Pope Leo XIII, Dall’Alto (# 2), Oct. 15, 1890: “It is needless now to put the Masonic sects upon their trial. They are already judged; their ends, their means, their doctrines, and their action, are all known with indisputable certainty. Possessed by the spirit of Satan, whose instrument they are, they burn like him with a deadly and implacable hatred of Jesus Christ and of His work; and they endeavor by every means to overthrow and fetter it.”
Pope Leo XIII, In Ipso (# 1), March 3, 1891: “Nevertheless, it grieves us to think that the enemies of the Church, joined in most wicked conspiracy, scheme to weaken and even, if possible, utterly wipe out that wondrous edifice which God Himself has erected as a refuge for the human race.”
Also, the Papal ban on Masons in the Church began in the early 1700s, long before Leo XIII's time.
Parker Bell
Some people does not know that
Some claim you can be both catholic and a mason in the same time
Easton Gutierrez
Orthodoxy also has an enciclical against masons Tbh, the only denom that DOESNT condemn masons are scottish presbyterians.
Eli Miller
T. You guys have no Idea what Masonry even is.
Aiden Butler
I am Presbyterian although Masonry isn't some grand conspiracy. At least not at the general level where 99.9% of members are. It is mostly charity work, god and bible promotion to youth and general good deeds. My Uncle was a Mason and when his house was burning, other members rushed in to save some possessions such as photos and family items. It's mostly stuff like that.
Brayden Perez
Fixed for you.
t. illuminati
Dylan Rogers
There is explicit theology behind Freemasonry contrary to the Christian faith, among which includes a sense of universalism, blood oaths, etc. Sure, they do "good works", but plenty of charitable organizations are anathema to Christianity.
Actually, all Mainline Protestants (the liberal, sodomite enabling ones) approve of Freemasonry. That should tell you everything.
Grayson James
I'm gonna need an example of this.
Jonathan Lee
Here in Brazil those are very common
Where do you live?
Julian Miller
You can't be both Catholic and a Freemason. Freemasons worship (((Lucifer))) and practice (((Kabbalah))). They believe muslims or other religions that believe in One god are equal and will be saved along side those in the Church which is beyond wrong because there is no salvation outside of the Church
It had to be, just. The church is really corrupt there. Damn it.
Juan Morales
BASED POPE
Nice try. The Masonry is a luciferian cult. Not that they tell it to the lowest members.
Luis Carter
Knights of Columbus is a catholic alternative to freemasonry
Joshua Morales
How are the KoC? There is a chapter in my parish and I was thinking of joining them. Are they legit as in devout Catholics or are they just as bad as the Freemasons?
Luis Moore
It's a bunch of (actual) boomers who hang out and do fundraising most of the time. Sometimes, they host BBQs or do fish-fries during Lent.
it's more like the american catholic response to freemasonry, and I have an extraordinarily hard time thinking of my elderly relatives as seedy occultists, although I'm sure masonic lineages can say the same thing
I don't see, and don't think I'd ever see Freemasonry as a 'Satanic' cult as my family has been involved in it for literally hundreds of years. All of them still attended church weekly and some were senior members. I think those who call it 'satanic' have no idea what they're talking about and are simply outraged that Catholics cannot join it. Spreading lies to deface it's very existence. They truly do many good deeds and aren't just an 'old mans club'. They aren't some kind of cult either, they're not actively recruiting people like some other organisations.
Jayden Hernandez
So what's your take on Albert Pike a literal 33rd degree Mason?
Not only has he redacted all his claims, they were not true.
William Ortiz
The swearing of oaths is not biblical. Each of the first degrees of the Blue Lodge requires pronouncing the curse of death on oneself. Matthew 5:34-37 In addition, freemasonry is universalist; Christ is NOT. Freemasonry’s fruit shownit to be nothing more than the Gentile branch of the religion of the Pharisees. It is wholly contrary to Christ’s words.
James Barnes
But Jesus isn't the god of darkness and Evil. On top of that it promotes polytheism. That's literally nothing what Jesus preaches about.
and what of pic related? it's an excerpt from a book written by Albert Pike himself promoting Kabbalah (literally jewish mysticism, the root of all occultism).
I know he isn’t. My whole point is that freemasonry is completely and utterly incompatible with freemasonry, and there’s a reason that there is only one denomination that doesn’t condemn it. Good ol’ boys? More like good ol’ goys, amirite?
Jacob Turner
Like how you all chose not to read my evidence that he is a con artist, was never a mason nor had any truth to his claims. Thats why he redacted them .
Aaron Smith
There are literally NO secrets in a Masonic Lodge. I have spoken VERY in depth with a senior member whilst attending one of their Masonic Balls. IT IS okay to talk about what happens in there, you won't get murdered and you WON'T be sacrificed. Many just chose not to talk about it because there are members who may not feel comfortable with other people knowing they are in the lodge. I'd say because of Catholics demonising them. ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING that happens inside a lodge is well documented and recorded, you don't have to read some conspiracy theorist author to know that. THERE is also no way that any author would be able to report what happens at the very highest levels, such as representatives of the lodge for a country as it is requires a rediculous amount of dedication and effort to EVEN reach they're positions. Even so, I really doubt anything happens at those levels apart from general management of the organisation. The menial activities of masons are actually quite mundane and anti-climactic. YOU would maybe know this IF you actually ATTENDED a lodge. Keep listening to the boogey man mantra of Catholics and others. Just because you don't know whats going on, doesn't mean it is any where near Satanic. Stop speaking of things you know absolutely NOTHING about.
Sources: Am now a member and has family history in the lodge.
Gabriel Myers
no I did read that and that's why I also pointed out Albert Pike and his book that literally promotes Jewish mysticism. Ffs Pike's bust is in the grand lodge. You are also ignoring this dubsanon Who doesn't quote the person whom I mistook as a credible source. That one hiccup on my part doesn't excuse the writings of Albert Pike himself, a literal 33rd degree Mason. I mean I get it the fraternity and in all that that's cool. that doesn't excuse the fact that it's literally Jewish mysticism. the same Jewish mysticism that is literally the root of all occultism.
Thank you, this discussion has gone on way longer than it needed to. I didn't say anything because I thought this would be resolved in a matter of minutes.
Ryder Smith
It was resolved by the first reply.
Josiah Hughes
It was effectively resolved in the OP. OP wasn't a question, it was a statement… so why has this been going on for so long?
Kevin Gonzalez
I think OP just wanted to do a "look what I learned, guys!" thing. I don't know why the discussion continued. It's something every Catholic schoolboy knows.
Matthew Bailey
The idea that freemasonry is anything other than a distributed, large, and aging men's fraternity is laughable. Further, implying that freemasonry is in any sense united, a single body, and not a collection of thousands of different lodges, grand lodges, grand orients, appendant bodies (such as the southern jurisdiction of scottish rite that the Alber Pike guy mentioned so often was a part of in the 1800s) is pretty lousy research. The pope has had and continues to have better avenues of research than whoever he tasked this stuff to.
A good example of this is the grand orient of France. They started allowing atheists in, because they had links to rosicrucians and other unsavory anti-religious types. They were promptly unrecognized by all other masonic bodies (a pretty hard thing to accomplish, as not all masonic bodies are even in contact with each other) and members of that body are now regarded as "clandestine" masons. This means that even discussing masonry with a member of that group entails immediate and permanent expulsion from every masonic body you are a part of, down to your local lodge.
Ayden Reyes
You have to swear an oath every time you testify in court, lawyers swear an oath to be seated on the bar, doctors swear the hippocratic oath. Guys who join college greek letter fraternities swear oaths. The contents of the oaths, even the masonic ones, are available online. There literally are no secrets in freemasonry anymore. Its all online. Google duncan's monitor and ritual. Its pretty thorough. Read as much as you want between the lines of that, but by and large its just larpy guys glorifying stonemasonry and geometry. You swear to keep things secret because they used to be persecuted by the catholics and church of england and didn't want to get thrown in prison for being part of a non-church club. Also, discussing religion (or the lack thereof) is the fastest way to get your ass thrown out of a lodge.
Most modern masons that have even read any of Pike's work think he's a strange dude who went out and pulled a lot of allegorical woowoo stuff from egyptian mythology and greek and whatnot, he's regarded as an important guy in the southern jurisdiction of USA but really just because of the time and effort he put into it.
Camden Parker
Bro, all that egyptian and occult shit is in the Masonic Bible.
You can literally buy one on the internet and learn that its not. The masonic bible in almost all the continental united states is the 1611 authorized KJV, with an added concordance in the back with textual references to the scriptures and historical stuff used in the ritual. This is all context for the building of the temple solomon allegory that is used in the blue lodge, or vanilla freemasonry.
That being said, I'm sure you will find some spoopy mystery allegory in plenty of masonic publications, especially if you are rooting around in the southern jurisdiction, which was Albert Pike's stomping ground back in the day.
Washington's quote in your post is also correct. While the overwhelming majority of US Masons are Christian, I'm sure you will find some who are not. It is explicitly a non-religious organization, and as I've iterated before, discussion of religion inside the lodge gets you expelled. The only requirement everywhere except France is that you have to profess a belief in a deity of your choice, otherwise you are a flake and your word doesn't mean anything.
This is different in the York rite. The last 4 degrees of it (out of 10 I think, in contrast to the Scottish rite which has 33) require you to profess a belief in the God of the old testament and in his son Jesus Christ as the redeemer of mankind. This is made most evident in the ritual of the Masonic Knights Templar and the Red Cross of Constantine, which are the last degrees of the York Rite appendant body. Before the conspiracy nuts go wild, no, the Masonic Knights Templar has nothing to do with the crusader order disbanded and persecuted in 1307. This degree began in the early 1900s among York rite masons in the northeastern US. Further evidence of the York rite being an explicitly Christian subset of speculative masonry is also present in the funeral service of the Masonic Knights Templar. The full text of this service is also available online.
Some excellent books on masonry that aren't tainted by conspiracy nuts and other habitual exaggerators include "Pilgrim's Path" by John J Robinson and "Born in Blood" by the same. He's a historian, a non-mason, and a non-catholic, and I feel he gave it all a pretty fair shake.
There's a lot to unpack on the subject, especially for people who don't really bother to learn about it outside of that book Pat Robertson put out back in the 80s or 90s. A lot of modern anti-mason stuff comes directly from that dude.
