Brothers All: Spanish Freemasonry cheers Francis’ New Encyclical on Human Fraternity

Talk about brotherhood!

Brothers All: Spanish Freemasonry cheers Francis’ New Encyclical on Human Fraternity

This should come as absolutely no surprise: On Oct. 5, 2020, only one day after the release of “Pope” Francis’ latest encyclical letter, Fratelli Tutti, the Grand Orient Freemasons of Spain published a statement praising the “papal” document for its adoption and propagation of Freemasonic ideas, by which Francis necessarily also rejects the Catholic Church’s historic condemnations of the Lodge. The well-informed Spanish blog InfoVaticana broke the story the very same day.

The Grand Lodge’s communiqué can be accessed here. The pertinent portion states:

Three hundred years ago, the birth of Modern Freemasonry took place. The great principle of this initiatory school has not changed in three centuries: the construction of a universal fraternity where human beings call each other brothers beyond their specific creeds, ideologies, skin color, social background, language, culture or nationality. This fraternal dream clashed with the religious fundamentalism that, in the case of the Catholic Church, led to harsh texts condemning tolerance of Freemasonry in the nineteenth century. The latest encyclical of Pope Francis shows how far the current Catholic Church is from its former positions. In ‘Fratelli Tutti’, the Pope embraces the Universal Fraternity, the great principle of Modern Freemasonry.

(Source; translated using DeepL.com; underlining added.)

Here is a screenshot of the original text, taken from the message released by the Spanish Grand Lodge:

The text does not end there, but as the remainder is simply a condensed restatement of some of Francis’ theses, together with a few specific quotations, we will not quote it here. Readers who are interested in details about the content of the godless encyclical are encouraged to have a look at our Fratelli Tutti highlights post here.

Naturally, Spain’s Grand Orient Lodge is well aware that to endorse Freemasonry today is to turn one’s back on the Catholic condemnations of Freemasonry of former times. There is no “hermeneutic of continuity” here. Under the 1917 Code of Canon Law, a Catholic was punished with automatic excommunication for joining Freemasonry (see Canon 2335). Today, the “illuminated” doctrines of the Lodge are disseminated by the counterfeit “Holy See” itself. The excommunication, by the way, was rescinded in 1983 by “Pope Saint” John Paul II and his loyal subject, then-“Cardinal” Joseph Ratzinger, now “Pope Emeritus” Benedict XVI (see Novus Ordo Canon 1374 and the Declaration on Masonic Associations).

Francis was incredibly bold in his latest document, which is thoroughly secular in tone and content. The subsection heading between paragraphs 102 and 103 in Fratelli Tutti is nothing other than “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” — the motto of the Freemasonic French Revolution of 1789. Here an annotated screenshot from the Vatican web site’s full text of the encyclical:

Indeed, these days the Vatican is not hiding its fraternal relationship with the Lodge anymore, and in any case, Francis has gotten kudos from his brother Masons before:

• Vatican Official is Chaplain of three Masonic Lodges, publishes Book on reconciling Catholicism and Freemasonry (2020)
• Freemasons delighted with Francis (2015)
• Jorge Bergoglio is Honorary Member of Masonic Rotary Club in Buenos Aires (2014)
• Italian Freemasonry Officially Supports “Pope” Bergoglio (2013)

In Buenos Aires, then-“Cardinal” Bergoglio even hosted a Masonic-Jewish memorial service in the cathedral!

Of course, Fratelli Tutti has plenty of admirers and defenders. For example, the openly heretical “Cardinal” Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Destruction of the Faith from 2012 to 2017, has attempted to exonerate the encyclical from the very charge of Freemasonry. In a recent interview with the Austrian kath.net, Müller argues:

It would be wrong to say that [Francis’ concept of fraternity] corresponds to that of the Freemasons and the United Nations, since it emphasizes the transcendence of fraternity in God the Creator, God as Father, and the Church, in Mary, as mother of all people. This argumentation can be placed in the line from John XXIII to Benedict [XVI] on social doctrine and the non-negotiable values of human rights. That which is Christian isn’t being reduced to that which is common to humanity; rather, vice versa, that which is human, arising out of faith, is being recommended as a basis for coexistence by people of different religions [and] cultures in the global civilization of today.

(“Cardinal” Gerhard Ludwig Müller, in Roland Noé, “Die bekennenden Katholiken in Deutschland sollen sich nicht einschüchtern lassen!”, kath.net, Oct. 5, 2020; our translation.)

That is a nice try by Mr. Müller, who loves obfuscation because it allows him to deny dogma more shrewdly under a veneer of profound theology. However, his argumentation is hardly convincing. The very notion of fraternity — brotherhood — obviously implies a common father and mother. Although Francis identifies the Virgin Mary as everyone’s mother, he notes that this is so merely “[f]or many Christians” (see Fratelli Tutti, n. 278) and falsely implies that “the rest of her seed” mentioned in Apoc 12:17 is a reference to all mankind, whereas the Scripture verse clearly states that it is referring to those “who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”. Besides, in the beginning of his encyclical Bergoglio speaks of men as “children of the same earth” (n. 8), so it is clear whom (or rather, what) he is proposing as the real mother of men. Interestingly enough, Adam and Eve as the natural parents of mankind — Eve being specifically called “the mother of all the living” in Gen 3:20 — are not mentioned in his secularist screed at all.

As long as natural fraternity is preached and practiced, the Freemasons presumably won’t care whether specific individuals ground that concept in God as Creator, in God as Father, in God as the Holy Trinity, in the Masonic Grand Architect of the Universe, in the Gnostic Demiurge, in the Moslems’ Allah, or in anything else. We all have our oh-so rich religious convictions, so who cares, right?!

One of the main problems with Francis’ thesis is that he focuses entirely on the natural bond that exists between human beings, leaving totally out of account the supernatural end for which all people have been created. When Pope Pius XII spoke about the unity of the human race in his inaugural encyclical, unlike Francis he did not fail to speak about mankind’s supernatural vocation, for that is a truth no less objective, no less certain, and no less significant than the other truths about humanity:

The Apostle of the Gentiles [St. Paul] later on makes himself the herald of this truth which associates men as brothers in one great family, when he proclaims to the Greek world that God “hath made of one, all mankind, to dwell upon the whole face of the earth, determining appointed times, and the limits of their habitation, that they should seek God” (Acts xvii. 26, 27).

A marvelous vision, which makes us see the human race in the unity of one common origin in God “one God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all, and in us all” (Ephesians iv. 6); in the unity of nature which in every man is equally composed of material body and spiritual, immortal soul; in the unity of the immediate end and mission in the world; in the unity of dwelling place, the earth, of whose resources all men can by natural right avail themselves, to sustain and develop life; in the unity of the supernatural end, God Himself, to Whom all should tend; in the unity of means to secure that end.

(Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Summi Pontificatus, nn. 37-38; underlining added.)

Although he pays lip service to objective truth (nn. 206-208), in Fratelli Tutti Francis treats any revealed truths his text may contain as merely “the Christian convictions that inspire and sustain me” (n. 6) — and of course he does not fail to mention that “each of us [brings] the richness of his or her beliefs and convictions” (n. 8) to the discussion. It is relativism all around, though of course he verbally disclaims any such notion (see nn. 185, 206, 209).

Whether he himself be an actual member of the Lodge or not, it is clear that Bergoglio has been doing the work of Freemasonry. The least we can do is call attention to the fact.

In 1884, Pope Leo XIII exhorted the world’s Catholic bishops:

We wish it to be your rule first of all to tear away the mask from Freemasonry, and to let it be seen as it really is; and by sermons and pastoral letters to instruct the people as to the artifices used by societies of this kind in seducing men and enticing them into their ranks, and as to the depravity of their opinions and the wickedness of their acts.

(Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Humanum Genus, n. 31)

The so-called “Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita” was a secret Masonic document giving a blueprint for the systematic subversion of the Catholic Church. Knowing that they would not be able to destroy her from the outside, the Freemasons instead plotted to subvert her from within. The document was leaked to the Holy See and ordered published by Pope Pius IX in order to expose the nefarious aims of the secret society (cf. Jn 3:20; Lk 12:2):

Seek out the Pope of whom we give the portrait. You wish to establish the reign of the elect upon the throne of the prostitute of Babylon? Let the clergy march under your banner in the belief always that they march under the banner of the Apostolic Keys. You wish to cause the last vestige of tyranny and of oppression to disappear? Lay your nets like Simon Barjona. Lay them in the depths of sacristies, seminaries, and convents, rather than in the depths of the sea, and if you will precipitate nothing you will give yourself a draught of fishes more miraculous than his. The fisher of fishes will become a fisher of men. You will bring yourselves as friends around the Apostolic Chair. You will have fished up a Revolution in Tiara and Cope, marching with Cross and banner – a Revolution which needs only to be spurred on a little to put the four quarters of the world on fire.

(“Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita”, in Mgr. George F. Dillon, The War of Antichrist with the Church [Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son, 1885], pp. 94-95)

Since the Papacy is divinely protected, as it was established by God for the salvation of souls and not their perdition (see here), the Pope the Masons wanted had in reality to be an Antipope (i.e. a false pope). They eventually got him in the person of Angelo Roncalli, the man now known as “Saint” John XXIII. More on him in a moment.

Despite all the foregoing, some Novus Ordo apologist will inevitably argue that it is absurd to accuse the “Pope” of teaching Masonic ideas. In particular, we will hear the argument that the testimony of the Masonic Lodge concerning that is not credible but worthless. After all, why should we believe anything put forward by anti-Christian operatives whose stated goal is the destruction of all organized religion, especially the Catholic Church? Did the Masons not calumniate Pope Pius IX, claiming he was one of them? Therefore, is it not reasonable to conclude that they must be lying, precisely in order to harm the Papacy?

Such an objection may seem plausible at first but collapses under closer scrutiny. We are not saying that Francis is teaching Masonic ideas because the Grand Lodge of Spain says so. Rather, to anyone familiar with Freemasonry and real Catholicism, it is clearly evident that Fratelli Tutti teaches a Freemasonic concept of fraternity. The Novus Ordo magisterium has long promoted Masonic ideas, not only since Francis usurped the Throne of St. Peter in 2013 but going at least as far back as John XXIII’s Pacem in Terris (1963) or even Mater et Magistra (1961). It is no accident that “Cardinal” Muller stated in his interview with kath.net that Francis’ new encyclical “can be placed in the line from John XXIII to Benedict [XVI] on social doctrine and the non-negotiable values of human rights.” Note well: The line of this quasi-Masonic doctrine does not begin until John XXIII (1958-63) — Muller himself admits it!

In the early 1960s, Yves Marsaudon, a high-ranking Freemason of the Scottish Rite, commented regarding “Pope” John’s fake pontificate: “The sense of universalism that is rampant in Rome these days is very close to our purpose of existence…. With all our hearts we support the ‘Revolution of John XXIII'” (qtd. in Rama P. Coomaraswamy, The Destruction of the Christian Tradition, updated and revised [Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, Inc., 2006], p. 128). It was a revolution indeed — a revolution that continues to this very day, now clearly in its most advanced stage yet.

In 1964, Marsaudon published the book L’Oecumenisme vu par un Franc-Maçon de Tradition (“Ecumenism as seen by a traditional Freemason”), which he dedicated to the same John XXIII, “who has deigned to give us his benediction, his understanding, and his protection” (qtd. in Coomaraswamy, p. 128; italics removed).

Far from arguing, then, that Francis’ new encyclical is Masonic simply because the Masons say so, we only note that their cheers for Fratelli Tutti are an apt confirmation of what we already know to be the Naturalist doctrines of Freemasonry advanced in this pseudo-papal text. This stands in stark contrast to the truly gratuitous and outrageous smears against Pope Pius IX, whose magisterium was a relentless condemnation of all kinds of modern errors, especially Liberalism and other ideas advocated by Freemasonry.

Francis’ Masonic handshakes, which by themselves would not be proof of anything, are another welcome layer of icing on the cake:

How much more obvious does it need to get? Sufficient evidence is there — all people need to do is draw the conclusion.

Those who are reluctant still, maintaining that they need yet further evidence, should keep in mind the warning of Abraham to the rich man in hell who had begged that Lazarus would be permitted to come back from the dead and warn his kinsmen: “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe, if one rise again from the dead” (Lk 16:31).

Image sources: shutterstock.com / gle.org (screenshot) / vatican.va (screenshot)
Licenses: paid / fair use / fair use