An edict or proclamation issued from the Apostolic Chancery, with the seal and signature of the Pope, written in Gothic letters and upon coarse parchment. This derives its name from the leaden seal which is attached to it by a cord of hemp or silk, and which in Medieval Latin is called bulla.
Several of these Bulls have from time to time been aimed against Freemasonry and other secret societies, subjecting them to the heaviest ecclesiastical punishments, even to the greater excommunication. According to these Bulls, a Freemason is by reason of that fact excommunicated by continuing his membership in the Society, and is thus deprived of all spiritual privileges while living, and the rites of burial when dead.
The several important Bulls which have been issued by the Popes of Rome intended to affect the Fraternity of Freemasons are as follows: the Bull In Eminenti of Clement XII, dated 24th of April, 1738. This Bull was confirmed and renewed by that beginning Providas, of Benedict XIV, 18th of May, 1751; then followed the edict of Pius VII, 13th of September, 1821; the apostolic edict Quo Graviora of Leo XII, 13th of March, 1825 ; that of Pius VIII, 21st of May, 1829 ; that of Gregory XVI, 15th of August, 1832; Pius IX in 1846 and 1865; and finally that of Leo XIII, who ascended to the papacy in 1878, and issued his Bull, or encyclical letter, Humanum Genus, on April 20, 1884. Whatever may have been the severity of the Bulls issued by the predecessors of Leo XIII, he with great clearness ratifies and confirms them all in the following language: “Therefore, whatsoever the popes our predecessors have decreed to hinder the designs and attempts of the sect of Freemasons ; whatsoever they have ordained to deter or recall persons from societies of this kind, each and all do we ratify and conform by our Apostolic authority,” at the same time acknowledging that this “society of men are most widely spread and firmly established.”
This letter of the Roman hierarchy thus commences: “The human race, after its most miserable defection, through the wiles of the devil, from its Creator, God, the giver of celestial gifts, has divided into two different and opposite factions, of which one fights ever for truth and virtue, the other for their opposites.
One is the kingdom of God on earth . . . the other is the kingdom of Satan.”
That, “by accepting any that present themselves, no matter of what religion, they (the Freemasons) gain their purpose of urging that great error of the present day, viz., that questions of religion ought to be left undetermined, and that there should be no distinction made between varieties. And this policy aims at the destruction of all religions, especially at that of the Catholic religion, which, since it is the only true one, cannot be reduced to equality with the rest without the greatest injury.”
“But, in truth, the sect grants great license to its initiates, allowing them to defend either position, that there is a God, or that there is no God.”
Thus, might we quote continuous passages, which need only to be stated to proclaim their falsity, and yet there are those who hold to the doctrine of the infallibility of the Pope.
– Source: Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
Eight Popes Have Condemned Masonry Since 1738.
AuthorWilliam J. Whalen states: No one could accuse the Catholic Church of disguising her antipathy to Freemasonry. Scarcely 20 years after the organization of modern Masonry in 1717 Pope Clement XII forbade membership in the lodge and since then seven other popes have warned the faithful against the dangers of Masonic naturalism to the Christian faith.
Catholics who join the Masonic sect are automatically excommunicated. Except at the point of death only the pope or his delegated representative can lift this excommunication in the external forum. Such a “Catholic” Mason deprives himself of the spiritual benefits of the Church, may not receive the sacraments, and cannot be given Christian burial nor be interred in consecrated ground. A Mason who desires to enter the Church must cut all ties with the lodge. A Mason who wishes to marry a Catholic woman must reveal his lodge affiliation in signing the pre-nuptial questionnaire.
Excommunication is a drastic penalty but its object is to cure the offenders and bring them back to the Church. Obviously, a non-Catholic cannot be excluded from the communion of the faithful to which he does not belong. Masonic jibing at the in effectiveness of papal excommunication for Protestant and Jewish Masons betrays a complete misunderstanding of the term. The Church does not excommunicate Masons. She excommunicates Catholics who freely elect to worship the Grand Architect of the lodge rather than the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Masonry constitutes a religion of naturalism which considers the basic Christian doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Atonement, the necessity of baptism, and the role of the Church in the plan of salvation to be quite incidental. The lodge furthermore exacts a series of oaths from its candidates which cannot be called valid extrajudicial oaths; those who swear such oaths, agreeing to the most horrible self-mutilation in order to protect a few passwords and secret grips, are objectively guilty of either vain or rash swearing. Third, the Masonic order has historically sought to destroy the Catholic Church and to substitute a purely secular society. Posing as nonpartisan in religious affairs the lodge plumps for abolishment of parochial schools, easy divorce laws, cremation, suppression of religious orders especially the Society of Jesus, and a separation of Church and State never envisioned by the framers of the First Amendment. In addition, American Freemasonry discriminates against Negroes, promotes a spirit of religious indifference, lends itself to manifold injustices through preferential treatment of Masons by Masons, and expunges the name of Christ from lodge prayers and from Bible passages used in the ritual.
Pope Clement directed his bull in (April 28, 1738) against Francis, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who had sponsored Masonic lodges within his domain. The bull read in part:
It has become known to us, even in truth by public rumor, that great and extensive progress is being made by, and the strength daily increasing of, some Societies, Meetings, Gatherings, Conventicles or Lodges commonly known as of , or Freemasons or some other nomenclature according to difference of language, in which men of any religion and sect whatsoever, content with a certain affectation of natural virtue, are associated mutually in a close and exclusive bond in accordance with laws and statutes framed for themselves; and are bound as well by a stringent oath sworn upon the Sacred Volume, as by the imposition of heavy penalties to conceal under inviolable silence, what they secretly do in their meetings.
But since it is the nature of wickedness to betray itself, and to cry aloud so as to reveal itself, hence the aforesaid Societies or Conventicles have excited so strong suspicion in the minds of the faithful that to enroll oneself in these Lodges is quite the same, in the judgment of prudent and virtuous men, as to incur the brand of depravity and perverseness, for if they were not acting ill, they would not by any means have such a hatred of the light. And this repute has spread to such a degree that in very many countries the societies just mentioned have been proscribed, and with foresight banished long since as though hostile to the safety of kingdoms.
We, accordingly, turning over in our mind the very serious injuries which are in the highest degree inflicted by such Societies or Conventicles not merely on the tranquility of the temporal state, but also on the spiritual welfare of souls, and perceiving that they are inconsistent alike with civil and canonical sanctions, being taught by the divine word that it is our duty, by day and night, like a faithful servant, and a prudent ruler of his master’s household, to watch that no persons of this kind like thieves break into the house, and like foxes strive to ravage the vineyard, that is to say, thereby pervert the hearts of the simple and privily shoot at the innocent; in order to close the wide road which might be opened thereby for perpetrating iniquity with impunity and for other just and reasonable causes known to ourselves, have determined and decreed that these same Societies, Meetings, Gatherings, Lodges or Conventicles, of , or Freemasons, or by whatever other name called, herein acting on the advice of some Venerable Brethren of ours, Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, and also of our own motion, and from our certain knowledge, and mature deliberation, and in the plenitude of Apostolic Power, should be condemned and prohibited as by this present Constitution we do condemn and prohibit them.
Wherefore we direct the faithful in Christ, all and singly, of whatever status, grade, dignity and preeminence, whether laics or clerics as well secular as regular, even those worthy of specific and individual mention and expression, strictly and in virtue of holy obedience, that no one, under any pretext or farfetched color dare or presume to enter the above mentioned Societies of , Freemasons, or otherwise named, or to propagate, foster and receive them whether in their houses or elsewhere, and to conceal them, or be present at them, or to afford them the opportunity or facilities for being convened anywhere, or otherwise to render them advice, help or favor, openly or in secret, directly or indirectly, of themselves or through the agency of others in whatever way; and likewise to exhort, induce, incite or persuade others to be enrolled in, reckoned among, or take part in Societies of this kind, or to aid and foster them in any way whatsoever; but in every particular to abstain utterly as they are in duty bound from the same Societies, Meetings, Assemblies, Gatherings, Lodges, or Conventicles, on pain of excommunication to be incurred by all who in the above ways offend-to be incurred ipso facto without any declaration, and that from this excommunication no one, except on the point of death, can obtain benefit of absolution except through Us, or the Roman Pontiff for the time being.
Pius VII (1821), Leo XII (1825), Pius VIII (1829), and Gregory XVI (1832) issued bulls against Freemasonry and the host of secret societies which were infesting the continent and thriving on intrigue, assassination, and subversion. Freethinkers flocked to the lodges as the natural base from which to attack Church and State. Today the same sort of person would naturally gravitate toward the Socialist and Communist parties which promise to overthrow the present social order. Italian Masonry was disrupted by feuds and schisms but the chief leaders of the Italian unification movement were all Masons: Mazzini, Garibaldi, and Cavour.
Leo XIII reigned as pope from 1878 to 1903. His pontificate of 25 years is certainly one of the most important. He manifested great wisdom and patience in addressing major Church issues of his time, such as church-state relations, social justice, education, and the missions. His 85 encyclicals constitute a collection of statements on various modern problems that is the most important single contribution to Catholic doctrine since the Middle Ages.
In several memorable encyclicals he treated of the most serious questions affecting modern society. They are models of classical style, clearness of statement, and convincing logic. The most notable are: Rerum Novarum (1891) On Capital and Labor; Arcanum divinæ sapientiæ (1880) on Christian marriage; Diuturnum illud (1881) On the Origin of Civil Power; Immortale Dei (1885) on Christianity as the foundation of political life; Sapientiæ christianæ (1890) on the duties of a Christian citizen; Libertas (1888) on the real meaning of liberty; Humanum genus (1884) against Freemasonry. He also issued other documents bearing on Freemasonry:
- Etsí nos, (On conditions in Italy),15 February, 1882;
- Præclara gratulationis publicae (The Reunion of Christendom), 20 June, 1894;
- Dall’alto dell’Apostolico Seggio, (Freemasonry in Italy), 15 October, 1890;
- Annum ingressi, (Anapostolic letterreviewing the twenty-five years of his pontificate; also urged resistance against Italian Freemasonry), 18 March, 1902.
Pope Pius IX issued six bulls on Freemasonry between 1846 and 1873 His 1865 Allocution pointed out:
Among the numerous machinations and artifices by which the enemies of the Christian name have tried to attack the Church of God, and sought to shake it and besiege it by efforts superfluous in truth must undoubtedly be reckoned that perverse society of men called Masonic, which at first confined to darkness and obscurity, now comes into light for the common ruin of religion and human society.
“One of the greatest modern popes, Leo XIII, was also one of Masonry’s stanches” foes. In his 1884 encyclical Pope Leo indicates that the human race is divided into two opposing camps, one under God and the other under Satan. “At every period of time each has been in conflict with the other, with a variety and multiplicity of weapons, and of warfare, although not always with equal ardor and assault. At this period, however, the partisans of evil seem to be combining together, and to be struggling with united vehemence, led on or assisted by that strongly organized and widespread association called the Freemasons,” declared the pontiff. Of course, the Holy Father did not mean that all Masons are wicked and all Christians, saintly. He is speaking of the spirit of the Church and the spirit of Masonic naturalism as unalterably opposed to one another.” [1]
“For more than 200 years the Catholic Church has called attention to the anti-Christian basis of modern Masonry. What originated as Catholic guilds engaged in erecting the magnificent cathedrals of the Middle Ages has become one of the implacable enemies of the Church. The points on which the lodge stands condemned are not the peculiarities of the French Grand Orient or other “schismatic” Masonic bodies. The recent popes, particularly Leo XIII, were well aware that the bulk of the world’s Masons were English and American. Their lodges have been condemned for their religious naturalism not their atheism, for their immoral oaths, for their historic if technically unofficial anticlericalism. Millions of Protestant and Eastern Orthodox Christians belong to denominations which join in warning against affiliation with the Masonic sect.”[2]
On January 10, 1890, Pope Leo XIII issued one of his greatest political encyclicals, On the Duties of Christian Citizens, Sapientiae Christianae (1890), a document that, like nearly everything Leo XIII wrote, deserves to be much better known today than it is. As one can always expect with Pope Leo, the prose is crisp and vigorous, the doctrine lucid and coherent, the logic irresistible, the conclusions noble and demanding. It is the kind of encyclical that the Church in every age needs in order to find its way in a turbulent ocean of massive waves and contrary winds. The whole encyclical may be obtained from the Vatican website,[3] where all the encyclicals of Leo XIII are available.
“To refrain from doing battle for Jesus Christ amounts to fighting against Him; He Himself assures us “He will deny before His Father in heaven those who shall have refused to confess Him on earth” (Luke 9:26)” (Leo XIII, Encyclical Sapientiae christianae, 43).
“The enemies of the Church have for their object – and they hesitate not to proclaim it, and many among them boast of it – to destroy outright, if possible, the Catholic religion, which alone the true religion. With such a purpose in and they shrink from nothing, for they are fully conscious that the more faint-hearted those who withstand them become, the more easy will it be to work out their wicked will. Therefore, they who cherish the ‘prudence of the flesh’ and who pretend to be unaware that every Christian ought to be a valiant soldier of Christ; they who would faro obtain the rewards owing to conquerors, while they are leading the lives of cowards, untouched in the fight, are so far from thwarting the onward march of the evil – disposed that, on the contrary, they even help it forward.” (Ibid., 34).
[1] Whalen, William J., Christianity and American Freemasonry” Chapter 8, (Dallas, TX: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1958), p. 107.
[2] Ibid.,p. 109.
[3] Sapientiae Christianae (January 10, 1890) | LEO XIII (vatican.va)