PONTIFICAL DOCUMENTS ON FREEMASONRY
Benedict XIV: fighting indifferentism (continued)
There
are some cases in which a spontaneous agreement can be reached in the face of
an event or a catastrophe, such as an earthquake, a tsunami or a cyclone, in
which everyone is in the same misfortune; or in times of war, etc. In
that case, agreeing with a group of another religion to help others is a
specific action that does not compromise the faith; it is an act of
charity and something perfectly normal. But it is dangerous to create
permanent institutions, because they do not have the same principles.
I
remember very well that we had similar difficulties in Cameroon. The government
had proposed aid to private schools. Some found it very clever to say: “There are Catholic and Protestant private schools;
let us unite to present our demands, demands and programs, and thus we will be
stronger ”… and it turned out that those who, despite the
advice of the bishops, acted like this, were fooled by the Protestants, because
one fine day the latter decided that You had to accept everything that the
government proposed, whether in the programs or in the implantation of schools,
since there were things that were inadmissible for a Catholic. It was something
that almost ruined Catholic schools. There was a breakup and the situation was
worse than before.
The
same thing happens with the unions. There is a true notion of justice, since
that of non-Catholics is only more or less good, and when it comes to
discussions, the latter are rather tempted to lead the workers to rebellion.
Saint Pius X had to intervene, on this issue, before the German unions, which
were divided over the creation of interdenominational unions, and he advised
them against it in a letter in which, in a few words, he said to
Catholics: “You have principles that
you apply in practice, but they do not have clear principles or convictions and
they change them; it is impossible to work together ”.
Let's
go back to the reasoning of Bene-dicto XIV against Masonry: «The second is the narrow and impenetrable
secret pact, by virtue of which everything that is done in these conventicles
is hidden, for which we can rightly apply this sentence ... good people always
love advertising; crimes are covered with secrecy.
This
verification is related to the third reason, which refers to the application of
the secret: «The third is the oath
that they take to keep this secret inviolably, as if anyone could be allowed to
rely on the pretext of a promise or an oath , to refuse to declare if he is
questioned by a legitimate authority, as to whether what is done in any of those
conventicles, is not something against the State and the laws of Religion or of
the rulers.
There
is a secret and, in addition, after having sworn it, nothing can be said in
court. That is illegitimate. No one can undertake under oath to
refuse to respond to those who have the right to ask, or to those who have to
know things that affect the field of State security and even for the existence
of religion.
Benedict
XIV continues with the fourth reason: "The fourth is that these societies are
no less contrary to civil laws than to canonical norms."
Civil
and canonical laws prohibit these conventicles, associations and secret
meetings, of which nothing is known, since all societies that meet without the
permission of the public authority are prohibited by civil law and also by
canonical law. "The fifth is that
already in many countries such societies and aggregations have been proscribed
and banished by the laws of secular princes."
Obviously,
it could be objected that princes act this way because these societies hinder
them - and that this does not mean that they are always bad - but
the Pope relies on secular Catholic princes who believe that they cannot
tolerate these associations that hide and they work in secret.
Then
he gives the sixth reason: "These societies are held in a bad light by prudent and honest
people, and to join them is to get dirty with the stains of perversion and
malignancy."
The
Pope relies on the opinion of prudent and honest people, and then insists, like
his predecessor, before the prelates, bishops, ordinary of the place,
ecclesiastical superiors and also before the princes and heads of State to ask
them to fight against these secret societies .
This,
then, is the second document of Benedict XIV. Leo XII adds a reflection:
he reproaches the governments and heads of state for not taking into account
the warnings of the Popes, so that the secret societies continued to expand and
spread evil. Let us quote: «I wish the rulers of that time had
taken into account those decrees that demanded the salvation of the Church and
the State.
If only they had believed themselves obliged to
recognize in the Roman Pontiffs, successors of Saint Peter, not only the
pastors and heads of the whole Church, but also the indefatigable defenders of
dignity and the diligent discoverers of the dangers of princes.
If only they had used their power to destroy the
sects whose pestilential designs had been revealed to them by the Holy
Apostolic See. They would have killed them since then. But it was because of
the fraud of the sectarians, who carefully hide their secrets, was it because
of the reckless convictions of some sovereigns who thought that there was
nothing in it that deserved their attention or should persecute; They had no
fear of the Masonic sects, and from there it turned out that a great number of
other more daring and more evil were born. It seemed then that, in a way,
the Carbonari sect enclosed them all within its bosom. This happened to be
the main one in Italy and other countries; it was divided into many
branches that only differ in name, and it was decided to attack the Catholic
religion and all legitimate sovereignty ». As we can see, the Pope does not hesitate to point
out this new sect, which openly attacks the Catholic religion and the
legitimate authority of the State.
Pius VII: against sacrilege
At
that time Leo XII presented a third document: "Our predecessor
Pius VII, in happy memory ... published the Constitution of September 13, 1821,
which begins: Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo . " This
document deals with the condemnation of the Carbonari sect with serious
penalties. The French Revolution had passed and was materially pacified, but
since 1821 it could be seen that the activity of the sects had only increased
to spread the revolution throughout Europe. «The Church that Our Lord Jesus Christ
founded on a solid stone, and against which Christ himself said that the gates
of hell should never prevail, has been assaulted by such a great number of
enemies that, if the word had not promised it divine, which cannot be absent,
it would have been believed that, subjugated by her strength, by her cunning or
malice, she was already going to disappear ». It
must be assumed that Pius VII then saw all the effects of the French
Revolution: the assassination of the King of France, the extermination of
priests and religious, the destruction of churches, and ruins and persecutions
everywhere: «What
happened in ancient times has also happened in our deplorable age and with
symptoms similar to those previously observed and announced by the Apostles
saying: Some impostors are to come who will follow the ways of impiety (Jud.
18). Nobody ignores the prodigious number of guilty men who have united, in
these difficult times, against the Lord and against his Christ, and have done
everything necessary to deceive the faithful by the subtlety of a false and
vain philosophy, and tear them away from the bosom of the Church, with the mad
hope of ruining and turning this very Church upside down.
To more easily achieve this end, most of
them have formed the occult societies, the clandestine sects, thus boasting of
associating more freely a greater number for their conspiracy and perverse
designs.
It is a long time since the Church, having
discovered these sects, rose up against them with strength and courage,
exposing the dark designs that they formed against religion and against civil
society. It has been a long time since She has drawn general attention to
this point and moves to ensure that the sects cannot attempt to carry out their
guilty projects. But it is necessary to regret that the zeal of the Holy
See has not obtained the effects that She expected ... »
The
Popes themselves recognized that their efforts had been in vain. Saint
Pius X used to say: “We strive to fight
against liberalism, modernism, progressivism… and we are not listened
to. That is why the worst misfortunes will come upon humanity. Men
want everything to be allowed: freedom for all sects, freedom of association,
of the press, of speech ... Evil will only spread more and more and we will
reach a society in which it is no longer possible to live, such as the of
communism ”.
Pius VII also groans because he sees:
«... that these perverse men have
not given up on their undertaking, from which all the evils that we have seen
have resulted».
It's
very clear. The misfortunes of the French Revolution are due to these
sects.
“Even more,” the Pope adds,
“these men have dared to form new secret societies. In this regard, it is
necessary to point out here a new society, recently formed and spreading
throughout all of Italy and other countries, which, although divided into
various branches and bearing various names, depending on the circumstances, is
nevertheless, one, both for the community of opinions and points of view, and
for its constitution. Most of the time, it appears designated under the name of
Carbonari. He appears a singular respect and a wonderful zeal for the doctrine
and the person of the Savior Jesus Christ who sometimes has the guilty audacity
to call him the Great Teacher and head of that society.
But this speech, which seems
smoother than oil, is nothing more than a trap used by these perfidious men to
more safely wound those who are not warned, those who approach with the outside
of the sheep, while inside they are butcher wolves ».
Here
again the grounds of accusation against these groups are announced: «They swear that at no time and under no
circumstances will they reveal anything that is related to their society to men
who are not admitted there, or who will never deal with those from the lower
grades things relative to the higher grades. '
In
Masonry there is not only a secret, but also degrees, and the members of a
higher degree are given the oath not to reveal anything to those of the lower
degrees, so everything inspires distrust: «Also those clandestine
meetings that they have following the example of many other heresiarchs, and
the aggregation of men of all sects and religions, sufficiently show, even if
other elements are not added, that it is necessary not to give any confidence
in their speeches ». Little by little the Popes were gathering
information, especially about those who were converted.
Pius VII knew of some books in which certain things
were revealed: «His printed books, in
which we find what is observed in his meetings, and especially in those of the
higher degrees, his catechisms, his statutes, all prove that The Carbonarians
have for the main purpose of propagating indifferentism in religious matters,
the most dangerous of all systems, granting everyone the absolute freedom to
make a religion according to their own inclination and ideas, and to desecrate
and stain the Passion of the Savior with some of their guilty rites ».
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