"It is I, the accused, who would have to judge you" Bishop Marcel Lefebvre

 PART ONE PONTIFICAL DOCUMENTS ON FREEMASONRY

 

EPISODE 2

Encyclical Quo graviora

of Pope Leo XII

about Masonry

(March 13, 1826)

 

The encyclical Quo graviora, published by Pope Leo XII on March 13, 1826 and dealing with Masonry, has the particularity of containing the complete text of the documents published by the preceding Popes, mainly the letter of Clement XII (1738). , that of Benedict XIV (1751) and that of Pius VII (1821), with which we see that since 1738, that is, for a century, the Popes had already denounced secret societies and continued to do so after Leo XII . This Pope wanted to put these texts again before the eyes of the bishops and faithful because, unfortunately, the warnings they contained had not been heeded enough and these societies were developing every day.

Quo graviora begins like this:

«The more serious the evils that afflict the flock of Jesus Christ our God and Savior, the more the Roman Pontiffs must take care to free it from them, to whom, in the person of Peter, Prince of the Apostles, the solicitude and the power to feed it.

Remember, then, the main obligation of the Pope, charged with leading the flock: to point out the dangers that surround him.

«It corresponds therefore to the Pontiffs, as to those who are placed as first sentinels for the security of the Church, to observe from further afield the ties with which the enemies of the Christian name seek to exterminate the Church of Jesus Christ, to which they will never reach, and to indicate these ties so that the faithful are kept from them and the authority can neutralize and annihilate them ».

I insist: the Pope does not hesitate to say: "These sects threaten the Church!", That is to say: "they want the complete ruin of the Church." And continues:

“Not only is this request of the Supreme Pontiffs found in the ancient annals of Christendom, but it still shines forth in all that in our time and in that of our fathers they have been constantly doing to oppose the clandestine sects of the guilty, that in contradiction with Jesus Christ, they are ready to all kinds of evils ».

At that moment he introduces the letter of Clement XII:

«When our predecessor, Clement XII, saw that the sect called the Freemasons, or by any other name, took root and grew daily, he knew for many reasons that it was suspicious and completely enemy of the Catholic Church, and he condemned it with an eloquent constitution. -tución issued on April 28, 1738, which begins: In eminenti ».

Clement XII: excommunication of the Masons

Clement XII's letter says:

«Divine Providence having placed us, despite our unworthiness, in the highest chair of the Apostolate, to watch unceasingly for the safety of the flock that has been entrusted to Us, we have devoted all our care, in what the help from on high It has allowed us, and all our application has been to oppose vice and error, a barrier that stops their progress, to preserve especially the integrity of the Orthodox religion, and to move away from the Catholic Universe in these difficult times, everything that could be a source of disturbance for them. '

How clear and simple the Popes were once! They said: “We are the shepherds and we have to

protect the flock ”. Against what? Against errors and against vices; For this reason, we denounce vices and errors, and proclaim the truth of the Gospel ”. It couldn't be clearer. With such pastors, who were not afraid to say: “Watch out! Avoid this or that thing! Here is danger! Follow the truth of the Church !, etc. ”, he felt secure. Now, after Pope John XXIII, we no longer feel this. Before him, in 1950, Pius XII had written the Humani generis,a strong and magnificent encyclical against the errors of modern times, but since then it seems as if there were no more errors or as if in the errors themselves there were elements of truth. With that little portion of apparent truth, people swallow the error that covers them and the herd is poisoned ... Let's go back to Clemente XII:

«We have found out, and the public rumor has not allowed us to question it, that centers, meetings, groups, aggregations or conventicles have been formed, and that they were affirmed from day to day, that under the name of Liberi Muratori or Freemasonsor under another equivalent denomination, according to the diversity of language, in which people of all religions, and of all sects, were admitted indifferently, who with the outward appearance of a natural probity, which is demanded and fulfilled there, have established certain laws, certain statutes that bind them together, and that, in particular, oblige them under the most serious penalties, by virtue of the oath taken on the sacred Scriptures, to keep an inviolable secret about everything that happens in their assemblies.

This definition is wonderful. First of all, they are: men "of all religions", with an "outward appearance of natural integrity" —that is, of philanthropy—, posing as friends of the people, of progress, of society ... the same as today. There is always a secret pact between them that commits them, under serious penalties - even to death, as it later became known - to an inviolable silence. It is impossible to know exactly what is up in these societies; the secret is absolute. The Popes insist on this fact: what is done in this way can only be bad, because if they did good things there would be no reason not to do them in the light of day.

Clement XII then enunciates the accusations of the Church against these societies. First of all, the suspicions that arise in the minds of the faithful:

«But as such is the human nature of the crime that betrays itself, and that the very precautions that it takes to hide itself are discovered by the scandal that it cannot contain, this society and its assemblies have become so suspicious of the faithful , that every good man considers them today as a little equivocal sign of perversion for anyone who adopts them. If they did nothing wrong they would not feel that hatred for the light.

The Pope relies on certain public opinion: prudent faithful and honest people judge that something bad happens in these societies.

"For this reason, for a long time, these societies have been wisely outlawed by numerous princes in their states, since they have considered such people as enemies of public safety."

At that time, of course, the states were Catholic and the princes decided to ban secret societies. As we see, the Pope bases his judgment on what he knows through people who are in contact with these societies, and thus proclaims:

«After a mature reflection on the great evils that habitually originate from these associations, always detrimental to the tranquility of the State and the health of souls, and which, for this reason, cannot be in accordance with civil and canonical laws ; instructed on the other hand, by God's own word, that as a prudent and faithful servant, chosen to rule the Lord's flock, we must be continually alert against people of this species, for fear that, following the example of thieves , storm our houses, and just like foxes throw themselves on the vineyard and sow desolation everywhere, that is, the fear that they will seduce the simple people and secretly wound the hearts of the simple and the innocent with their arrows. .

Finally, wanting to stop the advances of this perversion and to prohibit a way that would lead to letting many iniquities go with impunity, and for various other reasons known to us, and which are equally just and reasonable; after having deliberated with our venerable brothers the cardinals of the holy Roman Church, and on their advice, as well as on our own initiative and certain knowledge, and in all the fullness of our apostolic power, we have resolved to condemn and prohibit, as indeed We condemn and prohibit the aforementioned centers, meetings, groups, aggregations or conventicles of Freemasons or whatever name they are designated by, by this our present Constitution, valid in perpetuity.

For all this, we very expressly prohibit and by virtue of holy obedience, all the faithful, be they lay or clergy, secular or regular ... to enter for any reason and under no pretext in such centers, meetings, groups, aggregations or conventicles before mentioned, nor favor their progress, receive or hide them in their homes, nor associate with them, nor attend, nor facilitate their assemblies, nor provide them with anything, nor help them with advice, nor give them help or favors in public or in secret, nor act directly or indirectly by oneself or by another person, nor exhort, request, induce or commit to anyone to be adopted in these societies, attend them or provide any kind of help or encourage them; we order them, on the contrary,abstain completely from these associations or assemblies,under penalty of excommunication ... »

Such is the first document. Clement XII was concerned about the secret actions carried out by these societies, and for this reason he excommunicated those who attended their meetings.

However, this letter - we can say this bull - of 1738, was not enough:

"Many said that since Benedict XIV had not expressly confirmed the letters of Clement XII, who had died a few years earlier, the penalty of excommunication no longer existed."

This made Leo XII say:

"All these precautions did not seem sufficient to Benedict XIV, also our predecessor of venerable memory."

Benedict XIV: fighting indifferentism

«It was surely absurd to pretend that the laws of the previous Pontiffs were reduced to nothing, since they were not expressly approved by the successors; on the other hand it was manifest that the Constitution of Clement XII had been confirmed by Benedict XIV different times. With all this, Benedict XIV thought that he should deprive the sectarians of such a trick by means of the new Constitution issued on May 18, 1751 ... and which begins Providas ».

Leo XII refers to this second document. First of all, Benedict XIV explains why he saw fit to confirm the act of his predecessor:

«Our predecessor, Clement XII, of glorious memory ... in 1738, the eighth of his Pontificate ... has condemned and banned in perpetuity certain societies commonly called Freemasons... forbidding all the faithful of Jesus Christ, and each one in particular, under penalty of excommunication, to commit the same act and without another declaration, from which no one can be acquitted except by the Supreme Pontiff ... has seen, and We have known, that there is no fear of assuring and publishing that the aforementioned penalty of excommunication given by our predecessor is no longer in force ... and as also some pious and God-fearing men have insinuated that , to remove all sorts of subterfuges from the slanderers and to show the uniformity of Our intention with the will of Our Predecessor, it is necessary to accompany the suffrage of Our confirmation to the Constitution of Our aforementioned predecessor… »

We see how the Pope clearly confirms what Clement XII had said, although then he gives some additional reasons that must be studied, since he specifies them very clearly. In the first, he forcefully repeats what Clement XII had already warned: "... that, in this class of societies, men of all religions and of all kinds of sects meet ..."

And Benedict XIV adds:

"... from what can evidently result any kind of evils for the purity of the Catholic religion."

It must be remembered that the Popes have always fought against indifferentism: the error that consists in saying that all religions are good, that each person can have his own and that the Catholic should not be placed above the others. This contradicts the Catholic truth. A Catholic cannot accept it. This is why the Popes have always fought against these so-called “inter- denominational ” meetings , unions or congresses in which it is given the impression that all religions are equal and that none has more value than the others. It is absolutely contrary to our faith.