It was in 1738 that the Catholic Church. through the reigning pontiff Clement XII, issued the bull In Eminenli, condemning vehemently the Freemasonry which was then spreading through Europe.

It was noteworthy that Clement saw immediately that this secret society not only had a most pernicious effect on the Individual soul, but that it also had a devastating effect on the peace and stability of the State.

This bull was issued some forty years before the beginning of the French Revolution. Thus, the popes words were prophetic, for It was the spread of Masonic ideas and principles throughout France which gradually led to the mighty convulsion of the Terror. And the madness that gripped France then devastated the Christian conscience and culture with a demonic ferocity and led to a spiritual holocaust front, which France has never recovered.

Clement’s successor, Benedict XIV, renewed the severe condemnation of Freemasonry, as also did Pius VI, Pius VII, Leo XII, Pius VIII, Gregory XVI and Pius IX. Leo XIII issued an encyclical on the menace of Freemasonry. His encyclical. Humanum Genus, condemned the society with the utmost severity and without appeal.

Leo warns Christians that the Masonic agenda calls for the uprooting of the religious and political order of the whole world; and he gives stern warnings to Catholics about ‘this dangerous enemy.’ He stigmatizes Freemasonry as the leader of the evil forces which are attacking the Church. Leo concluded: “Let us remember that Christianity and Freemasonry are fundamentally irreconcilable, so much so that to adhere to one is to cut oneself off from the other...” In a later encyclical, Leo added: “the sole reason for the existence of Freemasonry is to wage war against God and His Church.”

In 1906, St.. Pius X also condemned Freemasonry and Pius XI drew attention to the alliance between Communism and Freemasonry In his encyclical Divini Redemptoris.

The Masons tried to pretend that certain branches of the Order were exempted from these condemnations. But this ruse was countered by a declaration of the Holy Office on April 20th, 1949, which stated, inter alia, “Since nothing has happened to cause any change in the decisions of the Holy See on this question, the provisions of Canon Law remain in full force for every kind of Masonry whaisoever.’

And, on 19th of March, 1950, the Most Rev. Mario Cordorvani,, Master of the Sacred Palace, published an article in Osservatore Romano which contained the following: “The bishops know that Canon 684, and especially Canon 233S, which excommunicates those who have given their names to Masonry, without any distinction of rites, are as fully in force today as they have always been; all Catholics ought to know this and remember it, so as nor to fall into this snare, and also so as to know how to pass due judgment on the fact that certain simpletons believe that they can call themselves both Catholics and Freemasons... This, I repeat, applies to all Masonic riles, even if some of them...declare that they are not hostile to the Church.”

Again, on 5th January, 1954, the Holy Office warned that the excommunication pronounced in Canon 2335 against all Masons, of whatever kind, remained in full force.

 The above material concerning Freemasonry, may be found in the book Freemasonry and the Vatican by Leon de Poncins. It may he obtained from 0MM Publications, Box 900566, Palrndale, CA 93590.