotolia.com/Serj Siz`kov); right: Pope Leo XIII, who denounced the Masonic Lodge as “a deceitful and crafty enemy" (Wikipedia).

Many Catholics view Freemasonry as a dangerous—even Satanic—conspiracy founded to destroy the Faith. On the other hand, the Craft likes to present itself as “an ancient Order dedicated to the Brotherhood of Man and the Fatherhood of God.” Some of the “Brethren” may take that description seriously, depending on which room of the Masonic edifice they inhabit. But the Lodge has many suites, annexes, and outbuildings whose inmates are not necessarily fraternal towards each other, much less filial towards God.

The basic unit of “regular” Freemasonry is the Blue (or Craft) Lodge, which “works” (imparts) the three traditional degrees—Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master. Initiation is the main business of a local Masonic Temple. Members learn grips, signs, and rituals. They re-enact their central myth, the death and resurrection of Hiram Abiff, legendary builder of Solomon’s Temple. With one exception, American local Lodges are grouped in state Grand Lodges that are recognized by the Mother Lodge in London. Master Mason’s wives can join the Order of the Eastern Star, their daughters Job’s Daughters or the Order of the Rainbow for Girls, and their sons the Order of the De Molay.

A fervent minority of Anglo-American Masons acquire additional degrees teaching more sophisticated symbolism in separate organizations called Appendant Bodies that are not controlled by the Mother Lodge.  These are the York Rite (10 more grades) and the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (30 more grades) which is subdivided into Northern and Southern Jurisdictions. Holders of the highest degrees in either Rite are eligible to join the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (Shriners) for philanthropy and fun.

Origins and early history

The Craft originated in the British Isles and the overwhelming majority of its members still live in English-speaking countries. According to the Masonic Service Association, there are about 1.2 million Freemasons in the United States, down from a high of 4 million in 1958. Far fewer men in Latin countries belong to the separate Grand Orient system, whose components are not usually recognized by the Mother Lodge. Many fewer still practice forms of “fringe Masonry” such as Co-Masonry, which enrolls both men and women. Prince Hall Lodges, originally for black men, are generally considered “irregular” by American Masons.

To see why the Catholic Church has strongly and repeatedly condemned membership in Freemasonry or any of its allied movements requires a glance at Masonic teachings and history. Freemasons pretend to preserve ancient secrets handed down from Solomon’s builders and pagan mystery cults via the medieval Knights Templar. Some have even identified Adam, Noah, and St. John the Evangelist as Brother Masons.  The Craft claims to offer “Light” unobtainable elsewhere that will perfect the initiate and improve society. Their foremost modern commentator, Henry Wilson Coil, describes Freemasonry as “a system of morality and social ethics, a primitive religion, and a philosophy of life.”

But the real origin of the Craft, as Masonic historians now admit, lies in Renaissance esotericism, injected into the guild traditions developed by medieval stoneworkers. Spurred by interest in the symbolic possibilities of architecture, men who were not professional stonemasons (“non-operatives”) began joining workmen’s lodges in Scotland in the 1590s. These fellowships had just been turned into permanent organizations by the king’s chief builder, a Catholic named William Schaw. Professor David Stevenson has amply documented this transformation in The Origins of Freemasonry: Scotland’s century 1590-1710 (Cambridge University Press, 1988).

Lodges of “nonoperative” Freemasons appeared in England in the 1640s, attracting gentry and intellectuals of varying religions to the Craft. In 1717, four London Lodges united as the Grand Lodge of England, which issued constitutions in 1723 and became the Mother Lodge of all regular Masons. Spreading throughout the world, Freemasonry reached the Continent by 1721 and America by 1730. Exiled Scottish supporters of the Catholic Stuarts brought the Craft to France, where it proved especially popular among aristocrats and men receptive to the Enlightenment.

The Lodge’s initial appeal was as a place for men of different faiths to socialize and speculate in peace, for discussing religion and politics was forbidden. Haydn, Mozart, and many other luminaries joined. But avoiding sectarian disputes inevitably pushed Freemasonry towards mere Deism. Its seldom-mentioned God was the Great Architect of the Universe, reachable by reason alone. Belief in a Supreme Being and the immortality of the soul was all that was required of eighteenth-century regular Freemasons.

English and Northern European Freemasonry retained these vague beliefs and functioned as a lowest-common-denominator religion “in which all men agree.” They even displayed the Bible during their rituals as the “Volume of the Sacred Law.” They were staunch supporters of the prevailing social establishment. Until recently, they dominated politics, the professions, the military, finance, and even the police. Prior to Prince Charles, many English royals were keen Masons as were some Anglican bishops. Martin Short’s Inside the Brotherhood: Further Secrets of the Freemasons is a good survey of their influence in the United Kingdom.

During the American Revolution, more Masons were Loyalists than Patriots but these did include such Founding Fathers as Washington, Franklin, Hancock, Hamilton, and Monroe. (John Adams, however, denounced the Craft.) Surprisingly, Freemasonry also enrolled Daniel Carroll, one of only two Catholics at the Constitutional Convention, brother of America’s first bishop, Archbishop  John Carroll of Baltimore, and cousin of Charles Carroll, the only Catholic who signed the Declaration of Independence. In the Carrolls’ defense, papal condemnations of Freemasonry had not yet been officially proclaimed in America.

The 1826 disappearance of a New York man who had revealed the Crafts’s secrets sparked a brief outburst of anti-Masonic feeling but the Lodges were soon popular again. Over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, American Catholics suffered from the Craft’s hostility as American Freemasons turned Nativist and anti-Catholic. They were conspicuous in both the original and the revived Ku Klux Klan. The Knights of Columbus, founded by Fr. Michael J. McGivney in 1882, offered Catholics an alternative to the Lodge.

American Masons came to hold disproportionate power at all levels of government, including the Presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court. They led the fight against parochial schools and demanded absolute separation of Church and State. Networks of influence among Masons stifled competition from outsiders in business and the professions. Lodge membership became a badge of middle-class Protestant respectability at the peak of Freemasonry’s popularity, 1920-1960.

Freemasonry and anti-Catholicism

Meanwhile, the Grand Orient Lodges of France, Iberia, and Latin America were building a far grimmer anti-Catholic edifice. They attracted men hostile to both Church and State who found Masonic structures and secrecy useful for political subversion. Masons were prominent in the French Revolution and the Irish rising of 1798. They helped lead the South American revolts against Spain as well as the unification of Italy. Discarding even the pretense of Deism, Grand Orient Lodges ceased to revere the Bible or any Volume of Sacred Law. They dominated the bitterly anti-clerical French Third Republic (1870-1940) that confiscated all Church property in France. They persecuted and slaughtered Catholics after the Mexican Revolution and during the Spanish Civil War. Even in today’s European Union, Masons favor radical secularization.

Outraged by these activities, conspiracy-minded Catholics have claimed that they are all part of a vast “Judeo-Masonic plot” that also created Communism. Works by the prolific Irish priest, Fr. Denis Fahey, such as The Kingdom of Christ and Organized Naturalism (1943) are typical of such material. They argue that Old Testament references and Hebrew words in Lodge rituals prove Jewish origins of the Craft. But the founders of Freemasonry were Christians Scots and its Constitutions were prepared by a Protestant clergyman. Not only is Marxism an entirely different entity, Communist regimes have always suppressed Masonry, as did Hitler and Mussolini. The Craft, however, could be criticized as an influence or template for Theosophy, some themes in New Age thought, and Wicca as developed by Gerald Gardner.

Fear of “Judeo-Masonry” and its ilk clouds analysis of the Craft’s intrinsic and irremediable flaws: Relativism and Naturalism. Blue Lodge Freemasonry treats all religions alike but inferior to the “Light” it offers to its select Brethren. They trust reason alone, not supernatural revelation. But Christians know that salvation comes from the real Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus, not the dubious legend of Hiram Abiff.

Furthermore, the higher degrees of Masonry’s Appendant Bodies are frankly blasphemous. The Royal Arch Degree of the York Rite reveals that the true name of God is JAH-BUL-ON, a fusion of the Hebrew Jaweh (Yaweh) with the names of pagan gods Baal and Osiris. The Scottish Rite’s eighteenth degree (Rose Croix) reinterprets the Cross and its I.N.R.I inscription as pagan symbols. A candidate for the thirtieth degree (Knight Kadosh) must trample the papal tiara crying: “Down with Imposture!” He vows to propagate light and overthrow “superstition, fanaticism, imposture, and intolerance,” qualities implicitly identified with Christianity, especially Catholic Christianity.  The best Catholic apologetics work against the Lodge is Christianity and American Freemasonry(Ignatius Press) by William J. Whalen.

From the time Freemasonry penetrated Europe, the Catholic Church has watched and warned against it. In 1738, Pope Clement XII condemned the Craft for its reliance on mere natural virtue while ignoring Christ’s unique role as Savior. Pope Clement also denounced the rash, blood-curdling oaths demanded of members to protect trivial Lodge secrets. Ironically, those precious secrets are anything but secret. All the details have been revealed numerous times, for example in ex-Mason Walton Hannah’s Darkness Visible: A Christian Appraisal of Freemasonry.

Pope Clement decreed that Catholics who joined the Masons were excommunicated with reconciliation reserved to the pope. Unfortunately, this had little effect because the rule was not published in every country, nor was it taken seriously where it was published. Eight subsequent popes had to repeat the message, most forcefully Leo XIII in his 1884 encyclical, Humanum genus. 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.” This stern prohibition was included in the 1917 Code of Canon Law.

After the Second Vatican Council, however, the long antagonism between the Church and the Lodge 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.

This liberalization was sadly ill-timed. Some notable Freemasons had been conspiring against the Vatican through its bank. In March of 1981, two of Pope Paul VI’s top financial advisors—known all along as Masons—were unmasked as members of a secret Lodge called Propaganda Due (P2) that was preparing a fascist takeover of Italy. Both men later died mysteriously, probably murdered. The Vatican lost 240 million dollars with the collapse of its bank.

The P2 Lodge, which was a scam on Italian Grand Orient Masonry as well as the Church, enrolled 953 members including high ranking figures in government, the military, security services, academe, business, law, media, and finance. None were churchmen. Although an argument from silence does not completely debunk the existence of Ecclesiastical Masonry, a bugaboo so dear to Italians and Radical Traditionalists, the evidence is suggestive.

Coincidentally or otherwise, Rome had already been having second thoughts. Just before the P2 scandal broke, local bishops had been warned in 1981 that they had no authority to judge the character of local Masonic associations and relax the old strictures. Although the new Code of Canon Law issued in 1983 did not mention the Craft or similar groups by name, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith firmly reiterated the old ban on 26 November, 1983: “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.” Pope John Paul II ordered this rule incorporated in Church law. The bishops of the United States reported the same conclusion in 1985: one cannot be both a Catholic and a Freemason.

Numerous other Christian bodies also condemn Freemasonry, including many Lutherans, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Baptists, and Orthodox followers of the Holy Synod of Greece. Even the Mormons, originally influenced by Masonry, condemn the Craft.

The Catholic Church and the Lodge can never be reconciled. Freemasonry teaches a rival religion of Naturalism, whether it plots, persecutes, blasphemes, engages in philanthropy, or behaves politely. It treats all religions as equal but inferior to its own Gnostic wisdom. Alas, the vaunted profundity on offer never manifests itself from the shadows of secrecy. Even after a man has taken every degree known in the Masonic mansion, he will be no more enlightened than when he began, but considerably farther from the true Light. The Great Architect the Universe of Deism and Freemasonry is not the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—of Christians.

(Editor’s note: The final sentence of this article was revised on February 8th for clarification. This article appeared in somewhat different form in The Catholic Answer, July/August, 2006.)


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About Sandra Miesel 29 Articles
Sandra Miesel is an American medievalist and writer. She is the author of hundreds of articles on history and art, among other subjects, and has written several books, including The Da Vinci Hoax: Exposing the Errors in The Da Vinci Code, which she co-authored with Carl E. Olson, and is co-editor with Paul E. Kerry of Light Beyond All Shadow: Religious Experience in Tolkien's Work (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2011).

268 Comments

  1. I am astonished, I am a convinced Catholic, and whilst I am also a Mason and back in 1983 I became Worshipful Master of my Mother Lodge, in the Republic of Ireland, there was never anything within the Ritual, which suggested incompatibility with Christ’s teachings. I would suggest that Irish Masonry, which has its own Constitution, was used as a social meeting point for Protestants, where they could relax and at least once a month fraternise socially with their co-religonists in a colonised and subjugated country. The Great Liberator, Daniel O’Connell, and activist for Catholic Emancipation in the 1820s, and a member of the British Parlaiment, was a Free Mason. Irish Masonry, as are Scottish and English Masonry, totally unrelated to the Anti-Clericalism of the Jacobin Clubs of Continental Masonry, especially France.

    france

    • I believe that the Bible is the Truth that will settle your discussion. 1st Commandment. Though shall have no other God’s before thee. If you pledge allegiance or honor anything before Christ you are breaking that commandment. Worshiping anything represents an idol and the Bible is full of scriptures against idolotry, worshiping money, self, other gods etc.

      • I have been a mason for fourteen years.I have joined what call Chapter, I have also Joined the Red Cross of Constantine. This is a Christian degree as the name might reflect. There has never been any attempt or words spoken that suggest that God and Jesus are not the true God. But other than the Red Cross there is no real promotion of Jesus. This allows good men and women to meet without offending each other over their own belief. I believe in Jesus but I accept that others may not. I would like them to follow Jesus but respect that they do not wish to. We will all meet our God oneway I hope, maybe it is one God portrayed differently by different religions. But I know for sure that although I am not best friends with every mason I meet I respect their religious and Political beliefs by not discussing it or mentioning mine.

        • Why should we offend anyone who is honest if we speak of Jesus or God?
          If Christians deal with other religions in other parts of the world, those other people do not even consider offending us . We will not be offended because we respect others. Why should we think it is normal that they would not respect us? We would earn more respect if we are not ashamed to show what we stand for.

          • Your closing statement, “ we should earn more respect if we are not ashamed to show what we stand for”, to me is a profound truth that cuts to the heart of Freemason falsehoods, “that all its members rights are respected”. In fact, freemasonry has carried that intrensic lie into all that is corrupt in society, both Church and State. It is Freemasony tool widely used tool to subvert and silence truth so prevalent today. You can go along, but you better shut up to get along even if it violates the first, fifth, and eighth commandments, and leads to all commandments being subjugated. Well said Helena, and we’ll done! May God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the one true God bless you and all true believers, and preserve this truth!

          • You seriously needs to re-read this article again.
            Btw people are slaughtering our people all over the world every day, so wake up.
            And we are being attacked by the protestant regular freemason and the irregular oriental freemason every day.

        • This is the problem with “modern” Catholicism since Vatican 2. It has given in to the idea of relativism. That there isn’t one Truth and that we shouldn’t actively share our faith. This is absolutely false. Christ is the way, the truth and the life and we should “Always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you about the hope you have.” 1 Peter 3:15. Freemasons believe in building paradise on earth. This is antithetical to Christianity.

      • You can’t be a real catholic if you are a mason. If you really believe in Jesus I invite you to leave masonry and get closer to your faith. Jesus can fill your life with real light, not with secrets and blood oaths.
        There is no such thing as an architect of the universe. Only God and his son Jesus do exist, and they are alive

        • There are probably 50 different variations or ways of naming God.this one of the ways.and by the way there are 3 people in God not 1. Have you heard of the Messiah,Redeemer,Master, Creator, etc,etc.? sure you have. I personally think architect of the Universe is a great description of our Maker. They dont tell you too much in the Catholic religion, do they.?

          • This is very short-sighted statement. Did you ever consider that the reason Masons believe in building paradise on earth is because we are not Gods or our own religion. While we are here on earth we should strive to work hard and build world worth living in. Communities need good people to protect them beit Christian churches or Masonic brotherhoods. There is only one God and this believe is not antithetical to Christianity or Catholicism; it is one and the same. The church would do well to not further alienate people.

        • That is a great comment Luis. Well said. I notice the mason poster writes “I believe in Jesus”. Even Satan believes in Jesus and knows the Bible too. The point of christians is we respect that Jesus is ‘The God’ and is the way, the truth and the life.

          • The Bible is a topical summary. Just examine it. Does it go into detail or varying circumstances? No. -Where we have to use our brain God gave us, hopefully it isn’tcalloused.

          • Why you say poor fellow and confused? If I’m reference to me, where the Bible is topical and a summary. Look at Noahs’ Ark. The engineering required is beyond Noahs time but tells nothing of it. But according to Jewish sources with Biblical reference, Israel wasn’t flooded, which the world would be reference to what one knee as the world. As North & South America weren’t known until a Viking came here. Then Columbus. Where I do know there is a God and I know there’s spirits whether they be angels, demons or otherwise. Where not believe, but I know. Which I’ve examined the Bible from all angles and it’s doctrine is good from all angles or has reason. But some make things had that aren’t and some things that are detrimental some call neither good or bad, not knowing the consequences of.

          • Bert Clayton – your post literally makes no sense at all; by which I mean it’s so completely incoherent one can’t tell what you’re trying to say.

          • What kind of winds did Noah face? Did he travel over India, China?
            When Christ say with his apostles, did they cook pork rate or well done?
            The Bible says swords will be turned into plows and pruning hooks, we use Machine guns and artillery today.
            According to the old testament, what verse alludes to Israel not having been flooded? The Bible talks about corn. Corn, zea mays, is native to the Americas, so it wouldn’t have been available until Columbus. So why does the Bible say corn?
            How many stringers did the ark have?
            There’s a lot untold.
            The 4 gospels are about the same. It’d take all 4 gospels plus other books for an autobiography of George Bush, so is George Bush greater than Jesus?
            Common sense my friend.

        • I think you just don’t understand masonry. Like many fellow Catholics I see bigotry due to unfamiliarity. Saying God , great architect ,etc…is the same as saying Yahweh, God, Allah….all the same thing.

          • Yahweh is the old Hebrew name for whom Catholics call God. Allah, the great architect, et al are not the same as Yahweh and should never be confused with Yahweh. Muslims do not believe that Allah is the father of Jesus Christ or that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Therefore, they can’t believe in the same God as Catholics. Mohammed exempted himself from the laws of Allah because of his status as prophet. Mohammed married an 8 year old girld and consummated that marriage while she was still a child. That makes Mohammed nothing more than a pedophile cult leader. Not one of the Jewish or Catholic prophets ever exempted themselves from the laws of God and neither did Jesus Christ. They lived the laws of God as example to others of how it is to be done.

        • You say can’t be a real catholic with secrets or oaths…so what of the oaths and secrets in the catholic church. Can you serve your country and be a catholic if you must keepa secret? Your logic is flawed.

        • There are no blood oaths, and the only secret(s) are the re-enactments done for each degree which includes signs, tokens, and words where one brother may know another. If you don’t know, don’t say (such as stating there are blood oaths – which there are not). That is how rumors and conspiracy propogate.

          • But….a mega church pastor, bishop, potentate, minister etc., can serve 2 masters? Money and GOD. There a lot of mega church ministers who are filthy rich plus, serve GOD.

        • God, the supreme being or great architect is recognized as the ruling authority in masonry. There is nothing that I have seen in rituals too put any other deity. You people like to see things that are not there. God is love. Masonry spreads love through our personal actions to everyone not just within our sect. You ass clowns that believe the church is below our craft are nuts. I am a conservative catholic. When I asked my churches to help people in need they never helped. We help all in our communities. In fact that is our greatest strength to love god and all people and aide those in our community that need it. I have seen collections taken to help filies and those in need that are not masons with thousands of dollars. In my whole life in the church I never seen the church take from thier coffers to help the family losing everything. The church may send some food but never money unless it’s collected after the churches collection for itself. However, I still love God first in my catholic belief. The usa was founded.on the principles of God and love of our fellow citizen. I went to catholic school and remember reading how it took the pope 500 years to transfer the name from holy Roman emperor to the new title pope. There in that name alone (pope) is deceit to the mass population that the pope is a selfless leader. When in fact the Roman church is still the oldest govt and corrupt as all he’ll. The men who are in this organization like any other organization tries to impart a selfless and false doctrine just like any other religion and/or government institution run by man. God is love and omnipresence. The Roman church has killed more people in the name of the pope than any grand lodge in our history. Sheeple believe what they are told. Others learn to trust in God and love thier fellow citizen without any strings attached when receiving our good will and love of our neighbor. I encourage you to constructively answer this history of actions/ inaction from these two fine institutions. There are many great people in both. But the Roman catholic church loves to controller you more than a masonic body ever will. Yes there is always corrupt hearts in men who govern these institutions.

      • This is what I have to say. Have you read the book of revelation? Bc all the basis of new world order and one world common govt is what they are trying to form. I feel like the coming of false profits also in revelation are being manifested in all these false Gods worshipped in the free masonry / Illuminati rituals. All these things are said of what’s gonna come to pass , and reading and educating myself on it enough to protect my family , it’s literally scared me more than ever. If people aren’t right with the Trinity, they need to get there soon. And for those of you listening to seemingly harmless music and tv stars. Think again. Several are on record admitting to selling their souls , and it makes me scared for my family. My children and my children’s children. All these kind control clips on you tube. They are real and they are out there try ing to find ways to get the satanic message to everyone not prepared to know what’s going on. I know enough now to block musicians interviewed and others on camera mind controlled and worse. Please everyone don’t read up on it to feed into it , read up on it to protect yourself and pray through the fear like I’m doing.

        • Your lack of knowledge is insulting I am a master mason, shriner and soon to be 32nd degree Scottish Rite I assure you as a Christian whom believes Jesus is the only path to heaven and is our God and former Catholic whom denounced having a priest absolve my sins which is Jesus job alone per scripture and a man whom loathsome idol worship as they made us pray to statues of Mary I see clearly now. VATICAN is sitting on mountain of Gold while children starve, the pope passes edicts to disenfranchise anyone but feels a threat such as the Masons having formerly been known as knights templar were the bankers of all of Europe whom were betrayed for the blood money and murdered so the pope can sit on a mountain of Gold ignoring the good samaritans example, as well as scripture. Catholics blindly serve a pope or priest whom sits in gods position which is heresy at best, judge ye not least ye be judged theineselves and let’s bash Masons and Shiners with 22 Childrens hospitals giving free care to the needy per scripture doing unto the least of them as we Christian’s are charged by God to do. SPECULATION IS WRECKLESS AND CATHOLICS ARE NO SAINTS, LEAST LIVING ONES I WILL ACCEPT MOTHER TERESA AS ONE BUT THIS POPE IS A HERATIC AND THE WHOLE OF CATHOLICISM IS TO GROW WEALTH OF A FEW DEPRIVED PERCERTS IN VATICAN EITHER RAPING LITTLE BOYS OR ENDORSING SUCH BY IGNORING THE COUNTLESS VICTIMS. I WILL PRAY FOR THOSE WHO JUDGE BEING LIKE A FOOL, and my enlightenment comes from Jesus Christ and the blood he shed for all our sins! May God have mercy upon myself, humanity, masonry, and Catholics and may Jesus enlighten the greedy Pope, Cardinals and rest of the minions of the Vatican.

          • Hey im interested On becoming a Freemason but I am scared that some of the practices may be blasphemy for me towards Jesus Christ can you clear this up for me because I really do want to become a mason but I don’t wanna do anything that’s going to contradict my religion

          • I am a Catholic. I attended a Catholic grammar and high school. I was never told to pray to a statue. Statues are visual aids. If one is petitioning, not praying to, Mary, the visual aid helps. Some people are more visual than others. AS to priests absolving sins, read what Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 16:19. Free hospitalization: check out the histories of hospitals started by the Catholic church in Europe. As to the sad, horrible revelation of sexual abuse by clergy. Awful yes. However it has been found that the same horrible act has been done by teachers, by sport trainers, by ministers in Protestant churches, etc. I wonder when people left the church citing it was due to this abuse if they would turn against their family if someone in the family was guilty of same.

        • First of all….FREEMASONS have nothing whatsoever to do with the illuminati. The only reason unintelligible people believe this theory of connectivity between the two, is because they believe that FREEMASONS deal in human/animal sacrifice. Murder. And devil worshipping, as it is believed members of the illuminati do. The one thing I’ve learned about drawing to an proven conclusion about a group, religion, or fraternal order was this: I had to go into that church, fraternal order or group, to find out for myself. Not base my suspicions or beliefs on others opinions or, lack of experience. I say to all who think they know what FREEMASONRY is all about….join a lodge and see. For. Yourself.

      • I know of a now past Vicar General in one jurisdictioon. Great man. Great priest. Who knew that a number of his parish were Freemasons. BUT he also saw the good that they perfomed, the money that they raised, the help that they gave and their devotion to The Lord

        • I noticed in my reading of this authors article re the conflict between the catholic church and freemasonry, she offered no proof of her accusations. Why?

      • Masons aren’t even a religion. They don’t preach any type of salvation. Perhaps you are so hateful of Masons is because your pope killed so many Knights Templar for simply spreading the true story of Jesus and how you don’t need the “Church” or pope to enter heaven. You only need to come to God and ask forgiveness believing Jesus died for our sins. The templar was taking money away from the Catholic church by telling the truth. Now tell me whose god is money??? Hmmmm??? could it be the catholic church?

        • Good to see a Dan Brown disciple in the house! Alas, your historical assertions are just as fact-free as Mr. Brown’s, as medieval historian Sandra Miesel ably pointed out years ago:

          Brown maliciously ascribes the suppression of the Templars to “Machiavellian” Pope Clement V, whom they were blackmailing with the Grail secret. His “ingeniously planned sting operation” had his soldiers suddenly arrest all Templars. Charged with Satanism, sodomy, and blasphemy, they were tortured into confessing and burned as heretics, their ashes “tossed unceremoniously into the Tiber.”

          But in reality, the initiative for crushing the Templars came from King Philip the Fair of France, whose royal officials did the arresting in 1307. About 120 Templars were burned by local Inquisitorial courts in France for not confessing or retracting a confession, as happened with Grand Master Jacques de Molay. Few Templars suffered death elsewhere although their order was abolished in 1312. Clement, a weak, sickly Frenchman manipulated by his king, burned no one in Rome inasmuch as he was the first pope to reign from Avignon (so much for the ashes in the Tiber).

          Moreover, the mysterious stone idol that the Templars were accused of worshiping is associated with fertility in only one of more than a hundred confessions. Sodomy was the scandalous—and possibly true—charge against the order, not ritual fornication. The Templars have been darlings of occultism since their myth as masters of secret wisdom and fabulous treasure began to coalesce in the late 18th century. Freemasons and even Nazis have hailed them as brothers. Now it’s the turn of neo-Gnostics.

      • Then how can Catholics support praying to Mother Mary St. Peter and Paul, are they not being worshipped as idols. In fact i swore on the Holy Bible and professed my belief in the ever living and true God. Interpet that as you wish, sounds like a power thing, not a religious one. FYI no religon or politics are allowed in the lodge. We say a generic prayer and that is a far as it goes, for religon we tell or members to go to church.

      • The problem with your argument, and with several of the points in this essay, is that the points made are simply not accurate.
        I am a 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Freemason, and a Sir Knight in the Order of the Temple in the York Rite. I’ve been a Master Mason for 10 years now. I’ve been through all the degrees mentioned above and I know from personal experience that the words and actions that are described simply aren’t used or don’t occur. Similarly, the first thing an applicant hears is that nothing he will swear to in Lodge should ever interfere with his duty to his God, Country, or family. Conspirators can CLAIM to be Freemasons, that doesn’t MAKE them Freemasons.

      • So you are a Protestant, yes?
        Sorry mate, on Pentecost, Jesus established a “Church”, not a ‘bible’, alright?
        Until late 15th century, people didn’t have bibles because printing hadn’t been invented… So it would be impossible for protestants to exist during 1500 years – that’s a long time. By the time printing was invented, the Catholic Chutch had already built civilization, universities, schools, hospitals, charities, orphanages
        , International la, the dignity of the family, of the woman, of children, of poor people, of the elderly, of the sick, etc, etc.
        What have you protestants did? You protested biblical truths -hence the name – and started creating divisions among Christians, created man-made faiths and created the “culture of the self”, it’s down to each of you who get to decide what is truth or not and you pick and choose what biblical passages interpretations according to what each of you “like” or don’t like.
        You conveniently erased 1500 years of HISTORY & TRADITION… you know, what was passed from generation to generation since the time of the apostles until today.
        Where in the Bible says that the Bible is the ultimate authority? Where in the Bible says everything has to be in the Bible? Scripture only records God’s Word and the history of His children until the death of Dr John.
        You profiles are missing 2023 years of God’s revelations to His children. God is not a dead God!!!

    • I am also a Mason (32nd Degree Scottish Rite, 10th Degree York Rite). So you know, you cannot be a Mason unless you believe in a single God (ie. you can be a Christian, Muslim, or Jew). To suggest that Masonry spread secularization is absolutely absurd. What it did, however, it fight the Catholic Church on points of freedom. Because of that, they were labelled as heretics and executed.

      Also, you missed the starting point of Masonry by several hundred years. Masonry dates back to at least the Crusades. Originally, the Freemasons were the Knights Templar, who worked for the Catholic Church. This was until the King of France, Philip IV, and Pope Clement V conspired to try to take power away from the growing regime by force, and steal all the gold they had acquired when excavating the old Jewish Temple at the same time. They invited the heads of the Masons and Crusaders to a banquet to lure them in, and then immediately imprisoned them. After torturing them under false accusations, they burned the leader, Jacques de Molay, at the stake on Friday the 13th. As he burned, he cursed both the Pope and the King, that they would die horrible deaths within a year – and they both did. This was used by the Catholic church to demonize Masons, and they did their very best to hunt them down – but many escaped, and the lodges lived on.
      History:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trials_of_the_Knights_Templar#Charges_against_the_Templars

      I should mention that when Pope Clement V died, the chapel his body was in was struck by lightning, and the building burned down. Not only that, but what they recovered of his body was unrecognizable. This was not a man of God, it was Satan incarnate.

      • “Masonry dates back to at least the Crusades. Originally, the Freemasons were the Knights Templar”

        What utter balderdash.

        Also, considering that Freemasons claim that their origins go all the way back to the building of Solomon’s Temple (more balderdash, by the way) it’s interesting that they claim to be “originally the Knights Templar,” when the Knights Templar were founded in 1119. They look on two contradictory things and smile in perfect contentment, unable to see that they can’t both be true (but they both can be, and are, false).

        “This was until the King of France, Philip IV, and Pope Clement V conspired to try to take power away from the growing regime by force, and steal all the gold they had acquired when excavating the old Jewish Temple at the same time. They invited the heads of the Masons and Crusaders to a banquet to lure them in, and then immediately imprisoned them.”

        Snort. What tripe. They were arrested all over the place in France, but not at a banquet, and the Pope wasn’t involved in arresting them and he certainly wasn’t conspiring with King Philip – out of weakness he ended up suppressing the order but not because he wanted to.

        “I should mention that when Pope Clement V died, the chapel his body was in was struck by lightning, and the building burned down. Not only that, but what they recovered of his body was unrecognizable.”

        Superstitious, much? It would be remarkable if a body in a building that burned *wasn’t* badly damaged. As for that curse nonsense, it’s one of those after-the-fact prophecies that are so easy to make. Good grief, but you guys are gullible. Honestly, try a little basic research.

        • Read church history about the crusades. During the crusades they cried the bubonic plague. They used antibiotics but this was all kept secret. Why?

          • What do you mean “they cried the bubonic plague?”

            Nobody even knew about antibiotics at that time. They didn’t even know about microbes.

            I have read plenty of history, and have no idea what you’re talking about. If you cite some sources, I can take a look.

        • This article doesn’t get even thebasic facts right about Free Masons,let alone enough tio judge it. Then it assumes things thatall masons take to be legend and merely story as something Masons teach as fact,lol. Ie, Free masons think the craft actually traces to the Templars. Lodge will actually point to the 1300s as the date at which there is actual proof.

          The idea that you need to be in the York rite or Scottish rite to be a Shriner is another such gaff. Letalone be a high standing member of either. All you have to be it’s a freemason. That’s all.

          Then infr goes on to make countless other claims no modernmason would ever identify with. This article it’s tripe and full of falsehoods. Many could have been avoided with a wiki search lol. Soif theycan’t be bothered tho get rudimentary facts right,how can you trust thier overall claims,logic,or wisdom.

      • The link you attached actually states in the timeline that DeMolay was burned at the stake on March 18th. Not Friday the 13th.

      • Historically, major building were all made of stone to provide shelter from the heat, weather storms, and forts for the military. It was the most dangerous job in the world, they were the most reviered artists but without care and proper traning, you can hurt yourself. They had a cult like presents in dealing with the dangerous of their work. In 2017 we still have dangerous work but we also have advancements in health care and I’m not sure how modern masions are modern. The presents of these groups can be unsafe for workers, so that doesn’t make sense. Be modern think modern don’t steal don’t propaganda skip the B.A.

      • Well spoken. You cannot be of both. As a 33 Athiest, why are you talking about Our God? Leave our Spirit alone and play with your friends.

    • You could have spent your time working at your Faith Church in lieu of a outside society…you just wanted a title .. Our Almighty God can give you one ..It’s called Saint .. leave the society and ask Our Lord for His divine mercy and guidance ..

    • There seems to be many problems with the facts in this article. I am reassured by your reasoned response. I think more open discussion and dialectic communication on this subject should be to the benefit of all. For a person to speak with the authority of God is unwise.

      • That sounds right. Many without an equal rivalry often boldly state things as if directly from God. Then when an equal adversary or greater is present, then backsteps. I’ve seen it too many times.
        We do know what is good and what is bad. Some may not know finer points, but if one can do good they should despite those that exploit a person’s good will for foolishness and self will. We know it’s wrong to deliberately hurt someone, especially someone innocent. Using what’s common sense is always a good start.

    • Hi there,
      just an FYI, Catholics are forbidden from being masons because they profess a creed that is incompatible with our creed as Catholics. I’d look into it.

      • I would counter that. Freemasons have the same values and pray upon the Holy Bible as the rule and guide to faith. Your ignorance is forgiven, but do more research before you condemn.

        • … as I would then counter your own ignorance, Jason. Masons are not subjected to Christ, but accept the Bible as a whole, as they do all religious writings and inspirational work. Everyone is treated equally in the temple as well as outside of the temple. The pyramidal networking system is based on rules, and is open to all, but not necessarily coerced, though it is tilted in favor of a few. It is based on the premise of do what thou wilt, freewill, but with consequences based on your own actions through constitutional law and code, not God’s law. This is how the system worked, and how it is currently working. This is exactly how Lucifer rebelled from God, he did not want to be subjugated by God’s creation, and has lured mankind into that very belief against its’ own creator. Lucifer has been known to be the god of the Freemasons, it is nothing new. This is why Catholics cannot be Masons, they are bound by Christ through faith, trust and the calling (feeling), also known as the Holy Spirit, the inner working that is recognized by all who belong to Christ. You simply will not understand if you do not belong to Christ because it does not feel natural to you, just as Freemasonry does not feel natural to real Catholics. To deny this reality in Catholics is what we call sinning against the Holy Spirit, by rejecting Christ from a spiritual standpoint, and severing the relationship. This is why Catholics reject Freemasonry, as masonry is centered around this material world and how to prosper in it, not the next. It’s purpose is to keep you here by repeated lives through the rejection of the real Godhead because the only way out is through Christ, what we know as spiritual death and hell also called reincarnation, never to leave. This world is a prison in case you haven’t figured it out yet, and the blotting out of Christ is what will keep everyone here through repeated lives. With Lucifer’s pyramidal scam ruling this world, endlessly…

          • Your idea that having an acceptance of all restricts those who belive in more percise path makes no sense. While free masonry accepts other books and such it does not stop Ann individual from following a more strict deffinition. Ie all rectangles arent squares but all squares are rectangles.

            So you can follow gods law as you suggest just fine and be a mason. Even in catholic cannon do we allow for looking at other works for possible wisdom so long as we don’t contradict the rules set out by God. We don’t follow all the laws oftheold testament as Catholics, do we still not seek wisdom there?

          • @The Reflection: right you are, with exception to one point – they are not subject to Christ, yet. That said, there IS hope for those who are trapped in the “endless cycle” of “reincarnation” and wish to “get out”. From Daniel 12:2: “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” I’ve theorized this has been misinterpreted to mean “those who are deceased and buried in the earth”. Some Christians believe cremation should not be used, likely due to this verse and similar verses regarding “those who sleep”; however, we know from Scripture that cremation does not imply condemnation. So a very plausible explanation of verses regarding “those who sleep” – and especially with respect to “in the dust”, could be references to those who have been “reincarnated” (which has been done by “human” hands – starting likely within the early masonic beginnings). Furthermore, from this verse we can see that those who have been “reincarnated” can be saved as it states that some will awake to *everlasting life* (because they will put their belief/trust in Jesus to save their eternal lives). The ones who will go into everlasting contempt will be those who refuse to give up their ill-obtained wealth and riches in the world, and who will knowingly lose their power/control upon Christ’s return – they are, however, nothing more than members of Satan’s Assembly, in utter denial. In fact, this is happening now. What needed to happen was for Christ to put an end to this “reincarnation” done by these groups, and for which, He has. They tried to do this to me, and it failed. And some of them, I believe, are excited for this – others angry, as it upsets “the system”. We should pray that they all come to recognize this witness in Christ as being Savior and the only way to God’s true kingdom.

          • I am a Catholic. There are two comments you made that need further clarification.
            1. When a person dies he or she does not reincarnate. Their soul goes to Heaven or Hell permanently.
            2. The sin against the Holy Spirit specifically is a lack of repentance. God is so forgiving that if someone knowingly rejects God’s mercy and forgiveness then he or she cannot be forgiven. That person has closed their heart and therefore is unable to receive that forgiveness. So the person himself or herself puts themself in a state of sinning against the Holy Spirit’s gift of forgiveness.The key word here is “knowingly” rejecting that gift.
            Thank you for your love and passion for our Catholic Faith and for trying to help others.

      • And…FREEMASONS aren’t forbidden to be catholics by FREEMASONRY’S standards. Freemasonry does not forbid a person by religion. The only way you would not be admitted into freemasonry is if you admit to not believing in the FATHER, SON and THE HOLY SPIRIT. Masons do not discuss religion or politics inside the lodge walls, out of respect for one another’s affiliation religiously or, politically.

    • Maybe you should be careful and study more of it. Remember, in order to get people to follow, you should make them feel there is nothing wrong. The famous “devil who can appear as an angel of light.”Jesus also said to Peter that he would be the rock on which he would build his Church and the Gates of Hell would not prevail over it. This is a warning that the Gates of Hell will constantly try to destroy the Church. They did and it is continuing till today.
      In 1917, the Free Masons paraded in front of St. Peter in the square and declared that Satan should enter the Church and the Pope would be his slave. Personally I would never want to be part of that and I am also a Catholic.

    • Catholics also need to be reminded that:
      The term Anti-pope; meands that not all of the Church is or was convinced that those called same were the true Pope.
      Therefore:
      It is reasonable to conclude that; the term Anti-Christ is also used in the same way.
      The Biblio of Bartnabus clearly states that when the Messiah is reborn his name shall be Mohameed. This biblio is found in a book that the Church claimed to have the only copy of until another was found in Turkey that included TWO additional books not found in the version at the Vatican.

      • “If” Christs died at 36 which was the much disputed age (instead of 33); 36 PLUS 630 A.D. (the begining of Mohameeds reign) then it must be considerd to factually be the number of The Anti-Christ and most “may” have missed his return.

        • I dont understand these figures.
          Jesus died at age 33 = 6. He suffered 6 hours on the cross, from 9am-3pm.
          Some claim Jesus died friday 3 april. Friday is fifth, 3 + (april)4 mth is 12 = 6 6.
          So we have 6 6 6 yes?
          I should welcome an explanation from any gentleman.

          • Mathematically speaking you could take most any set of numbers and there very possibly if figured the right way could break down to 666. Go figure.

      • The “Gospel of Barnabas” is an utter fraud. And your statement about finding a copy in Turkey appears to be untrue:

        “In 1985, it was briefly claimed that an early Syriac copy of this gospel had been found near Hakkâri in eastern Turkey.[72] However, it has since been demonstrated that this manuscript actually contains the canonical Bible.[73]

        “In February 2012, it was confirmed by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism that a 52-page biblical manuscript in Syriac writing had been deposited in the Ethnography Museum of Ankara.[74] Newspaper reports in Turkey claimed that the manuscript had been found in Cyprus in 2000, in an operation conducted by police against smugglers, and had been kept in a police repository since then;[75] and further speculated that the text of the manuscript could be that of the Gospel of Barnabas. Photographs of a cover page have been widely published, on which can be read an inscription in a recent Neo-Aramaic hand, stating “In the name of our Lord, this book is written on the hands of the monks of the high monastery in Nineveh, in the 1,500th year of our Lord”.[76][77] No subsequent confirmation has been published, either as to the contents of the Ankara manuscript, or as to any findings of scientific tests for its age and authenticity.[74]” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Barnabas

        https://www.lastampa.it/2012/03/04/vaticaninsider/the-gospel-of-barnabas-hoax-dmytRSmf9UhiPZJZJx60SL/pagina.html

        https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/why-the-gospel-of-barnabas-is-a-medieval-fake

        https://www.academia.edu/1151977/_The_Date_and_Provenance_of_the_Gospel_of_Barnabas_

          • No, I don’t myself state; I quoted a brief passage from Wikipedia for an overview. You’ve only to read that and the other links I provided to be given more information about why the Gospel of Barnabas is a fraud.

            Regarding the one found in Turkey, what evidence do you have that it is the so-called Gospel of Barnabas at all, given that, as the Wikipedia article states, “No subsequent confirmation has been published, either as to the contents of the Ankara manuscript, or as to any findings of scientific tests for its age and authenticity?”

            In any event, the inscription on the cover says the book was written in 1500.

            You wrote, “This biblio is found in a book that the Church claimed to have the only copy of until another was found in Turkey that included TWO additional books not found in the version at the Vatican.”

            Considering that there *is* no verion at the Vatican, that’s quite a statement. The Italian version of the book is in the Austrian National Library in Vienna. The later Spanish version has been missing since 1792, when it was in England; a transcript of it (which indeed lacks quite a few chapters) is in the University of Sydney’s Fisher Library.

            Just FYI: The Vatican is not in Vienna, Austria; nor is it in Sydney, Australia.

            The breathlessly hysterical news articles about how “This proves the Bible wrong!” are written by anti-religious or anti-Christian (or both) authors to dupe the ignorant and the gullible, who are the only ones clueless enough to fall for such claptrap.

          • Or the Agnostics who require proof instead of just responding and not allowing any reply. My last email with the Vatican received the written response that they want to see my proof “but reserve the right to make the final decision”. What makes hem so special? NOTE: Liknes (King Haralds estate on Karmoy Island Norway) is the Norwegian equivelant of the Roman cursive name Licinious, the Greek name Lachoneous, and the Etruscain name Viking when Yiddish is used to make literal letter by letter translations. All share the same historic records which is contrary to the Catholic version….ALL are based on Agnostic beliefs that require proof not just devotion to the propaganda lines The Church expects/requires. I am not Muslim however I make an allowance to include possible and historiclly documented events that might suggest their beliefs to be possibly accurate. Neither am I Morman where the version of Lachoneous is found. The Viking Saga of the Aesir contains the same version of history. These are all widely dispersed cultures with the same historic record that belies the Catholic version.

          • Lamby pie, you’re babbling, and making almost no sense at all, and in any case what you’re writing seems utterly unrelated to the issue at hand.

            I salute the Vatican for politely answering what must have been one of the more imbecilic communications they’ve received in a while. As to what makes them so special – What makes *you* so special?

            Ignorant, gullible, clueless, *and* incoherent. An impressive achievement. And as to your claim that you aren’t a Moslem, the lady doth protest too much, methinks.

        • Just reading your supplied
          /_The_Date_and_Provenance_of_the_Gospel_of_Barnabas_
          so far I have found nothing there in to substantiate your position. I will look at the others later as I have time to do so.
          Hopefully others reading your blog will note your self serving attitude and ommission of any debate on the subjects I mentioned inspite of your comfortable command of the english language.

          • The subjects you mention make no sense. I can’t tell what you’re babbling about, so how am I supposed to reply?

            Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe. All mimsy were the borogoves, and of course, the mome raths outgrabe. What about that?

          • Trust me Ken. I’ve noticed (deep sigh)

            He who hatheth knowledge, keepeth quiet.

            ATT : Leslie
            – Ego is the anaesthesia which deadens the pain of stupidity. Pride is the burden of all foolish people. – Remember this and if I may; your clearly prejudicial-based inconsiderate approach is quite shocking for someone who claims to have such an extensive education/knowledge of history. One would think that the study of the history of man, would eventually help you develop your Humanitarian values, which I personally feel is largely based on complete equality (something that you seem to largely lack of, supposedly as a cause to your selfish conceptualized understanding of things.)

            I truly hope you don’t find offense in my comment/reply. As this would simply be proving my point.

            Kindest Regards

          • “your clearly prejudicial-based inconsiderate approach”

            What is a “prejudicial-based inconsiderate approach?” Do you perhaps mean prejudice-based? If so, I admit that I am prejudiced against vicious anti-Catholicism, and against lousy writing.

            What evidence do you have that I did not consider facts and arguments? Or do you mean that I was “inconsiderate” in the sense that I must ot have considered the tender ickwe feewings of people because I criticized their reasoning, or lack thereof?

            “is quite shocking for someone who claims to have such an extensive education/knowledge of history.”

            Where do I use a claim that I have “such an extensive education/knowledge of history” as an argument? I research, and present facts. I never wrote, “I know history and therefore you must believe me;” I provided information and conclusions based on them.

            “One would think that the study of the history of man, would eventually help you develop your Humanitarian values,”

            Again, what are you talking about? Upon what are you basing your evaluation of my “Humanitarian values,” whatever you mean by that? The fact that I don’t meekly agree with people who are misrepresenting facts and drawing unwarranted conclusions?

            “which I personally feel”

            Therein lies part of your problem; you might try using your intellect instead of your emotions.

            “is largely based on complete equality (something that you seem to largely lack of, supposedly as a cause to your selfish conceptualized understanding of things.)”

            Your sentence says that I seem to lack complete equality. That makes no sense at all. Even if it made sense, your sentence construction is poor; “something that you seem largely to lack” would be the correct phrasing, though it would not cause the sentence to make sense.

            “I truly hope you don’t find offense in my comment/reply. As this would simply be proving my point.”

            It would be easier to know whether I should be offended if you wrote clearly. As it is, what I am understanding your post to say is “You don’t agree with me, and I can’t argue any of the facts to I will instead sling what are probably intended to be insults, though I’ve phrased them so confusingly that it will be hard to tell.”

            Not sure how anyone can prove a point that you haven’t actually made.

          • Leslie, in charity may I remind you that when we disagree with someone by “assassinating their character” (the term for it) undermines your credibility. You are doing a great job but please stick to the facts and don’t lower yourself by using personal attacks on their character.
            If you don’t have an immediate answer, it’s OK to say you don’t know but you will get back to them. You will gain their respect and possibly gain their attention too.
            You have a gift for debating but I hope these suggestions will help you be more effective.
            God Bless you,
            a fellow Catholic believe too.

          • I did not assassinate anyone’s character. I pointed out facts, including the incoherence of posts which make no sense.

            If I don’t have an answer, I find one before I post. But if you re-read this thread (or any of the other threads in the comment section of this article on which I have posted) you will notice that the persons to whom I have responded have not asked qustions. They have made statements, and where those statements are wrong I have corrected them.

            May God bless you, too; thank you.

      • The Biblio of Bartnabus is proven to be fake over and over and over again, written in recent years by your moslem people buuuuy they are pretending it to muuuuuch older just to make their made up sect look legit lol
        Wake up and join the light, your people were Christians as well way before your made up sect of today.
        Pray for your sins and for forgivness and I will pray for you as well and your lost soul.

    • Crap. People join Masonic societies for advancement, not for socialization. They are the most power-hungry organization in the world and they revel in secrecy and elitism, always, always advancing their own without any real merit and always using their influence for favors for their own, even with judges. The Cities of Washington and London are now the major centers of the craft, and the polices which their anointed political shills have been instilling in all of our institutions are completely anti Christian and anti-family. The only really great US presidents were those who were not Masons. The rest were complete shills caught up in their cultish and childish loyalties, all of which make a complete mockery of democracy, and any kind of really open government. Today we see nothing but child-like Masons running the US and causing one war of exploitation after another. May Catholics unite and join St. Michael and his angels to completely expose the Masons for their evils and drive all of them from their corrupt control over our lives to the place where they belong.

      • Great post and thank you. I am highly suspicious of the unanimity of each successive ‘woke’ cultural advancement, starting with same sex marriage and seamlessly morphing into transgender ‘rights’ all of which are championed by the politicians and main stream media without a single voice of dissension. It doesn’t matter how lame the proposal, how much the view goes directly against life experience, how much the next push into cultural re-shaping defies science, every single politician and media outlet uncritically adopt it, as do all the academics and a vast array of powerful people. None of these initiatives come from ordinary people. It is notable that they are, without exception, introduced in the name of ‘inclusiveness ‘, a notion that was mentioned in the article against the Catholic Church. Now we are seeing democratic processes suborned, and the judiciary upholding unjust verdicts.
        For those who read or speak French, books and videos by Serge Abad-Gallardo are insightful as to the real character of Freemasonry.

    • Our true Catholic Church has comdemed free masonary and to join it is to lose one’s soul. At least prior to the Masonic takeover of the Vatican by the Mason John XXIII. Remember about the Fatima Third Secret Warning that wasn’t reveald as commanded in 1960. Well, it was about the loss of souls due to adhereing to a false Pope. Our present pope is Gregory XVIII also in hiding for his life and the true church is small but alive as will always be. A priest has no jurisdiction under a false pope. Worse time in Church history with no mass , no sacraments and false dogma, new Catachism. There have been 38 antipopes in the last 2000 years but none lasted this long. Any one tht is over 75 should have questioned the new revolution, with new mass wit all th eclaping and women running up teh altar and altar girls and communion in the hands, folk music just like the Protestants. And today the Catholic Church refers to heretics as Christians

    • I have been a Master Mason for almost 20 years.
      I am always looking for articles that pertain to both religion and Freemasonry.
      The Catholic Church is the Church I belong to. I am now no longer able to attend the Church due to me getting a divorce and not spending the time and money to get the marriage annulled.
      What people fail to understand about ANY religion is that there is NOTHING in the Bible that remotely pertains to anything about Freemasonry.
      The man made Doctrine, in each individual Church, is the culprit of these writings about Freemasonry.
      Nothing more, nothing less. It is MAN that condemns Freemasonry, not the Bible or any other Holy Book.

      • I’m sorry about your expense of annullment. It shouldn’t keep you from the sacraments but certainly there is grace you are losing out of by being a Mason. Just the same a person who is Catholic and going to Yoga classes. There are demons attached to these things. Unfortunetly cities aren’t not adhering to Pope Frances request that annulments shouldn’t cost no more then $200. Good thing is you can get an annulment anywhere. Go to the closest rural church and you should get it no problem for $200. God bless and don’t lose Faith (But please lose it in the Masonic sect.)

        • In the meantime you can still attend Mass and do a “Spiritual Communion”.
          I will pray that your annulment situation gets resolved soon.

        • What isn’t mentioned is that there has to be a reason for an annulment based on doctrine. Because I couldn’t wait (safety reasons) for the process, I got a legal divorce. I still got the annulment later. Don’t remember what I paid for the work, time, paperwork, etc.) but it couldn’t have been much as I didn’t have much.

      • ” I am now no longer able to attend the Church due to me getting a divorce and not spending the time and money to get the marriage annulled.”

        You can attend Mass even if you’ve gotten a divorce. You can even receive the Eucharist, if you haven’t entered into a second “marriage.”

        One doesn’t “get the marriage annulled.” It’s a declaration of nullity, a statement that the marriage was never valid in the first place, not a breaking of a marriage that was valid.

        “What people fail to understand about ANY religion is that there is NOTHING in the Bible that remotely pertains to anything about Freemasonry.”

        If you mean there’s nothing that says directly “Thou shalt not be a ‘Freemason,'” the, no, there isn’t. However, “He who hears you hears Me” applies quite well – if you are flagrantly disobeying the Church’s teachings, and you are, you are one of the “he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him Who sent Me” group.

        It appears that you have rejected the Church because you want to be a Freemason and because (I gather) you want to marry a second wife. That would fall under “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me,” the gods in this case being Freemasonry and your wants.

      • Freddy, that’s because freemasonry wasn’t around back then.
        Btw you should maybe read the bible again, and you will have the answers there.

    • Remember the devil can appear as an angel of flight. In order to lure people, they will pretend that they are on you level of spirituality.They are so intelligent and know exactly how to get you.
      I just found out that the emblem on the Fez of the Shriners is totally islamic! An islamic sword on top and underneath a crescent with a star. Islam’s goal is to end Christianity , even though they pretend that they believe in Jesus. Their Jesus is not the Jesus we know. The Evil one wants to destroy our Church , be careful , get out of there. There are many other ways for you to comply with the Gospel.

    • Good for you. I am a non-religious, Hebrew reading, biblical scholar with 20 years experience of studying that book. I also know that the Jews during the Babylonian captivity of 586 BC plagiarized the Sumerian cuneiform creation stories to write their version and that is why they are God’s chosen. I also know that the god of the Bible has 2476633 recorded kills while Satan has 10. I also know they took a hundred pounds of a painkiller, mer, and aloe vera to Jesus’s tomb. That’s John 19 verse 39. That is why I’m not religious. But having said all that I despise the Vatican I despise the fact they removed two of The Ten Commandments. And the Nazi connection to the last 3 popes is so obvious Stevie Wonder can see that. Just putting in my two cents worth. As an old man with an IQ of 167.

      • God one Mark. But, when you found these anomalies, didnt you find the pearls too??
        The water cycle, the tree of eden, the 10 commandments, the complementary relationship between man and woman, the Ecclesiastes “there is nothing new under the sun”, Jesus and the wineyard, the descriptions of the universe, the planets, m.m.
        Universal truth!
        Remember the bible is symbolic and if you want to misunderstand you get your way.

      • Mr. Anderson, could you get back to me and tell me which 2 commandments were taken away, please? What was the Natzi connection to the last 3 popes? I had pretty bad abuse as a child by my father and developed different personalities, which I’m still trying to cope with and still trying to put myself back together again. I read the bible, but was not aware of what you have discovered. I am 68, turning 69 this year in May. Appreciate any help you could give me. My name is Susana, I thank you ahead of time for your help.

    • Jesus was not a materialistic person. Religions that dominate by large numbers of people and large amounts of money are not Christian. Jesus whipped the money changers from the church. People that believe that God is money some how missed the point Jesus was trying to make. What will the big money holders do to remain in power? Lie, cheat, steal and even kill? This is not what Jesus taught us. We have to think out side the box and have a separation of church and state. Government and religions should think and act different. When a religion acts as a government that is not a teaching of Christ.

    • Governments fighting against governments is one thing. Christians fighting against Christians is not Christ like. Governments are composed of many religions. If Christian we must think like the Christ did.

    • Gods creatures, bird, fish, mammals don’t have big bank accounts and yet God gives them plenty. If you have no money does that mean you are without God? Jesus did not have a big bank account does that mean he was not with his father? The only power that Jesus believed in was the almighty power of God.

    • If one says creator or architect of the universe, God, our praises the gathering of the crops, the rain or the sun, our we not showing gratitude to God? Using these words should not reflect that we are anti-Christ.

    • The monitoring of my replies is against the freedom of information act. Not posting these replies is a federal offense. Freedom of speech and constitutional rights are being denied.

          • You mean a comment I made two years ago? In response to someone implicitly threatening some sort of possible legal action against CWR because he thought we weren’t allowing his comments? That commenter was either being a bullying jerk (probably the case) or was making an unsuccessful attempt at bad humor (doubtful, but who knows for sure?). “Cutting” remarks are not, by their nature, “un-Christian”, as any decent reading of, say, Sacred Scripture (St. Paul!), Church Fathers (Jerome!), or Chesterton reveals.

    • The placing of replies in not order of date received is questionable. Replies should be placed in chronological order by date ent.

    • All this historical criticism of Masonry!!! Study the history of the ecclesiastical hierarchy in the Roman Catholic church, look at the inquisition: Giordano Bruno burned alive for teaching, among other things, that the sun is at the center of the solar system, Galileo put under house arrest for the last decade of his life for also teaching the heliocentric theory and that Jupiter has moons; wars, tyranny and terrorism that disrupted entire nations; one of the most barbaric institutions in the history of the world. The Roman Catholic Church gets the prize, hands down. The fact is that all human institutions are fallible and only have as much integrity as their leadership. Certainly there have been wicked Masons just as there have been wicked Catholics. Also, to give credit where credit is due, The Roman Catholic Church has probably sponsored more charitable work in the world and done more to spread the good news of the Gospel than any other single institution. It is equally important to recognize that on the whole the Masonic fraternity has been a constructive force in civilization and certainly has done far more, historically, to promote the constitutional and egalitarian governments, which we so value in the west, than the Catholic Church ever did, which, in spite of having done much good in the world, has so frequently acted not to enlarge Christ’s 2000 year old mission, but instead to power-monger and to fill the coffers of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. I take note of the cowardly yellow admonition above this comment: “All comments posted at Catholic World Report are moderated. While vigorous debate is welcome and encouraged, please note that in the interest of maintaining a civilized and helpful level of discussion, comments containing obscene language or personal attacks—or those that are deemed by the editors to be needlessly combative or inflammatory—will not be published. Thank you.” CENSORSHIP. STILL AT IT. YET ANOTHER IMPOTENT ATTEMPT TO CONTROL HOW I THINK AND HOW I EXPRESS MYSELF, ABSOLUTELY INFURIATING!!! Encouraging “vigorous debate”, and refusing to publish what the editors consider to be “uncivilized and needlessly inflammatory” are mutually inconsistent concepts. We can’t have vigorous debate and refuse to publish that which we find unpleasant. It doesn’t work that way. I grew up in the Catholic Church, love the sacraments, was forced to abandon it secondary to the antics of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and have found a welcome refuge in Masonry where independent thought and devotion to a God of ones own understanding and faith is encouraged.

      • Nice try. Giordano Bruni wasn’t tried on anything to do with heliocentrism. “Starting in 1593, Bruno was tried for heresy by the Roman Inquisition on charges of denial of several core Catholic doctrines, including eternal damnation, the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the virginity of Mary, and transubstantiation. Bruno’s pantheism was also a matter of grave concern,[5] as was his teaching of the transmigration of the soul/reincarnation.”

        As for Galileo, you might try reading Dom Paschal Scotti’s Galileo Revisited: The Galileo Affair in Context if you want more than the cartoon heroes and villains you present.

        “The fact is that all human institutions are fallible and only have as much integrity as their leadership.”

        The Church is not a human institution, it is a divine one. It is the Church that Jesus built, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

        “It is equally important to recognize that on the whole the Masonic fraternity has been a constructive force in civilization and certainly has done far more, historically, to promote the constitutional and egalitarian governments, which we so value in the west,”

        Twaddle. A secret society that scurries around behind the baseboards like cockroaches pushing its own influence is hardly a proponent of constitutionality and egalitarianism. You accuse the Church of “terrorism that disrupted entire nations;” that describes Masonry to a T.

        “CENSORSHIP. STILL AT IT. YET ANOTHER IMPOTENT ATTEMPT TO CONTROL HOW I THINK AND HOW I EXPRESS MYSELF, ABSOLUTELY INFURIATING!!! ”

        You appear not to grasp the difference between the government’s infringing on free speech and the right of the owner of a website to decide whether or not to publish particular comments. Nobody is stopping you from expressing yourself, but that doesn’t give you the right to go to a privately owned website spewing nonsensical venom and insisting that it be published, any more than someone is obliged to invite you into his living room and listen to your ranting.

        “I grew up in the Catholic Church”

        That explains a lot; ex-Catholics tend to be bitter pills, knowing deep down that they have left the greater for the lesser.

        “love the sacraments, was forced to abandon it secondary to the antics of the ecclesiastical hierarchy,”

        Granted that some members of the hierarchy have behaved sinfully – so what? You’re a negative example of the adage “Don’t leave Jesus because of Judas.”

        “have found a welcome refuge in Masonry”

        Left the Church for Masonry. And people say Masonry isn’t a religion!

      • We read “The fact is that all human institutions are fallible and only have as much integrity as their leadership.”

        The singular institutional anomaly is that the Catholic Church is divinely instituted (Pentecost) and not categorically/exclusively a human institution… and yet, as you passionately note, is also embedded in a race of human-type folks with feet of clay, especially including many, many successors of the apostles, and even others like ourselves.

        The cases of outrage that you cite–Bruno, Galileo, etc.–therefore are a mixed bag routinely dragged down by our fallen nature, and not to be reduced to bumper-sticker analysis.

        Historians seem to agree that Bruno, for example, was not actually tried for his cosmology, but rather for his intermixed theological and philosophical assertions: “Starting in 1593, Bruno was tried for heresy by the Roman Inquisition on charges of denial of several core Catholic doctrines, including eternal damnation, the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the virginity of Mary, and transubstantiation. Bruno’s pantheism was also a matter of grave concern,as was his teaching of the transmigration of the soul/reincarnation” (Wikipedia).

        It seems that while theologians often wander too freely into science, scientists also wander too freely in the opposite direction. Still, burning at the stake probably was not the best option (!), nor is flaming contempt in our era of the published/written word.

        Benedict XVI wrote with characteristic clarity and precision on this perennial human problem of faith and reason. But so too, and never accused of being a religious voice, even Albert Einstein spoke against both kinds of bracket creep, whether by the churches or by scientists. Science has to do with means of achieving ends; its method is not geared to discover values and ends, so of the need for precision he wrote:

        “This is where the struggle of the Church against the doctrines of Galileo and Darwin belongs. On the other hand, representatives of science have often made an attempt to arrive at fundamental judgments with respect to values and ends on the basis of scientific method, and in this way have set themselves in opposition to religion. These conflicts have all sprung from fatal errors” (Albert Einstein, “Science and Religion,” 1939, Out of My Later Year, Philosophical Library, 1950).

    • You only belonged to one of the first 3 degrees. Freemasonry lies to its own members and is also elitist, plus if you don’t have lots of cash you cannot move up in the degrees as the fees grow. Originally, the Scottish version of it was Catholic, however, as far as I am aware that changed a long time ago.

    • Any oath that is not baptismal, any allegiance that is condemned by the Church, for any reason, is a mortal sin. Craft Masonry is “Luciferian” – the discovery of the Light by personal virtue & effort. It uses the wisdom of the world rather than the scandal if the Cross. It is eventually Anti- Christ in orientation and therefore Satanic. Leave.

    • No mason can be a believer in Christ. Masons are followers of the light. Aka lucifer. They are very anti Christian and anti Jesus. 33degree masons follow and pray to the devil. This article while nice in some facts, skips over the original Bavarian lodge and it’s direct ties to lucifer. They Freemason plot that they run the world isn’t some fairytale. Saying it is, is a detriment to everyone on earth. They are very much running the world.

    • There is a clear statement of the Vatican (Congregation of Doctrine of the Faith) on the issue. Please check on the DECLARATION ON MASONIC ASSOCIATIONS 1983 – also on “Irreconcilability between Christian faith and Freemasonry”

    • Thank you, mr. Alessandro: you’ve told the right thing, to this stupid liar..That, if we only speak about religious matters, but sciences(anthropology, politics ..and so many more)..

    • You can’t be catholic and a Freemason.

      My fathers Protestant family was full of Freemasons and it was a curse. It’s a generational curse to have Freemasons in the family. Men in my fathers family ALL died young. Generational cycles of abuse, addiction.. are also family curses.

      There are catholic and Christian prayers to remedy and heal that past.

    • Finally a post that makes sense and is presented intelligently. Thank you for this clarification and for sharing your living experience.

    • I would also agree with Mr. Heaney’s statement. As a Master Mason, I can say from my experience the following points:
      1) Any person belonging to any Christian religion is welcome to join the Masonic Fraternity. In this regard, and only this regard, do Mason’s consider religions equal.
      2) You MUST be centered in a Christian faith to be a member.
      3) In reference to the term “Gnostic wisdom,” one would be blind or ignorant to see the mastery involved in the creation. Beauty in the symmetry and complexities of the natural world are what we’ve been told to discuss for decades in all religions.
      4) For those that believe our rituals are demonic I will say that we made similar chants as children, “I promise – Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.” Is this too demonic.

      The article also states it was “having second thoughts” prior to the P2 scandal and then allowed a small group to push for a hard line. However, today we see a softening of the language related to the LBGTQ community. While I do not agree with this community or lifestyle, I believe that I am not the one to judge then.

      Judge not, lest ye be judged.

  2. David Heaney, As you have noted, there is a big difference between American Freemasonry and the Grand Lodge of the Orient.

      • You must not be a Mason! You’ve no idea what you are speaking about! I am a Christian and I have never heard or seen and thing that would refer to the death burial or resurrection of my savior Jesus Christ!

        • Amos 3:3 and another going Jesus call brother ego do the father’s will.Don’t decive yourself.One faith,one Lord clean like pure water.

      • Wow you really sound informed. Try spelling the man’s name correctly next time you decide to grace us with your endless knowledge.

        • “Try spelling the man’s name correctly”

          Since the man is a complete figment of the imagination, the spelling of his name isn’t exactly relevant.

  3. Keep in mind any of the “Grand Orient” lodges are considered Co-Masonry and NOT compatable with Regular Masons. Membership within one of the Grand Orient lodges is grounds for expulsion. Much of the basis of this article for vilifying Freemasons is based upon the actions of those irregular lodges. Much of this article is inaccurate.

    • Confusion mixing some truth with lies is the part of the luceferian deception of freemasonry. There may be some truth in what you say bill but dont be decieved freemasonry is witchcraft and no practicer of witchcraft shall inherit the kingdom of heaven repent while you are still alive before its to late

    • Correct, and without exception.
      What is the truth is I am a Freemason in California and ny adult daughter, most recently after being a member of the Eastern Star for sometime decided she wanted to become a Catholic , unfortunately she is being treated for “anxiety” as she has likely destroyed her mind when in years earlier was a heavy user of methamphetamine. Now, after going through “Catholic instruction” she claims Masons are devil worshipers and their symbols are pentagrams. Also, she now says I am evil, and I’m “reading her”, my eyes glow red and making other delusional statements. I am a Christian, attend church regularly, and most certainly do not look down on others. The history of Catholic church includes contracting with the Knights Templar, to carry out the Christian Crusades, who were giving license to pillage and to bring their booty to the Vatican. The Templars became early-on were speculative members Masons as the “church” in it’s attempt to separate from the brutality of the Templars, denounced them and put any whuch could be identified to death. So in the Templars defense, they were taken in by the Freemasons, and therefore able to travel freely from country to country, to work as stone masons. The twisted rationale is obviously a deflection of the truth and continues today. Now it is destroying my family.

      • For those who claim to be masons, I can tell that you can find many mistakes in catholics, but you can’t find errors in Jesus. You can criticize any thing, but you can’t criticize Jesus. Masons don’t like catholic religion because they are full of selfishness and arrogance they think they are better than other human beings. Jesus demand humility and an effort to be a better person with others. That is the reason why you don’t want to trust Jesus

        • Catholics can be one thing ( they are people with faults like anyone else) but Catholicism is another thing. The Church created by Jesus Christ IS Catholicism. You have been fooled by anti Catholic propaganda, which is usually via unknowing protestants and Atheists. If you only know the Faith via illiterate (knowingly or unknowingly) people, then you do not know the Faith. Our staunchest Catholics are ex protestants who found out the truth , after having believed what you are saying now. There is no Christianity without the Church of Christ. The Scriptures which the protestants are so happy with would not have existed if it wasn’t for the Catholic Church.

      • Before opining about the Crusades and the Knights Templar, who have been maligned in many ways and in order to justify King Philip the Fair’s destruction of the Templars as a way to solve his financial problems. Most of what is published about the Templars in regular media is garbage.

      • Anyone with minimum knowledge about the ‘occult’ faiths(Dreemasonry, Wicca-Witchcraft, Satanism), knows you are L-I-A-R-S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do you really believe you can fool out everyone in the world, with your fictions(like that about you, and your daughter, too)????

    • Nobody asks or commands you to serve anyone in Freemasonry. Yes, there is a man in charge, referred to as the Worshipful Master, but the word Master refers to the head of the Lodge and in fact he represents King Solomon but more practically, as in operative Masonry, the Master of the works on the site. He is not “worshipped”, because the word “Worshipful” in this context, means “worthy of respect” as if addressing a man as “Your Worship” when speaking to a man who is a Judge or a Mayor.

      Indeed as a Mason, it is expected that you continue to WORSHIP whichever God you worshipped before you joined Masonry. If you are a Jew who then joins Masonry, you are expected to be Jewish.. if you are Sikh, you are expected to remain a Sikh, if you are Muslim, you are expected to remain a Muslim. In fact, I have been to Masonic meetings all over the world where men from completely opposing factions.. yes even Arabs and Jews sit as brothers and friends. Now that has GOT to be a good thing!

      The problem with the Catholic Church, is that there are far too many people in it who simply want to swell the numbers through complete and utter devotion. Not for the salvation of the soul, but more numbers = more control = more “charitable donations” made to the Church from people who can usually ill afford them. And because Freemasonry is secular with no reference to what religion you are… indeed the discussion of religion and politics are forbidden at a meeting…the Catholic Church sees it as an enemy.

      I guarantee you, there is NO Masonic religion. There is no mention of a particular God…. just a generic word or two for whichever God you believe in. We have men of all faiths meeting together, so to use a specific word which one religion uses for it’s Supreme Being, would exclude others who hold a different faith. We are about unity, not division. No anti-church talk (remember, I said no talk of religion or politics) but it seems to me that millions of Catholics are taking as read, the directions of whichever Pope it may be without THINKING FOR THEMSELVES! This guy (whoever it may be) CANNOT know what Freemasonry is about… he can GUESS, certainly but unless he joins he can never know. Anyone that gives direction as serious as excommunication from the Church without KNOWING what Freemasonry is,is simply insulting the billions of followers of the Catholic faith around the world and should be ASHAMED of himself.

      • You’re an enemy of the catholic church

        Your own words convict you…
        “The problem with the Catholic Church, is that there are far too many people in it who simply want to swell the numbers through complete and utter devotion.”

        A lie with a half truth or distinction without a difference.
        Not for the salvation of the soul, but more numbers = more control = more “charitable donations” made to the Church from people who can usually ill afford them.

        A lie a And complete ignorance.
        “because Freemasonry is secular with no reference to what religion you are… indeed the discussion of religion and politics are forbidden at a meeting…the Catholic Church sees it as an enemy.” lie gaotu is your god; you call your place a masonic temple, you have an altar, vestments and rituals…..

      • Very good read brother. I myself was interested due to the unity and the brotherhood. I advise lodge 500 for a visit. It’s the 2nd oldest lodge in the world and one I gladly visit monthly. God bless.

      • “The problem with the Catholic Church, is that there are far too many people in it who simply want to swell the numbers through complete and utter devotion. Not for the salvation of the soul, but more numbers = more control = more “charitable donations” made to the Church from people who can usually ill afford them.”

        Oh my, how sad you have believed this pile of nonsense. You do not know the Church.

        • As far as i’ve learned about, there isn’t any religious faith in the world, either to be ‘perfect’, or to have ‘perfect followers'(and a majority of fully believers(100%), in its teachings..
          .These, contrary there definitely also exist real 1000% believers(fanatics), in each..

      • Fred, I agree with most of what you’ve written. I’m a Catholic Mason, myself. And I can tell you with 100000000% certainty that nothing I’ve ever seen, read or been involved with anything that would lead me to believe that Masonry is incompatible with the church. In my view, this is a one-sided ‘fight’.

        Maybe fight is a too harsh a word, but Masonry is not a religion. It’s a philosophy, really. We are freethinkers, accepting of everyone from all different backgrounds. We engage in a lot of charitable works. We are taught to respect our religion, as well as the religions of others.

        We do not worship Satan (my lodge is dedicated to the Holy Saints John, btw). We use “Grand Architect of the Universe” as a generic term for our creator as to not offend anyone. Everyone in lodge must believe in a ‘supreme being’.

        In my opinion, the Catholic Church has three main issues with Freemasonry:

        1 – Allegations of Deism: The belief that God created the Universe but did not intervene in the world after this. I can totally see why the Church would have a problem with that, but I’ve never read anything that would lead me to believe Freemasonry preaches this. The Church came to this idea because they thought that the term Supreme Architect of the Universe implied Freemasons believed in Deism.

        2 – Separation of Church & State: Freemasons believe in the freedom of religion. Hundreds of years ago the Pope essentially ruled the world. He led the church in horrible, horrible crusades and killed so many people. If you don’t think the Pope 800 years ago wanted to rule the world, then you’re wrong. When people came around with the idea of religious freedom and freethinking, this was a direct attack on the Pope’s rule. Naturally the church wants to convert everyone, so this is easy to understand why the church had a problem with this in the past.

        3 – Religious Indifference – Catholic critics of Freemasonry observe that it refuses to promote one faith as being superior to any others, while at the same time it also uses religious-type rituals. That combination is seen as inculcating an indifference to religion. Personal theological beliefs are not to be discussed in the lodge, thus avoiding arguments with those holding different beliefs. It has been suggested that this ban on religious discussion was especially important in Eighteenth Century England[33] where a civil war, in part caused by religious conflict, had only recently ended.

        Why the Church has a problem with Freemasonry in 2019 bewilders me. But they also won’t the priest marry or let women serve as priest.

        Freemason lodges in the United States are very, very different from French and other Grand Orient lodges.

        • The Church has more problems with Freemasonry than those you list, including the evil of swearing vain oaths.\

          For someone who claims to be Catholic, you certainly seem to hate the Church. Judging by your dislike of priestly celibacy and your silly objection to the fact that the Church doesn’t have priestesses, in addition to your disobedience in the matter of being a Freemason, if you’re a Catholic at all you’re Catholic-Lite, or a cafeteria Catholic; you don’t actually believe that the Church is what She says She is.

          If you acknowledge the authority of the Church, you can’t be a Freemason. If you prefer to be a Freemason rather than acknowledge the authority of the Church, you’re in a state of grave sin and cannot receie Holy Communion.

          • Hello Leslie, I appreciate your comments.

            I find it hard for you to call any oaths ‘vain’ if you do not know for certain what is contained in the oaths. I would caution you there as Freemasonry has changed over the course of 100+ years. Freemasonry is also vastly different in various parts of the world. Certainly in the US, Freemasonry could differ city by city, state by state in what is contained in oaths, etc.

            Has the Catholic churched changed much? I believe that if an organization is to grow and keep with the times, then they need to evolve. I don’t think dramatic change is needed, but certainly there can be tweaks, no?

            I do not ‘hate’ the Church at all. The Church has given me a foundation for my spirituality, and I believe Freemasonry has only helped me to appreciate my religious foundation even more.

            Now, is the Church without its faults? Certainly not. We can look to the mass murder that happened during the Crusades, and long distant Popes that killed innocent humans as being ‘heretics’ and for various ‘church’ related reasons.

            In modern times, we can look to the rampant cover-up of sexual abuse that’s happened in the US and all over the world. Is the Church in a state of ‘Grave sin’ for these cover-ups??

            My point is, no human or human-led organization is perfect. We are all corruptible. But there is also so much good in the world. The Church, for all its faults and sins, has also done so much good in the world, as Freemasonry has. We do quite a bit of charitable works and promote tolerance and understanding that is sorely needed here in the States right now.

            Freemasonry is not a religion. We do not worship any statue or man. It’s a philosophy, a way of freethinking. It’s a way of carrying oneself and taking care of those around you. It’s main three tenets are ‘Faith, Hope & Charity’.

            We promote good ideals. Shouldn’t we focus on the actual evil in the world?

    • If I were catholic I would worry more about the log in my own eye than than a popular fraternity, as I also agree one cannot serve two masters. So which is it? Do Catholics serve Jesus or the pope? Who is infallible again? Sounds like blasphemy to me.

      • We serve God, of course, and since He saw fit to establish the Church and appoint a Vicar, who was to be succeeded in an unbroken line, we aren’t so arrogant as to inform God that we don’t like His arrangements and therefore will disobey His Church and His Vicar.

        • With that logic, we should give up the Presidents and leaders of the world and go back to a world Monarchy, after all it is God who appoints the Kings through the divine right to rule, and we have to respect God’s choices right?

          • What does rendering unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and unto God that which is God’s, have to do with the post which is dealing with someone’s claim that to obey the Vicar who is part of the line of succession of an office established by Jesus is somehow not serving Jesus?

    • That’s great that you do, Dave, because from long long experience, I can guarantee that the Catholic Church does not. I URGE you to think for yourself… and after thought, if you come down on the side of disagreeing with Freemasonry, then that’s absolutely fine. But at least you will have reached that conclusion yourself, rather than blindly following the directions of someone who cannot possibly know what on Earth he is talking about.

      I can’t REALLY blame him though..because if the Holy Father comes out and says “actually, it’s ok to be a Catholic and a Mason”, he will have undermined all the previous Popes who have banned it. The poor man is on a hiding to nothing here if you ask me. He would be saying that you cannot trust the word of all those before him who have condemned Freemasonry… so if you cannot trust them… why should you trust him now?

        • Thank you very much for that link. My husband’s father was very active in Freemasonary as is his mother now. I am convinced there is something very diabolical with this organization. They are secretive, like why does my mother in law have to vow to keep secrets of a “club” she bakes cookies for. Why is one of the initiation rites involve baring your left breast. Why is another initiation rite involve allowing a noose to be placed around your neck as you vow fealty to the organization. I also have read many accounts of generational curses regarding this organization. And both of their sons have had problems with health, alcohol, drugs, the law education and employment. Now my mother in law is involving my nephew and this alarms me. I also have questioned her that if this is so secular, why do they have alters, temples, have pagents involving biblical renderings. I don’t want anything masonic around me because in my judgement it’s cursed.

          • Totally agree! It is cursed. My father in law who was a Catholic, joined the Freemasonry when he was a young man. As a result,. all his kids converted from being Catholic to born again. As a result, his children who are now adults gave him heartache for many years. What is sad about it is when he passed, the children disrespected Catholicism and decided to have Masonic rites done instead of a funeral mass!

  4. It is saddening to see the continued promulgation of misunderstandings (and some falsehoods) related to the Masonic fraternity.

    “Prince Hall Lodges, originally for black men, are generally considered “irregular” by American Masons.”
    This is false. Forty-two states recognize Prince Hall Lodges, with the remaining eight in the Old Confederacy (and who have a tendency not to recognize anyone who recognizes African American Masons). So, generally speaking, Masons do recognize Prince Hall Lodges. Additionally, African Americans are free to join regular lodges in those 42 states.

    “Their foremost modern commentator, Henry Wilson Coil, describes Freemasonry as “a system of morality and social ethics, a primitive religion, and a philosophy of life.””
    It is worth noting that Henry Wilson Coil was a Brother himself, but more importantly, his words are only barely true. Freemasonry is not a religion, as we do not claim to provide a path for salvation, nor do we claim that our laws come from God himself. We only require that brothers believe in a Supreme Being, whether it is Jehovah, Allah, or God. That is the limit of our concern with regards to religion.

    “Its seldom-mentioned God was the Great Architect of the Universe, reachable by reason alone.”
    First off, lodge begins with prayer, ends with prayer, and each degree has prayer woven into it. God is mentioned throughout the meeting, but different religions are not. Additionally, we do not claim that God is “reachable by reason alone” since no religion is about reason. Faith is the foundation of religion. Moreover, we do not claim that God is reachable through Masonry (since we don’t preach a path to salvation). We seek to improve ourselves on Earth, with working tools and brotherhood completely independent of our respective religions. There are no laws that affect our personal salvation.

    “In March of 1981, two of Pope Paul VI’s top financial advisors—known all along as Masons—were unmasked as members of a secret Lodge called Propaganda Due (P2) that was preparing a fascist takeover of Italy.”
    If it was a “secret lodge”, then it is what regular Mason’s would refer to as “clandestine”. That means that it is not recognized by a Grand Lodge, and thus is not a Masonic lodge. Its just a bunch of jerks who wanted to masquerade as Masons.

    “The Catholic Church and the Lodge can never be reconciled. Freemasonry teaches a rival religion of Naturalism… It treats all religions as equal but inferior to its own Gnostic wisdom… The Great Architect the Universe of Deism and Freemasonry is not the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—of Christians.”

    This is, however, the greatest falsehood of all. We teach no religion, just as the Eagle Scouts teach no religion and college fraternities teach no religion. We regard no religion as inferior. Indeed, we are told to pray where we feel closest to God (which, for me, a baptized and confirmed Catholic, happens to be the Catholic Church). The Trinity is represented multiple times throughout the various degrees of Masonry AND its appendant organizations. The York Rite candidates pledge to defend the Christian Church in the higher degrees. The Catholic Church and Freemasonry have few differences to reconcile, since they do not address the same topics.

  5. As a historian I think I can safely say that more humanity has been prosecuted in the name of God than possibly by any other means; in this process the Catholic Church has had a leading role. The killed by all means is estimated from 50 million to 100 million. I don’t see how Free Masonry can complete with this record.

    Perhaps Free Masonry is not a threat to the Church; I understand the first requirement is that you must believe in God; to do so must require the dame basic beliefs.

    Since the Church has gradually throw out one by one the foundation principals of the original Catholic Faith who knows what is next; maybe the Pope is a Mason.

    • Killed “in the name of God” is a very vague and convenient category. Does that apply, say, to ancient Babylonians, Persians, and Assyrians? When it comes to the Catholic Church, the common example thrown out is the Spanish Inquisition; some still claim that “millions” were killed by the Inquisition. But we now know, due to the work of both secular and Christian scholars, that less than 10,000 (some say 3,000-5,000) people were executed during a three hundred year span during the Inquisition.

      In comparison, Communism alone (especially in the Soviet Union, Communist China, and Cambodia) is estimated to have killed between 75-100 million in just a few decades. Then there is National Socialism. Etc.

  6. I don’t see how you can be a Catholic and a Freemason, at some point the vows made will surely conflict. Also if I were a member of a secret society I’d wonder why it was secret, I make no secret of being a Catholic.

  7. The only secrets are the three modes of recognition. And that was carried on from the working masons. Masonry to my knowledge is to teach self-knowledge through participation in a progression of ceremonies. And engaging in rituals or prayer is an act of Religio (re-connecting) Soul to Spirit. Personally I have Experienced the state of consciousness described by WT Stace as Extroverted Mystical Experience.I had joined the masons afterwards,and because the experience was not set in any form of dogma i thought the masons would be my best bet. I think Thomas Merton may have had simular motives.

  8. Yes I can understand how you can condemn Free Masonry, but I have a question how is this possible when there is a list of the Catholic Church leaders along with their photos attending Masonic meetings, with one Popes actual application to join Free Masonry, a listing of several felonywho were FreeMasons, a list containing approximately 700 names and titles of members of the Clergy including Bishops and Cardinals who all joined Masonry since 1972. Also the actual condemnation of FreeMasonry by Pope Pius IX who was a Mason until he committed a Felony in Tuscany after which he was expelled from Masonry “as no convicted Felon can be a Mason”. He within 1 year changed his condemnation to “No one plotting against the Catholic Church can be considered a Catholic. This information for anyone interested can be found by contacting the Vatican Library and requesting … Cephas Apologetic, I Banchieri di Dio, Unitatis Redintegration, Nostra Aetate, Verbum Traditionis, Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo. This is only a few of the documents related to Masonry that can be obtained directly from the Vatican Library and Vault with proper assistance.

    • Vincent, it would be easier to discuss your comment if it were written coherently; proofreading is your friend.

      As to that ridiculous canard about Pope Pius IX: it has been debunked repeatedly; including even in The Freemason’s Chronicle, January 16, 1892, p. 37.

      As to the documents you mention: what exactly are the points you are trying to make? For example, Nostra Aetate, which is one of the documents of the Second Vatican Council, says nothing at all about Masonry. Ditto Unitatis Redintegration. “Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo” is the bull promulgated by Pope Pius VII in 1821 condemning Freemasonry. “I Banchieri di Dio” is a movie, not a document in the Vatican library. ” Cephas Apologetic” seems to be a catalogue put out by some anti-Catholic group. You’ve wadded together a jumble of things, most of which are not at all germane to the issue at hand, and presented them as if they were an argument in support of your position, whatever it is.

      I know you’re wrong because this information for anyone interested can be found by contacting the local public library and requesting… Archie Comics, Going My Way, Luctuosissimi Eventus, Inter Mirifica, Quo Graviora. This is only a few of the documents mostly unrelated to the topic at hand that can be obtained directly from, like, just about anybody, without assistance.

      Yes, I’m mocking you, but only because your post is so eminently mockable.

  9. I was raised in a Masonic family—parents and grandparents. My sister and I were in Rainbow and both of us received the highest award (Grand Cross of Color) and my brothers were in Demolay, one of which received the highest award granted (Chevalier). Three of us has continued onto Eastern Star and Masonry.
    What can be so wrong in promoting love, religion, nature, immortality, fidelity, patriotism and service—the teachings of Rainbow where a bible verse is recited for each characteristic? We were encouraged to be active in our church and learned how to provide for others not as well off as us.
    Eastern Star is about 5 women of the Bible—Adah (daughter), Ruth (widow who Naomi helps), Esther (wife who saved the Jewish race), Martha (sister of Lazarus), and the lady Elect (mother)—the woman asked to stomp on the cross by Roman soldiers but instead she held it to her buxom and cast her eyes upward, willing to give her life for the love of her Savior.
    My husband was a ‘cradle’ Catholic who became a Mason. When asked by his father about joining a ‘secret’ group, my husband asked his dad about the Knights of Columbus’ oath to which he was told that his dad couldn’t share what their oath as. My husband then asked about the KofC’s secret work only to be told it couldn’t be shared. So who is secret? Ask any collegiate fraternity or sorority and they have secret work. The Masonic organization, in my viewpoint, help teaches a man how to be a better man—love your god, your wife and your family.
    I feel that if the Masonic organization wasn’t so visible, society and Catholics would have to find something else to bash. Are you aware that to be a Shriner (the organization that supports those wonderful Shriner hospitals for children) you must be a Mason. For those events where a few men who have done ‘bad’, remember that we all have free will and that an irganization cannot be held to the wrongdoings of a few individuals, especially those that hide in those clandestine groups allowing others to believe that they are Masons when in fact they are not—these groups are cowards.
    And what of the Pope and French king that felt that the Knights Templar had too much power and the Knights Templars needed to be annillated? Why would a Pope agree to such horrendous acts—in the name of the Church?
    Face it—ignorance breeds fear and it is the fear that many religions use to control humankind.
    And by the way, I was raised Protestsnt and became Catholic 12 years ago; and, yes, I am still a member of the Eastern Star organization. I almost didn’t become Catholic when the Deacon of my Parish found out that my Catholic-raised husband had become a Mason—his replies made me think that maybe becoming Catholic wasn’t for me if they felt that my upbringing was so evil. I turned out a responsible adult with moral values, knowing what is right and what is wrong. I did become Catholic after finding out that there are other Catholics in Masonic groups. I understand the importance that the Pope represents, but I also know that he is a man and that he strives for perfection like the rest of us. We all have secrets that we have hidden for years, and being from a Masonic family is not one that will send me to Hell.

  10. Interestingly, a number of Protestants, including flaming anti-Catholic ones, share the same low opinion of Masonry. Websites all over the place!

  11. As written in the book “Fatima Mysteries” by Gazegorz Gorny, Ignatius Press:(Fr. Maximilian Kolbe…in Rome on Feb. 17, 1917) saw Masonic “demonstrators…carrying standards with an image of Lucifer and Michael the Archangel at his feet. They were shouting slogans, claiming that the devil would shortly begin to rule in the Vatican and that the Pope would serve him as a doorman.” So much for fraternal good will toward all. Masonic anti-Catholicism was behind the political persecution of Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco by the atheistic state. The Knights of Columbus may have some sort of “secret work [word?]” that can’t be shared but it has no history whatsoever of anything anti-Christ. Its very basis for being is to be a good Catholic.

    • If the Church says not to join the lodge, why question it?
      Kmbold, the very fact that st. Maximilian and the Fatima children were opposed to the lodge should be enough for any Catholic to know. thanx

  12. I believe in God, I believe in Christ and I believe they are My pathway to salvation. My beliefs are of My choosings which are the result of the military family into which I was born and raised, the many places I lived throughout the world, the many schools I attended, the many and varied churches I attended and the many neighborhoods and cultures into which I was immersed. My life is a life of Inclusion of all races, creeds and colors. I choose those who I like and those I respect. My way to the afterlife is well defined and understood … by Me … because it is of My choosing. I also chose to become a Freemason 36 years ago which, as an adjunct to my church community, has served to strengthen my beliefs. I refuse to exclude others because of their beliefs and I greatly revere those who think for themselves.

    • Michael, I will happily buy for you a copy of Christians and American Freemasonry, by William Whalen, so that you can read exactly why not only the Catholic Church but Orthodox and many Protestant churches condemn Freemasonry, which is a religion of its own.

        • “Inexperienced?” You mean as in not knowing all those ‘secret’ Masonic rituals and handshakes – Boaz and Shibboleth, Jachin and Tubalcain and Ma-Ha-Bone, and the various oaths about “”having my throat cut across, my tongue torn out by its roots, and my body buried in the rough sands of the sea at low water mark, where the tide ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four hours, should I ever knowingly violate this my Entered Apprentice obligation,” “having my left breast torn open, my heart plucked out, and given to the wild beasts of the field and the fowls of the air,” and “”to have my body cut in two, my bowels removed and burned to ashes which are then to be scattered to the four winds of heaven?”

          They’re not secret, they’re available all over the place in all their flagrant, staggering silliness; or what would be mere silliness if they didn’t involve taking vain oaths

          Whalen’s book quotes extensively from Masonic sources, and proves quite conclusively that Christianity and Freemasonry aren’t compatible. Here’s a link to one section of his book: https://www.ewtn.com/library/NEWAGE/MASONREL.TXT

  13. The kabbalah became known in Europe about the same time of the Templars. We now know that there was a large Sabbatean/Frankist Kabbalist movement in the 17th century, that infiltrated the Church. Kabbalah is a magical theology that in the Sabbatean/Frankist branch is antinomian, the nonobservance of moral law. Game theory would tell us that members of such a society practicing the opposite of common law, along promoting each other as good people. would rob everyone blind so long as the keep what they do secret. Therefor it is not the masons, the knights, the church, or any other organization that is evil. It is an actual secret society of people that practice this belief that can influence any organization at will, and go unnoticed. — Therefore by their fruits you will know them. NOT BY WHAT THEY SAY THEY ARE

  14. I believe church concerns such as those listed here can certainly be valid. However modern popes have made many attempts at religious unity including praying with muslims facing mecca, a pope would have been thrown out for such behavior back in the day. Masonry is basically a united effort of people looking to keep the peace with people of different religious understanding in their communities. There are many things humans do that could be considered idolatrous but we have Christ’s sacrifice to thank that if our heart is in the right place we aren’t condemned on random modernly invented technicalities. I think the church needs to reconsider it’s position on masonry, since in practise the highest authorities take part in multi faith events. Otherwise the pope and these others need to be told they are committing mortal sin. People have misused every human effort for everything, including previous popes.

  15. This article, written by someone who is not and never could be a Mason, grossly misrepresents the teachings as well as the history of Freemasonry. I would have expected better from a reputable publication.

  16. If you’re not actively working to convert those around you to the one true Faith of Catholicism because you’re intentionally leaving religion aside at freemason meetings, then you’re neither being charitable (or fraternal or whatever you want to call it) nor are you being Catholic! As such you’ve abandoned at least two of the four marks of Catholicism to accomodate freemasonry. To have to stop behaving as a Catholic highlights the incompatibility of masonry with the Faith!
    True friendship leads to God. Catholics should travel cum Petro per Mariam ad Jesu. There’s no time or need for false gods or religions along the way. Run!

  17. The Crusades were carried out in military style. Slash and burn. Then, the Church woke up and decided instead of killing with swords, lances, and fiery stakes, to fear people into the Church, it would be better to carry out the same ends using it’s women. Have a half dozen or dozen children each. Sooner or later, everyone is Catholic, and not a
    sword, lance, or any other tool of killing raised.
    Sun Tzu said the greatest thing in battle is to conquer without fighting.

    • O Genius, the Crusades were carried out in military style because they were fighting to regain the Holy Land from the people who took it over by military conquest.

      If you can take a moment from your ignorant, spiteful anti-Catholicism to do some actual research on why the Church declares contraception to be sinful, you might be surprised.

    • The Crusades started 400 years after Islam conquered Christian lands. Know your history and do not be fooled by what Islam teaches the world.

  18. Where two or three are gathered in my name, I will be among them- Christ said. That is my rule of thumb so to speak. I am affiliated with the Rosicrucian current and have respect for the great amount of knowledge put forth in the Masonic library of esotericism. I could care less what the Canons of the Church dictate and if I receive the Eucharist it is between God and myself.

  19. I am a Catholic and a Freemason. There is a lot of misinformation in this article and the responses. It is interesting to note that most of the hostility come from those attacking Freemasonry. Interesting. Oh, well! That’s the Internet for you.

  20. I too was a Mason — including 3rd degree Master Mason, 31st degree Scottish Rite and 32 degree Shriner.
    Anyone — anyone who says they were a Mason and did not see the luciferian agenda of Freemasonry never opened their eyes.

    • This is very interesting. I am a Catholic and a patriot. As a Political Science major, I strive to understand and enact public policy for the good of the People. As the person that I am, networking is important. There is a mason lodge in Palo Alto, CA where I live. I am interested in what they might have to offer, but I am surprised that there is such controversy over the stance of Catholics in regard to the moral legitimacy of Freemasonry.

      I want to believe that Freemasons can be good people, but I also hear a lot of pushback–especially from the highest levels of the Church.

      So much disinformation.

      • No doubt that many, or even most Freemasons are good people. As are many Protestants, Jews, and Muslims. The issue is not that they are individually bad people. The issue is that participation in any of these groups is incompatible with the Catholic faith.

  21. I was seeking to locate my biological father an American serviceman. My very good friend a Mason spent a dozen years assisting in this search. One day I shared very respectfully the Catholic teaching re the Masons and advised my friend to get out of this organization because it was not of God. We parted amicably. A year later he informed me that due to “the secret sign” he found someone who had information re my search. I was appalled because I thought I’d misjudged my friend. So I looked to the Crucifix in my house and said, “Lord, if I’m wrong about the Masons let this man have the info re my father; if I’m right that the organization is what the Church teaches, then block any info re my dad.” Two weeks later, my friend called and said,”Have I got news for you, your father was so and so, did such and such, etc.” I said this man with the secret sign gave this to you? Oh no, he didn’t have any info. “Then where did you get this?, I asked. He met this other man, approached him, and he had all the info I needed to help locate my dad. The man’s name was “Christian Dahl.” God has a sense of humour. On the day my Mason friend died, I received a copy, out of the blue, of a book by Charles Finley, a Protestant evangelist, written in the 1800’s, and known for his outstanding holiest, entitled, “Freemasonry or the Anti-Christ”! I would also recommend reading and/or Youtube videos by Derek Prince, known for international healing and deliverance ministry, also a former high Anglican, later Penetecostal minister who delivered people from “spirit of Freemasonry”. Hope this helps someone….If you’re not sure about Freemasonry, please take the time to ask Jesus in prayer; if you really want to know, He will show you! God bless

  22. Is this is a Catholic satire site? Not sure if it is or not … but I’m a Freemason who focuses on Masonic Education, and much of what is said here is false (one does NOT have to be a member of the highest order of either Rites in order to become a Shriner). Also – the author could not possibly know what abounds in Freemasonry because she’s a woman – and it’s a men-only Fraternity. Articles like these cause doubt on anything that is posted here.

    • “Also – the author could not possibly know what abounds in Freemasonry because she’s a woman…”

      Yes, if only a woman who has a Master’s degrees in medieval studies could own books, read books, and do research. Then, and only then, might a woman know anything about Freemasonry.

      • As a mason and a good catholic, knight of columbus, part of the state council. I can assure you most of the “stuff” I read in these books is wrong. As a woman she can’t know the truth of freemasons. We keep secrets because we can. Everyone doesn’t need to know everything about an order. It would be like knowing what all your birthday presents would be. It would take the mystery out of things and make life lack luster. Joining the Masonic Lodge was the best thing I have done.

        The Lodge is growing, but you wouldn’t know that. You want to know about the lodge first hand? Ask to join a lodge!

        • If you are a Mason, you are not a good Catholic.

          As a researcher, she can read all the things that have been revealed; in case you haven’t noticed, your “secrets” are all over the place on the Internet.

          If you want to know why the Church forbids membership in that organization, try reading William Whalen’s Christianity and American Freemasonry. Or Paul Fisher’s Behind the Lodge Door. Or Charles Madden’s Freemasonry: Mankind’s Hidden Enemy.

          What you have apparently decided is that it is more important for you to belong to this organization than it is to be Catholic; because they are not compatible and if you think so you are deluding yourself.

          • Paul Fisher’s ‘Behind the Lodge Door’ is full of hype, lies and half-truths; giving some itching ears what they want to hear in order to sell books. So are all the other books I have read claiming Freemasonry is anti-Christian.

      • Having a Degree doesn’t constitute someone being any kind of expert in a subject – case in point are her mistruths about Freemasonry. She should be researching why Catholics are leaving the Church instead of going off the deep end. The bigotry of Humanus Genum by the Pope in 1844 leaves much to be explained…

      • If she can read and do research and find EVERYTHING, then I suppose nothing in Masonry is “Secret” you can’t hold onto one argument without the other showing holes in ones arguments, pick one, not both.

  23. Christians, in particular catholics, will always hate masonry. Simply because they fear what they do not understand. The most vile, bigoted, judgemental people I’ve ever met were super bible thumpers. All the conspiracies and accusations abiut freemasonry are so off and so wrong, the biggest secret of all is we don’t laugh at those who say such things. SMIB brothers…MM 32nd AASR

    • “The most vile, bigoted, judgemental people I’ve ever met were super bible thumpers.”

      Your charitable objectivity is refreshing. Of course, everyone knows that Catholics aren’t “Bible thumpers”, as most Catholics aren’t even Bible readers.

    • Catholics don’t “hate” Masonry any more than we “hate” Protestants, Jews, or Muslims. Freemasonry simply isn’t compatible with the Catholic faith.

  24. Fascinating comment thread!! Nothing like a Freemason article to set off some fireworks! ‘You shall know a tree by its fruits’ is the old saying, and Freemasonry, as any modest research will tell, is the Mid-Wife to every occult/esoteric philosophy that has cropped up in the last three hundred years. From the O.T.O., to Rosicruscians, to Theosophists, to Scientology, to blah, blah, blah. The long lament of the defeat of Lucifer at the Cross continues veiled behind curtains of language and meaning that clearly have a connection with the occult. I didn’t make that up.

    • Cameron, you have hit the nail on the head. Thank you for posting a straightforward statement summing up the truth of the matter.
      In these times it is essential for Catholics to own their own faith, not to merely inherit it. I mean by this that firstly you read the bible, particularly the New Testament and get to know Jesus and his way of thinking on a personal level, and cultivating a personal relationship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
      Secondly remain faithful to the teachings of The Church to the best efforts of your conscience. Then you will be able to discern what is not of the way of a follower of Jesus.
      It is my understanding, the OTO where one of the first “religious” organisations to engage freedom of religion legislation in the state of Victoria, Australia, in a court case to silence opposition to their activities.
      In there coming years, If you don’t get to really know who Jesus is, there is a very good chance you will be hoodwinked and deceived.

  25. If you read William Walsh’s Phillip II, he proves that Jews were involved in Freemasonry even before the Protestant Revolt, and that most of the first Protestant leaders were themselves Masons.

  26. Enlightened 33 degree Freemasons discover they worship Lucifer.
    The rest of the ignorant rank know not what they do.

    Experience speaking here.

    Thank you for your courage in writing this elucidating article.

    • What kind of “experience” do you refer to when “Freemasons discover they worship Lucifer”? It’s not an elucidating article as it is a bigoted one. Albert Pikes book “Moral & Dogma” have been taken out of context many a time, giving controversy where this is none when you actually read the entire segment. As a Mason who focuses on education/ esoteric work – and have delivered presentations in Lodge on debunking the the myths surrounding Freemasonry – I found many of these comments to be completely without merit. Reason 101 why many have turned away from the Catholic faith in the first place is hypocrisy.

  27. The Catholic church is so immersed in their own false priestcrafts they want to take the spotlight off themselves with these kind of articles. I have no ties to the freemasons, and have no opinion or deep knowledge of the organization. I do have good insight and knowledge of the Catholic church which I left shortly after Vatican II, having realized how the entire religion is based in its own laws, mysticism, and teachings, and having little to do with the teachings and Gospel of Jesus Christ, nor of the divinely authored Holy Bible. If any church is practicing false priestcrafts and worship of Lucifer, the Father of Lies, it is the Catholic Church.

  28. Clearly this is not a historical accurate article about freemasonry, nor the real origins of the “pagan” symbols they understand, but bits and pieces of truth colored with the author’s own assumptions and naivety – an opinion piece by someone who clearly is not a master of her own religious history, let alone a master in a society that doesn’t publicly publish their teachings.

    Masonry has never taught that no one can achieve deep enlightenment without belonging to them. If they did the author could have provided direct evidence to that end.

    Masonry (or the original mystery schools, attached to all great cathedrals) was condemned by the corrupt Pope Clement for the same reason masons are scapegoated today. They know too much about institutional corruption, within the Catholic Church for example. Galileo was a Mason.

    And sheep are quick to fear and condemn what they are not used to, and don’t understand, rather than the clerical predators that are wolves in shepherds’ clothing, abusing their own children.

    • Nice try, but Freemasonry is also condemned by many Protestants, as well.

      According to whom was Galileo a Mason? Considering that Freemasonry as it is today started in the 1700’s in England, and slightly earlier in Scotland, I take leave to doubt your statement.

      “the corrupt Pope Clement”

      Corrupt? Again, according to whom? Of what does this alleged corruption consist?

      “sheep are quick to fear and condemn what they are not used to”

      Sheep, and their shepherds, are smart enough to recognize that wolves are dangerous; and Catholics recognize the evil and idiocy that is inherent in Freemasonry. That some of the shepherds have committed terrible sins doesn’t obviate that fact.

      • What about Pecorrelli’s list? Pecorrelli was supposedly murdered in a manner that signified a Masonic payback for him betraying the secrets – hanging with bricks in his feet. Anybody know anything about that? That was pretty hard evidence by a high ranking Mason of Masonic infiltration of the Church, especially of those who played a part in Vatican II.

  29. Of course they call it the light. It is infact darkness they seek. Light and dark can’t exist in a mans heart at once.
    If a society needs to be secretive, that’s arguably a boyish need. But to extend that secrecy to satanic rites, threats of death, curses and even sacrificial murder is the occult and Freemasonry is at the pinnacle of that pyramid in my opinion.
    I have seen family curses very much aligned with their men’s involvement in this cult.
    I bound the curse of freemasonry from my family and things have never been better.
    I encourage you all to do the same. Purge the legion from your line.

  30. “All comments posted at Catholic World Report are moderated. While vigorous debate is welcome and encouraged, please note that in the interest of maintaining a civilized and helpful level of discussion, comments containing obscene language or personal attacks—or those that are deemed by the editors to be needlessly combative or inflammatory—will not be published. Thank you.”
    Appearantly unless they come from Leslie; who’s beliefs seem to supercede the above.

  31. As a Catholic – who grew up Protestant and later converted (my wife is cradle Catholic and I grew up around many Catholics) and as one who briefly joined the Freemasons and have studied their organization – I can tell you that they worship Lucifer – it’s that simple.

    I was asked to join by a 32nd degree Freemason (he was my sponsor of course) – somebody that I knew pretty well, and at the time I didn’t think anything bad about the organization. My grandfather had been a high-level Freemason and his wife (my grandmother) was a member of the Eastern Star.

    My sponsor loaned me a copy of Albert Pike’s famous book – “Morals and Dogma” – he told me that if I studied the book, I would truly to start to understand what Freemasonry is all about. I’m sure you’ve heard that new initiates in Freemasonry are given copies of this book because Albert Pike – a 33rd degree Mason from the late 1800s, is highly regarded / revered by the Freemasons. At the time I was very busy with family and work so I didn’t study the book. And several months after doing the initial ceremony, I dropped out (stopped going to meetings) because I was just too busy.

    Fast forward many years and I started learning about Freemasonry on the internet. Many sources claimed that the organization worships Lucifer but I needed more proof than “the internet”. So I obtained another copy of the same book from a friend that deals in old / antique books. Indeed, Albert Pike hails Lucifer as the bearer of light – and that particular passage you’ll find in the book which is often quoted on the internet. Other internet sources explain that the Freemasons turn everything upside down – that is that our God is evil and Lucifer is good. So if you go to page 566 and start near the bottom, Albert Pike turns the story of the Garden of Eden upside down and our God is the evil one.

    The passage reads as follows: “To retain the rays of Light still remaining among his Eons, and ever tending to escape and return, by concentrating on them, the Prince of Darkness, with their consent, made Adam, whose soul was of the Divine Light, contributed by the Eons, and his body of matter, so that he belonged to both Empires, that of Light and that of Darkness”.

    I’m sure you’re thinking that Lucifer is the Empire of Darkness – correct? Let’s continue on …

    “To prevent the light from escaping at once, the Demons forbade Adam to eat the fruit of “knowledge of good and evil”, by which he would have known the Empire of Light and that of the Darkness. He obeyed; an Angel of Light induced him to transgress, and gave him the means of victory;”

    Obviously, according to this passage – our God, the Father of Jesus, is the one who runs the “Empire of Darkness”. Albert Pike revered and worshipped Lucifer, the Bearer of Light (one of his “Angels of Light” induced Adam to “transgress”). The Freemasons revere Albert Pike and hold him in the highest regard. They give copies of his book, “Morals and Dogma” to new Freemason initiates. Thus … who do you think Freemasons worship – Lucifer or God?

    • I am just being silly, making a silly comment here, but if it wasn’t for the Serpent, none of us would be here today arguing on this thread. Eve would not have reproduced and none of us would be here, there would be no Jesus or need for a Jesus character etc. Pike was just ONE Mason. Should we believe that ALL Catholics molest children when we hear that ONE did it?

      • Pike is not just one Freemason – he is highly revered by all Freemasons – as I mentioned, they hand out his book “Morals and Dogma” to all new initiates. A search on Albert Pike in the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia reveals that he’s deeply interwoven in their ceremonies, discussions, etc. – https://www.dcgrandlodge.org/apps/search?q=albert+pike.

        It would be similar to one attending a Christian church as a new member – and then you’re handed a Bible and told “study this book – this is what we’re about”. With Freemasons, one of their “bibles” is Albert Pike’s “Morals and Dogma”.

        Manly P. Hall was another famous (and highly revered) Freemason – he also refers to Lucifer in a positive way – “When the Mason learns that the key to the warrior block is the proper application of the dynamo of living power, he has learned the mystery of his Craft. The seething energies of Lucifer are in his hands.” -Manly P. Hall, 33rd “The Lost Keys of Freemasonry” page 48.

        Most Freemasons are at the lower levels (only a small percentage make it to the 30th and beyond levels) are not aware of the true Masonic beliefs – but that’s because they are lazy (as I was) and don’t bother really reading the Masonic books, which in fact lay out the Luciferian doctrine.

    • I am sorry Sir but what utter rubbish. I have read the Bible – different versions and in English and Hellenic (Greek). I have a Grad Certificate in Catholic Stdies from a certain Catholic University. I worked in a Catholic school where teh principal’s husband was a Freemason. And I know many good decent community minded GOD committed men who are Freemasons. I have been to funerals in catholic churches where the deceased was a Masona nd teh priest knowing it allowed Masonic rites to also be incvluded in tehs ervice because in each and every case the Freemason was also a devout and decent Catholic, a lover of Our Lord who is Supreme in all things. If only human kind practised his words far more than mouthing them.

      • Any Catholics who are Freemasons are committing grave sins. The priests who allowed Masonic rites to be performed in a Catholic church was also sinning gravely.

        No Freemason is a devout Catholic.

  32. Anyone who meets in Secret or under Clandestine conditions should have their motives for doing so questioned.
    Especially those who like in Scotland do not people from a Catholic faith to join as a matter of principle.
    I am a lapsed Catholic as I no longer adhere to the constraints of Organised Religion as I see these as divisive by their nature.
    I believe in God and that Jesus died for our sins and Salvation but that does mean that I believe in anything written by men for men.
    As Gandhi once stated God has no religion.
    Religion is a man made concept and hence why so many Religions and Holy Books are contradictory or have contradictions within them.
    Take a flat Earth for example.
    How can anyone with a modicum of rational sense argue against the fact that the Earth is a globe?
    When these books were written those who were apparently enlightened at the time were unaware of this and claimed otherwise.
    Religions were formed in order to control the mindset of the general population who in these times had no real education other than what their parents taught them.
    We have genuine issues in Scotland and in the North of Ireland still to this day between two sects of the one faith Christianity and the Lodges have a large hand in those issues.
    Those in denial of this are either ignorant of the fact or as I suspect part of the problem as members of a Secret Society.
    God will judge us all the same.
    Regardless of what story or version of events you choose to believe.
    My advice is look inside yourself for God and try to treat others as you expect to be treated.
    Regardless of their Religion,Race or Sexuality.
    I am a human first and foremost my religious belief does not define me.
    My actions do however.
    God bless you all.

    • Then sadly you do not know Church history. Of course, how can you explain the “churches” started by the Apostles and their Disciples.
      These are men who would have know what Jesus wanted, and how He wanted it. Scriptures are considered inspired. They are the minimum God wants us to know, not all he wants us to know.
      You are correct though that your faith is to be in God, not a Church.

  33. Your comment “Even the Mormons, originally influenced by Masonry, condemn the Craft”…is incorrect. The signs and symbols, including various forms of ‘handshakes’ are indeed practiced during what is known as Endowment sessions within every Latter Day Saint temple on Earth. Please correct this in your writings. Again, the Mormon Church continues to be influenced by Masonic practices.

  34. Your comment “Even the Mormons, originally influenced by Masonry, condemn the Craft”…is incorrect. The signs and symbols, including various forms of ‘handshakes’ are indeed practiced during what is known as Endowment sessions within every Latter Day Saint temple on Earth. Please correct this in your writings. Again, the Mormon Church continues to be influenced by Masonic practices. I know this for a fact as I have been a practising Mormon and I have attended their temple rituals.

  35. Looking at the comments (I know it is an old post), it is amazing to see how many “Catholics” are Masons. This is a terrible thing. Each one of you that is a Mason has incurred grave mortal sin; you may disagree with the Church, but She is explicit about this. Nevertheless, please seek out the Sacrament of Penance. You cannot be a Mason and a Catholic; the Masons may claim to allow it, but the Church does not. The Masonic Lodge is the “Kingdom of Satan” as Pope Leo XIII says. Do you know better than Pope Leo XIII?

    • Freemasonry has already infiltrated the Catholic Church. I screen-captured this Tweet from the “U.S. Catholic Bishops” verified Twitter account back in December – https://i.imgur.com/Yzs4EqD.png. Notice the triangle with all-seeing-eye and other Masonic symbolism as well. In addition – they say “come to teach us the path to knowledge” – that’s Luciferian (through knowledge men become gods). A Christian would say “come to teach us the path to SALVATION”.

      And this is a Catholic priest “celebrity” doing the “666” sign over his eye – https://i.imgur.com/ie00OmL.png.

      A schism is coming to the Catholic Church – sooner than later.

      • Have you never heard the lyrics of the hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel?”

        “O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
        Who orderest all things mightily;
        To us the path of knowledge show,
        And teach us in her ways to go.”

        It’s an adaptation of the O Antiphons. The Antiphon from December 17, now as the Alleluia verse:

        “Sapientia Altissimi, fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia:
        veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.”

        (“O Wisdom of our God Most High,
        guiding creation with power and love:
        come to teach us the path of knowledge!”)

        Wisdom 8:4 “For it is she that teacheth the knowledge of God, and is the chooser of his works.”

        • Who cares where the phrase came from? The point is it – “come to teach us the path of knowledge” – is combined with Freemason symbolism. Jesus never told us to pursue “the path of knowledge” – he emphasized the “path to salvation”.

          I was warned over a decade ago, by our Catholic priest, about joining the Freemasons. Obviously things are changing and the Church has been infiltrated (although it started long before that time).

          Freemasonry is about the worship of Lucifer. So you have to pick sides – it’s either God or Lucifer. Make your decision and live (and die) with the consequences.

          • The phrase comes from the O Antiphons, which have been part of the Mass since at least the 8th century and probably for several centuries before that.

            The Eye of Providence (or the all-seeing eye of God) is an ancient Christian symbol. The triangle in which it is enclosed symbolizes the Trinity.

            All of those predate Freemasonry. The Freemasons have tried to steal the Church’s symbols. I refuse to cooperate with them.

            It has been pointed out that one of the symbols of St. Peter is the inverted cross, because he asked to be crucified upside down becuase he believed that he was unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus did. I gather that Satanists have adopted the inverted cross as an anti-Christian symbol. DOes that mean that the Church should relinquish it? No, never.

    • Where does it say that in the Bible? Masonry is not a worship in place of GOD. We honor the triune self first and foremost. Because we are being accused of the opposite makes all of those accusations a lie!

  36. I recently made friendship with former Roman Catholic Jesuit Robert Walter from the Vatican. I regret not asking him many more questions about the Jesuit Order than I did. I confirmed Francis Borgia & Pope Paul 3rd of the Farnese family worked together to create the Jesuit Order to replace the Venetian Templars that were destroyed during the War of the League of Cambrai. Roman Catholicism will not survive Revelation 17 & 18, but that never came up in conversation. He left the Jesuit Order because he knew the evil going on inside it.

    • Snort. Yeah, right.

      That would be St. Francis Borgia. He did not create the Society of Jesus (whose founding was approved by Pope Paul III in 1540) and entered it only in 1548.

      “former Roman Catholic Jesuit Robert Walter from the Vatican.”

      Never heard of him. When was he a Jesuit? When was he at the Vatican? Why should I believe him?

      “He left the Jesuit Order because he knew the evil going on inside it.”

      Yeah, that’s the usual excuse for those who want to break their vows: blame the order, and the Church.

      And, golly, you forgot the part about how the Jesuits sank the Titanic.

  37. Freemasons are very stubborn, how can they pretend to be ignorant of their satanic anti Catholic organisation?
    See Plutarco of mexico for instance, the Freemasons gave him an award for how he attacked the Catholic Church and killed many laity and religious, That mayor of Fatima whip imprisoned the three children (Lucia, Jacinta and Fransisco) was a mason, the foolish mayor thought he was in a position to prevent Mother Mary from appearing to those children, these masons should stop fooling themselves, you know what you are and we know what you are too,slave-masons of the devil; whatever you say, people within your ranks are realising what masonry is about and they’re running away, Viva Christorey deus vult

  38. I’m disappointed you did not discuss the Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish right, by Albert Pike. Pike hijacked Scottish Rite Craft in circa 1870 and basically claimed the Craft in the name of Lucifer. The PDF is freely available. This is the ULTIMATE heresy. You all should really think about considering this. Outside of this, this was a supremely informative piece. Well done.

  39. Point to ponder. Was the collapse of the bank more due to Freemasony, or more to due with lack of oversight, and openness,
    of the bank to world governments and the Catholics of the world. No forensic auditing by outside third parties!! I can’t imagine
    Anything more attractive to the Cosa Nostra than the largest pool of wealth in the world, hidden in secrecy, with no accountability to anyone. I can imagine every hacker in the world is try to crack in too. The Holy See will have to do a better job at screening out Consigliere, than it has done with pedophiles. I say this as a Catholic that believes the Church shall only be revived when it re-examines its own system of Omertà, which is causing the average parishioners to question what exactly, the Holy See is doing with OUR hard earned money. We don’t even know if all the investments are in ethical companies or shell companies!

  40. I would note that the reason for some confusion among Catholics, alluded to in the article but not explained in depth, is that there are many iterations of Masonry even between different lodges. You can bring up a certain position, seemingly an official part of Freemasonry, to an individual Mason and he may well reply that it is optional as to what form the belief takes. Freemasonry was quite at home with British Royals but totally opposed to the Prussian counterpart. Baptists are opposed but the Southern Baptist Convention is quite accepting of its members being Masons, probably arising out of the split during the Civil War. I doubt that the society would ever reform to the extent it would be acceptable to Catholics theologically but it would seem possible that the level of hostility between the two groups could be ameliorated.

  41. The lack of sources here is unfortunate… many claims, little data. I am trying to understand the origin of the controversy but especially with all of the misinformation being spread these days I am having a difficult time taking your claims at face value. There is a lot of evil out there, and some unfortunately residing within the hallowed halls of our own wonderful church, so that being what it is if we are to rejoice in the truth it needs to be made apparent where the truths are being drawn from.

  42. “Hiram Abiff” is not in the Bible.

    Hiram King of Tyre is in the Bible, found as Hiram in 1 Kings 5 to 9 and Huram in 2 Chronicles 2.

    This king had many servants of course, seamen included; and he sent one particular craftsman to Solomon to help with the Temple construction, identified as Huram-abi -see 2 Chronicles 2. This Huram-abi is not the King of Tyre but a “son of a Danite woman” and father and multi-trade, highly-skilled worker.

    The name Huram-abi could simply refer to this worker as being the King’s own dependable or, in the colloquialism, “right-hand man”.

    According to the internet, apparently the corruption in the suffix “-abi” comes from Martin Luther.

    Of course the “Hiram Abiff” story is a fiction that the Freemasons use in their “rituals” for “instruction purposes”. Everything else will be denied except that the story is called an allegory; and that it is an allegory is true. The instruction and what it means is given to be taken to heart and applied in practice, it’s not a movie and it is not merely lore.

    As I make it, in the Masonic practice, every Hiram Abiff character is central to “helping to build the Temple”, wittingly and unwittingly; and he is always replaceable, one way or another.

    https://www.universalfreemasonry.org/en/history-freemasonry/legend-hiram-abiff

  43. If you want to draw parallels of morality – the Mason’s actively raise and donate for the local communities and has a modest amount of funds, whereas the Catholic Church for centuries has harboured billions in wealth and as per the article was able to write off P2. Yet as millions are starving around the world the Catholics occupy palaces and have motorcade’s for a mortal deity that is not mentioned in the old or New Testaments.

    All I see in this article is fear, fear of losing denominations, fear of lost revenues, fear of people of many interpretations of God, scattered by the destruction of Babels Tower to come together in equality without fixation of wealth and stature, it reminds me when the local bishop came to see my grandfather a wealthy car dealer for donations he told him you sell that big gold ring and I’ll double whatever you get for it.

    Suffice to say the Bishop left refusing to sell the props of institution.

    • “… have motorcade’s for a mortal deity that is not mentioned in the old or New Testaments.”

      Would that be Motorcades For Jesus?

      To be clear, the mortal deity NOT mentioned in the Bible would be … Thor? Apollo? Shazam?

  44. Religion and churches were all created for political reasons. All tied right in with freemasonry among other things. The whole design of society seems to be for keeping people caught up in turmoil and struggle as a form of support for some power structures to continuously get fed. What people need to do is turn off their TV, radio, stop reading newspapers, avoid news and anything that acts as a lens to the world or “other” world. Just know the very fabric of common education is based on deception. History itself is full of fabrication and propaganda. To understand the kind of deception I am talking about, imagine every Presidential leader, including Trump, lying in bed together. All pretending to disagree. People arent put in any kind of power or extreme wealth without having been initiated into a large deception. True Reality is something they all know about. But they dont want you knowing. All one has to do is step away from the worldly lens and look upon true nature and its voice. It speaks to those who are sensitive and see and feel deeply. And they know that we live in a realm created by a vast intelligence. We have the ability to dissolve the power that has fallen into the hands of the secretive and cunning. We dont need money or political clout to take it away. We only have to see the Truth and tell our children. The majority of what goes on in the current world all came from the same deceivers. All playing games and pretending they are enemies. And all supported and promoted by their brainwashing machines. Every time you slip from their hands, they create another hand for you to run to.

    • “Religion and churches were all created for political reasons. All tied right in with freemasonry among other things.”

      Flapdoodle.

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  46. Enki and Enlil hold the answers in the Sumerian Cuneiforms. We are the product of the Annunuki and their genetic meddling. Pre flood, we lived for 1000s of years, but Enlil wanted a slave class that didn’t have the same lifetime as the ‘gods’. They limited our lives to 120 years max. 95% of our DNA is unused for this reason.

    Sadly, the Catholic church is a creation of Rome. Emperor Constantine in 3AD saw the benefits of merging the Mystery Babylon (Moloch worship) religion with Christianity and changing the model from Patriarch to Matriarch. They also changed the calendar so that true Christians could never never respect the sabbath. Pagan religions used the moon cycles of 28 days x 13 per month.

  47. To me, to paraphrase thoughts of this whole summarized breakdown of what is extremely old and broken into so many extremities and sectors throughout all of the global regions through centuries battling one another of too many titles to recollect from reading article, the only questions that surface to mind are 1) if these multitudes of the labeled, “ Masons’ “ chapters are not or even are, good or bad” given their remaining existence this current modern day and time whereas today, societal acceptance of what I’d call, “ A world of anything goes Anarchy to Human Civilization” even to mention widespread Satanic cults in which the title from old has been alleged of , than what therefore is there reason of “secrecy” and secondly, not to be “ offensive” to persons who may be possess that title and sport that allliance to as may be most valued Pride in life boast, does anyone else agree that these members abroad of the vast amounts seem to have been living life very bored? Lol, Join the Marine Corps!! 😉😂 just saying, they share many secrets, have many many parties and also host a members only initiation camp. Semper Fi ! God Bless all.

  48. I am a Christian, United Methodist by upbringing. My mother was in Eastern Star by way of her father being a Mason, and when I was a little girl, I belonged to Job’s Daughters. The ‘formal’ meetings, in which we dressed in white satin robes, were based on the lessons from the Book of Job. All the informal meetings were about good wholesome fun and helped foster friendships with other little girls who believe in Christ and God–which by the way is the same God all Christians including Catholics believe in as there is only one true God. Anyway, we were never taught or encouraged to believe in or do things that went against the teachings in The Bible (King James version).

    Throughout my life, during difficult times, the lessons of Job I remember from being in Job’s Daughters give me comfort and strength more so than those I might recollect from Sunday school, Sunday sermons, and confirmation classes. As such, I am grateful for the time I was in Job’s Daughters. Considering current times where pure evil seems to be on the rise, I wish there were more Christian based organizations for young kids that are not all fire and brimstone and Bible thumping–which can be off-putting to many–to offset the rise in Satanic clubs and the bad/evil influences pushed on social media and MSM. Christian organizations like what Job’s Daughters was to me–an organization that encouraged Christian based morals and virtues and provided safe and wholesome extracurricular activities.

  49. Everyone here posting about being a Freemason and haven’t seen any teachings incompatible with Jesus or either lying and thus fulfilling their vow of secrecy or have simply never advanced to the higher levels of approaching the 33rd degree. It is there they reveal Lucifer to be the God of this world and worship him in full conscience.
    But long before that as soon as you enter Freemasonry Your Allegiance to Satan is already apparent and all the hand signals you must make such as the triangle over your eye with both your hands. The covering of one of your eyes to emphasize the Eye of Horus, the All-Seeing fue.
    Then there’s the devil horn hand gestures. The “ok” sign over your eye which is really the number 666.
    The placement of one hand halfway within your jacket breast.
    The finger or fingers over the lips symbolizing they know something you don’t and they’re not going to tell. It is an advertisement off their vow to secrecy. Freemasonry SEC tonic religion hidden within a fraternal organization. Everybody sees the Fraternal organization and their Good Deeds but very few get to enter the inner organization which is reserved for people of power and celebrities. Think of any celebrity and you will find a picture of them covering their eye or doing some kind of weird gesture with their hands. Do you think it’s a coincidence or famous people have to make the same hand gestures and cover their eye? This is their way of identifying each other. They hate Christians. And are planning a global genocide to reduce the world population to 500 million as mandated by the Georgia Guidestones. A blasphemy replacement for the Ten Commandments which cause for the reduction of the world to only 500 million as its first commandment. The Georgia Guidestones were built by Freemason.

  50. 2024 marks my 50th year as a Freemason, and marks 60 years since I severed my connections to the Catholic Church. I do thank the Jesuits for an exceptional education, but I could no longer accept membership in a religion that bestowed a mortal sin, and damnation, on a child for missing Sunday Mass, or for attending a protestant religious service. Freemasonry values an individual’s free and unrestricted search for truth and meaning in life, unlike the Catholic Church that demands rigid adherence to established doctrine. Saper aude!

    • “I could no longer accept membership in a religion that bestowed a mortal sin, and damnation, on a child for missing Sunday Mass, or for attending a protestant religious service.”

      Nobody “bestows a mortal sin” on anybody. The person himself commits the sin, and a mortal sin involves grave matter, full knowledge, and full consent.

      And one need only repent and confess his sins to be absolved of them, so no
      body can “bestow damnation,” either.

      If you willfully missed Mass, knowing it was wrong, then you’re the one who committed the sin. If you chose to worship at a non-Catholic church, thus denying the Church, with full knowledge and consent, ditto.

      Your entire complaint against the Church appears to be “I wanna do what *I* wanna do, and I refuse to obey the Church!” Or, in the shorter form, “Non serviam.”

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