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Introduction to Masonry
Freres Maçons
"Jacques de Molay and his predecessors signed documents over the title Magister
Templi, Master of the Temple. And that temple, taking its name from the Temple
of Solomon, certainly was left unfinished upon the murder of its masters, who
also had been tortured to reveal their secrets by three assassins who ultimately
destroyed them. Not Jubela, Jubelo, and Jubelum, but Philip the Fair of France,
Pope Clement V, and the order of the Knights of the Hospital of St. John of
Jerusalem."
"What the secret society needed was men who would affirm their belief in God,
with a desire for brotherhood strong enough to accept any man's personal
religious persuasion as secondary to their principal goal of survival."
John J. Robinson, Born in Blood
The formation of the The Illuminati by Freemasons and the instigation of the
French Revolution and anti-papacy movements in the eighteen century have been
seen as a fulfilment of Templar revenge.
"The Templars, or Poor Fellow-Soldiery of the Holy House of the Temple, intended
to be re-built, took as their models, in the Bible, the Warrior-Masons of
Zorobabel, who worked, holding the sword in one hand and the trowel in the
other.
"Therefore it was that the Sword and the Trowel were the insignia of the
Templars, who subsequently, as will be seen, concealed themselves under the name
of Brethren Masons. [This name, Freres Maçons in the French, adopted by way of
secret reference to the Builders of the Second Temple, was corrupted in English
into Free-Masons]." General Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma
"Thus the Order of Knights of the Temple was at its very origin devoted to the
cause of opposition to the tiara of Rome and the crowns of Kings, and the
Apostolate of Kabalistic Gnosticism was vested in its chiefs. For Saint John
himself was the Father of the Gnostics, and the current translation of his
polemic against the heretical of his Sect and the pagans who denied that Christ
was the Word, is throughout a misrepresentation, or misunderstanding at least,
of the whole Spirit of that Evangel."
"Hence Free-Masonry, vulgarly imagined to have begun with the Dionysian
Architects or the German Stone-workers, adopted Saint John the Evangelist as one
of its patrons, associating with him, in order not to arouse the suspicions of
Rome, Saint John the Baptist [the Johannite heresy], and thus covertly,
proclaiming itself the child of the Kabbalah and Essenism together." "Allocution
of Pio Nono against the Free Masons"
The Masonic Rites
Scottish Rite Freemasonry
1. Chevalier Andrew Ramsay
"...There was a bitter conflict between England and Scotland around the turn of
the fourteenth century, and from that time Scotland's cultural orientation
shifted from England to the Continent. This change in perspective is observable
in the Scottish architecture of the period - Melrose Abbey, for example,
exhibits much French influence; and it is likely that the French masons involved
would have come with their philosophical as well as their practical workings."
W. K. Kirk MacNulty, Freemasonry - A Journey through Ritual and Symbol
"Decades before the English Grand Lodge was created, many Masons in Scotland
were already known to be helping the Stuarts. These Scottish loyalists used
their lodges as secret meeting places in which to hatch political intrigues.
Pro-Stuart Masonic activity may go as far back as 1660 - the year of the Stuart
Restoration (when the Stuarts took the throne back from the Puritans). According
to some early Masons, the Restoration was largely a Masonic feat. General Monk,
who played such a pivotal role in the Restoration, was reported to be a
Freemason."
Michael "Ramsey was a Scottish mystic who had been hired by James III to tutor
James' two sons in France. Ramsey's goal was to re-establish the disgraced
Templar Knights in Europe. To accomplish this, Ramsey adopted the same approach
used by the Mother Grand Lodge system of London: the resurrected knights Templar
were to be a secret mystical/fraternal society open to men of varied
occupations. The old knightly titles, uniforms, and 'tools of the trade' were to
be used for symbolic, fraternal and ritual purposes within a Masonic context."
William Bramley, The Gods of Eden
Charles Radclyffe, an alleged Grand Master of the Priory of Sion, presided over
the Freemason lodge at which Chevalier Andrew Ramsay (a friend of Newton -
Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
"From its beginnings, which only shortly antedated Ramsay's intervention in
1736, French Masonry had been patronized by the highest aristocracy; this may
have owed something to the Jacobite Scottish peers who had been Grand Masters of
some early French lodges. The craft was supposed to have grown from 'operative'
stonemasons, but in addressing a noble audience Ramsay naturally looked for
something more dignified than a lineage of humble British artisans. So he gave
Freemasonry a fictitious crusading parentage, suggesting that some medieval
Crusaders had been both stoneworkers and knightly warriors." "It was Ramsay, in
a speech to French Freemasons ['Apology for the Free and Accepted Masons'], who
suggested "that the
Freemasons had access to ancient wisdom which was partly biblical in origin, and
connected with the Old Testament patriarchs and the builders of the Temple, but
which also reflected Egyptian and Greek mysteries, and other hidden secrets of
the pagan world....He did not refer to the Masons of crusading times as a class
of humble artisans but as 'religious and warlike princes who wished to
enlighten, edify and build up the living Temples of the Most High'...The
apparent literalness of his earlier reference to the 'Temple of Solomon' has
been dropped in favor of a transparent metaphor for nobility of character and
aims." Peter Partner, The Murdered Magicians
"It was Ramsay's conceit that the Crusaders were Masons as well as Templars and
that the secret words of Freemasonry originated as the watchwords of military
camps. He said that by the end of the Crusades, several Masonic lodges had
already been built on the European continent. Prince Edward, son of the English
king Henry III, allegedly took pity on the vanquished Christian armies in
Palestine after the last Crusade and brought them back to Britain in the
thirteenth century. In his homeland, according to Ramsay, the prince - who later
reigned as Edward I - established a colony of brothers renaming themselves
Freemasons." Ancient Wisdom and Secret Sects
"Of the Templars Ramsay did not breathe a word. On the contrary, he spoke of
intimacy between the Crusader Masons and the Knights of St John of Jerusalem,
who were said to have been the occasion of giving the Masonic lodges the title
of 'Lodges of St John'."
Peter Partner, The Murdered Magicians
2. Jacobite Freemasonry
"The esoteric element was more prominent in the 'Red' Masonry than in the
'Blue'. But Red or Scottish Masonry can also be seen as a return to more
traditional ideas of hierarchy and social order....But the Scottish higher
degrees meant the implied rejection of at least a part of the ideal of
egalitarianism. The higher grades involved the subordination of the lower, and
also the ignorance on the part of the lower grades of the wisdom enjoyed by the
higher."
Peter Partner, The Murdered Magicians
"To affect their pro-Stuart political aims, the Scottish lodges changed the
Biblical symbolism of the third Blue Degree into political symbolism to
represent the House of Stuart.
Ramsey's 'higher' degrees contained additional symbolism 'revealing' why
Freemasons had a duty to help the Stuarts against the throne of England. Because
of this, manly people viewed Scottish Freemasonry as a clever attempt to lure
freemasons away from the Mother Grand Lodge system which supported the
Hanoverian monarchy and turn the new converts into pro-Stuart Masons. "The
Stuarts themselves joined Ramsey's organization. James III adopted the Templar
title 'Chevalier St. George'. His son, Charles Edward, was initiated into the
Order of Knights Templar on Setember 24, 1745, the same year in which he led a
major Jacobite invasion of Scotland. Two years later, on April 15, 1747, Charles
Edward established a masonic 'Scottish Jacobite Chapter' in the French city of
Arras."
William Bramley, The Gods of Eden
"We, Charles Edward, King of England, France, Scotland, and Ireland, and as such
Substitute Grand Master of the Chapter of H., known by the title of Knight of
the Eagle and Pelican..."
Arras Lodge Charter
During their stay in France in 1745, the "Young Pretender" Bonnie Prince Charlie
and other Stuarts "had become deeply involved in the dissemination of
Freemasonry. Indeed they are generally regarded as the source of the particular
form of Freemasonry known as 'Scottish Rite'. 'Scottish Rite' Freemasonry
introduced higher degrees than those offered by other Masonic systems at the
time. It promised initiation into greater and more profound mysteries -
mysteries supposedly preserved and handed down in Scotland. It established more
direct connections between Freemasonry and the various activities - alchemy,
Cabalism and Hermetic thought, for instance - which were regarded as
'Rosecrucian'. And it elaborated not only on the antiquity but also on the
illustrious pedigree of the 'craft'."
"...It did not, like many rites of Freemasonry, consist primarily of
free-thinkers and atheists. On the contrary, it seems to have been deeply
religious and magically oriented - emphasizing a sacred social and political
hierarchy, a divine order, an underlying cosmic plan. And the upper grades or
degrees of this Freemasonry, according to M. Chaumeil [Le Tresor du triangle
d'or] were the lower grades or degrees of the Prieure de Sion."
Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
"In the aftermath of the 1745 rebellion, Jacobite Freemasonry as such, with its
specific political orientation and allegiance to the Stuart bloodline,
effectively died out. Variations of it, however, purged of political content and
tempered by the moderation of the Grand Lodge of England, survived. They
survived in part through the so-called 'higher' degrees' offered by such
institutions as Irish Grand Lodge. Most important, however, they survived within
the Strict Observance promulgated by Hund - of which the highest degree was that
of 'Knight Templar'. The Strict Observance was to spread throughout Europe."
Baigent & Leigh, The Temple and the Lodge
3. The Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite
"The rite in its present form of thirty-three degrees was reorganized at the end
of the eighteenth century by some half dozen Masonic adventurers at Charleston,
South Carolina."
Charles Sotheran (1877)
The Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite (AASR) "is an appendant body of Masonry,
meaning that it is not part of the Blue Lodge per se, but closely associated
with Masonry. It requires that a man be a Master Mason before joining the
Scottish Rite. The Scottish Rite confers the 4th through 32nd degrees. The
degree work may be, but is not necessarily, completed at one time. Any Master
Mason is eligible to join the Scottish Rite. The degrees of the Scottish Rite
continue the symbolism of the first three Masonic degrees." "The Scottish Rite
awards a special honorary degree, the 33rd, to those it feels has made an
outstanding contribution to Masonry, the community as a whole, and to mankind.
There is no way to 'achieve' this degree or 'take' it, in the sense that one
takes the 4th through 32nd degrees in the Scottish Rite. It is a singular honor,
rarely bestowed, and greatly admired."
Andrew Fabbro, "Freemasonry FAQ" Version 1.2
"Scottish Rite Masonry has almost a million members in America..."
"In one jurisdiction, the Scottish Rite Mason is made a 'Knight Kadosh'. Kadosh
is direct from the Hebrew, and means 'holy'. The 'Holy Knight' of this degree is
the Knight Templar. The story of the final days of Grand Master Jacques de
Molay, along with a brief history of the Templar order, is recounted to the
candidate for the degree. The spirit of the degree is to call upon the initiate
to be aware of, and to resolutely oppose, all forms of personal and religious
injustice."
John J. Robinson, Dungeon, Fire and Sword (1991)
4. Templarism
"The birthplace of Templarism was Germany, where the egalitarian and rationalist
thrust of Freemasonry was resisted by an old-fashioned and rank-dominated
society, and there was a demand for a version of the Masonic craft acceptable to
conservative doctrine and Gothic taste. During the Seven Years War a French
prisoner in Germany co-operated with a German pastor who went under the name of
Samuel Rosa to concoct a Templar myth to serve the ritual needs of the Masonic
lodges." "According to their story the Grand Masters of the Order had been in
possession of special spiritual illumination deriving from the Jewish sect of
the Essenes. This had passed through the control of the Canons of the Holy
Sepulcher at Jerusalem, and had gone thence to the Order of the Temple. Jacques
de Molay, the last Grand Master, was by these story-writers given the Masonic
name of Hiram, which according to Masonic lore had been the name of the murdered
builder of the Temple of Solomon."
"The idea of vengeance to be exacted for a wronged and murdered magus was
embedded in orthodox Masonic lore in the form of the myth of the murder of the
Temple-builder, Hiram, and of the despatch by Solomon of chosen masters to
avenge his death. There was originally no particular political context for this
supposed murder and its atonement, though the paraphernalia of swords,
skeletons, and decapitated dolls which was used in some lodges to represent the
events was already alarming enough." "The idea of the Masonic 'grades of
vengeance' was that certain enlightened persons, each step in enlightenment
being the object of a 'grade', were formally committed to avenge the
sacrilegious murder of the Temple-builder, Hiram. The thirtieth grade, for
example, was that of the 'Knight Kadosch', who played at being the medieval
Justiciar or Chief Justice. If Hiram was to be identified with Jacques de Molay,
certain Masonic Templar knights could be regarded as pledged to revenge the
Order on the French monarchy."
"The most successful organizer of German Templarism, who came for a time close
to controlling the whole apparatus of German Freemasonry, was Karl Gotthelf von
Hund, a substantial landowner in north-east Electoral Saxony. Hund was very
different from the self-seeking charlatans such as Johnson and Rosa; he was much
more of a self-deluded fanatic, said to have gone through life almost like a
sleepwalker. He had begun his Masonic studies in France, and at about the same
time as the invention of the other Templar myths he had produced his own."
"At the summit of Hund's organization stood an authority which could never be
identified, that of the 'Unknown Superiors'. To these mysterious and in fact
non-existent persons Hund demanded complete and unquestioning obedience,
especially as regards the delivery of scientific information about alchemical
operations. Hund appears genuinely to have believed that the Young Pretender was
the Unknown head of his Order, and though, erroneously, that he had met him when
he had himself been 'professed' or initiated in France. In fact, so far as is
known, the Young Pretender was unaware of Hund's existence, and the Comte de
Clermonot in France, to whom Hund also professed obedience, seems to have paid
no more attention to him.
Peter Partner, The Murdered Magicians
As a further extension to the "Scottish Rite", the "Strict Observance" demanded
"an oath of unswerving, unquestioning obedience to the mysterious 'unknown
superiors'. And the basic tenet of the 'Strict Observance' was that it had
descended directly from the Knights Templar, some of whom had purportedly
survived the purge of 1307-14 and perpetuated their Order in Scotland."
Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
"In 1782 [the Duke of] Brunswick decided to solve his doubts by holding a final
Conference or Convent of the Order at Wilhelmsbad, near Hanau in Hessen. True to
its aristocratic origins, the last gathering of the Strict Observance was a
blue-blooded affair. But disillusion and decay were patent. The successively
unveiled mysteries of the Order had yielded nothing but boring ritual; the
alchemists had made no discoveries, the Templar lands would never be returned.
No one expected to identify the long-concealed Unknown Superiors.
The thirst for mystical illumination remained, but hope of quenching it at the
Templar spring was over."
Peter Partner, The Murdered Magicians
Revolution and Controversy
1. The Ideal Political Structure
"...By the third decade of the eighteenth century, English Freemasonry, under
the auspices of Grand Lodge, had become a bastion of the social and cultural
establishment, including, among its more illustrious brethren, Desaguliers,
Pope, Swift, Hogarth and Boswell, as well as Charles de Lorraine, future husband
of the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa."
"In England, the Grand Lodge became progressively more divorced from both
religion and politics. It fostered a spirit of moderation, tolerance and
flexibility, and often worked hand in hand with the Anglican Church, many of
whose clergy were themselves Freemasons and found no conflict of allegiance. In
Catholic Europe, on the other hand, Freemasonry became a repository for
militantly anti-clerical, anti-establishment, eventually revolutionary
sentiments and activity....In France, for example, prominent Freemasons such as
the Marquis de Lafayette, Philippe Egalite, Danton and Sieyes, acting in
accordance with Freemasonic ideals, were prime movers in the events of 1789 and
everything that followed. In Bavaria, in Spain, in Austria, Freemasonry was to
provide a focus of resistance to authoritarian regimes, and it functioned
prominently in the movements, culminating with the revolutions of 1848. The
whole of the campaign leading to the unification of Italy - from the
revolutionaries of the late eighteenth century, through Mazzini, to Garibaldi -
could be described as essentially Freemasonic."
Baigent and Leigh, The Temple and the Lodge
"...The United States was not created as a republic of the kind implied by that
word today. Most of the men responsible for creating it were staunch Freemasons,
and the new nation was originally conceived as the ideal hieratic political
structure postulated by certain rites of Freemasonry. The state as a whole was
seen as an extension, and a macrocosm, of the Lodge."
Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The Messianic Legacy
"...St. Andrew's Lodge of Boston, which had perpetrated the Boston Tea party in
1773 conferred a Templar degree already on August 29, 1769 after applying for
the warrant in 1762 from the Scottish Grand Lodge in Edinburgh. That application
was made almost a decade before the American Revolution began. Some Templars
were not only anti-Hanoverian, they sought the abolition of all monarchy."
William Bramley, The Gods of Eden
"At the beginning of 1776, the more moderate Freemasonic-oriented factions in
the Continental Congress still prevailed. Their position had been enunciated
once again the previous December, when congress again defied Parliament but
continued to affirm allegiance to the crown. Now, however, the mood began to
change and more radical elements began to gain the ascendancy. Thomas Paine's
pamphlet, 'Common Sense', did much to polarize attitudes and convert many
hitherto loyal colonists to the principle of independence from the mother
country."
"On 11 June 1776, the Continental Congress "appointed a committee to draft a
declaration of independence. Of the five men on this committee, two - Franklin
and...Robert Livingston - were Freemasons...The other two - Thomas Jefferson and
John Adams - were not, despite subsequent claims to the contrary....The nine
signatories who can now be established as proven Freemasons, and the ten who
were possibly so, included such influential figures as Washington, Franklin and,
of course, the president of the Congress, John Hancock. The army, moreover,
remained almost entirely in Freemasonic hands."
Brian Francis Redman ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Mayer Anschel "Rothschild made a fortune from various activities while serving
under William IX. The French Revolution and the wars it triggered created many
shortages throughout the Hesse. Rothschild capitalized in this situation by
sharply raising the prices of the cloth he was importing from England.
Rothschild also struck a deal with another of William IX's chief financial
agents, Carl Buderus. The deal enabled Rothschild to share in the profits from
the leasing of Hessian mercenaries to England."
"According to Jacob Katz, writing in his book, Jews and Freemasons in Europe,
1723-1939, the Rothschilds were one of the rich and powerful Frankfurt families
appearing on a Masonic membership list in 1811."
"Special Jewish lodges were created, such as the 'Melchizedek' lodges named in
honor of the Old Testament priest-king...Those who belonged to the Melchizedek
lodges were said to be members of the 'Order of Melchizedek'."
William Bramley, The Gods of Eden
"...By the third decade of the eighteenth century, English Freemasonry, under
the auspices of Grand Lodge, had become a bastion of the social and cultural
establishment, including, among its more illustrious brethren, Desaguliers,
Pope, Swift, Hogarth and Boswell, as well as Charles de Lorraine, future husband
of the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa."
"In England, the Grand Lodge became progressively more divorced from both
religion and politics. It fostered a spirit of moderation, tolerance and
flexibility, and often worked hand in hand with the Anglican Church, many of
whose clergy were themselves Freemasons and found no conflict of allegiance. In
Catholic Europe, on the other hand, Freemasonry became a repository for
militantly anti-clerical, anti-establishment, eventually revolutionary
sentiments and activity....In France, for example, prominent Freemasons such as
the Marquis de Lafayette, Philippe Egalite, Danton and Sieyes, acting in
accordance with Freemasonic ideals, were prime movers in the events of 1789 and
everything that followed. In Bavaria, in Spain, in Austria, Freemasonry was to
provide a focus of resistance to authoritarian regimes, and it functioned
prominently in the movements, culminating with the revolutions of 1848. The
whole of the campaign leading to the unification of Italy - from the
revolutionaries of the late eighteenth century, through Mazzini, to Garibaldi -
could be described as essentially Freemasonic."
Baigent and Leigh, The Temple and the Lodge
"...The United States was not created as a republic of the kind implied by that
word today. Most of the men responsible for creating it were staunch Freemasons,
and the new nation was originally conceived as the ideal hieratic political
structure postulated by certain rites of Freemasonry. The state as a whole was
seen as an extension, and a macrocosm, of the Lodge." Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln,
The Messianic Legacy
"...St. Andrew's Lodge of Boston, which had perpetrated the Boston Tea party in
1773 conferred a Templar degree already on August 29, 1769 after applying for
the warrant in 1762 from the Scottish Grand Lodge in Edinburgh. That application
was made almost a decade before the American Revolution began. Some Templars
were not only anti-Hanoverian, they sought the abolition of all monarchy."
William Bramley, The Gods of Eden
"At the beginning of 1776, the more moderate Freemasonic-oriented factions in
the Continental Congress still prevailed. Their position had been enunciated
once again the previous December, when congress again defied Parliament but
continued to affirm allegiance to the crown. Now, however, the mood began to
change and more radical elements began to gain the ascendancy. Thomas Paine's
pamphlet, 'Common Sense', did much to polarize attitudes and convert many
hitherto loyal colonists to the principle of independence from the mother
country."
"On 11 June 1776, the Continental Congress "appointed a committee to draft a
declaration of independence. Of the five men on this committee, two - Franklin
and...Robert Livingston - were Freemasons...The other two - Thomas Jefferson and
John Adams - were not, despite subsequent claims to the contrary....The nine
signatories who can now be established as proven Freemasons, and the ten who
were possibly so, included such influential figures as Washington, Franklin and,
of course, the president of the Congress, John Hancock. The army, moreover,
remained almost entirely in Freemasonic hands."
Brian Francis Redman ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Mayer Anschel "Rothschild made a fortune from various activities while serving
under William IX. The French Revolution and the wars it triggered created many
shortages throughout the Hesse. Rothschild capitalized in this situation by
sharply raising the prices of the cloth he was importing from England.
Rothschild also struck a deal with another of William IX's chief financial
agents, Carl Buderus. The deal enabled Rothschild to share in the profits from
the leasing of Hessian mercenaries to England." "According to Jacob Katz,
writing in his book, Jews and Freemasons in Europe, 1723-1939, the Rothschilds
were one of the rich and powerful Frankfurt families appearing on a Masonic
membership list in 1811."
"Special Jewish lodges were created, such as the 'Melchizedek' lodges named in
honor of the Old Testament priest-king...Those who belonged to the Melchizedek
lodges were said to be members of the 'Order of Melchizedek'."
William Bramley, The Gods of Eden
2. Anti-Masonic Movements
"In 1738 Pope Clement XII issued a Papal Bull condemning and excommunicating all
Freemasons, whom he pronounced 'enemies of the Roman Church'....In its text the
pope declares that Masonic thought rests on a heresy...- the denial of Jesus's
divinity. And he further asserts that the guiding spirits, the 'masterminds',
behind Freemasonry are the same as those who provoked the Lutheran Reformation."
Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
"In 1740, the Grand Master of the Order of Malta caused the Bull of Pope Clement
XII. to be published in that island, and forbade the meetings of the Freemasons.
On this occasion several Knights and many citizens left the island; and in 1741,
the Inquisition persecuted the Freemasons at Malta. The Grand Master proscribed
their assemblies under severe penalties, and six Knights were banished from the
island in perpetuity for having assisted at a meeting."
Commander Gourdin,
"Citizens of Northwestern New York acted swiftly in 1826 when they heard the
news that William Morgan had disappeared. Morgan, described by an historian of
politics as "a somewhat down at heel citizen of Batavia," was a disgruntled
Mason who had written a book alleged to be an expose' of Masonic secrets. Rumors
contended that the Masons had murdered Morgan. The Order, for its part,
maintained a stolid and uncooperative silence, and so local political
organizations campaigned to keep support from office- seeking Masons. One new
organization, the Anti-Masonry Party, attracted those in the populace who
distrusted the Masons and other secret societies. It grew almost overnight, and
the party's power base soon stretched from western New York to Pennsylvania,
Ohio, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Vermont.
"In the rush of growth of the anti-Masonic movement, the initiating impetus for
it was submerged, and neither the fate of Morgan nor the culpability of the
Masonic Order was ascertained. Instead, the new and liberal Anti-Masonry Party
became the voice of the poorer citizen against the well-to-do (and most Masons
were regarded as rich), the spokesman for the orthodox against Unitarianism and
other liberal sects, a supporter of temperance and anti-slavery activities, and
a cheerleader for some features of Jacksonian Democracy against the autocratic
Federalists. It opposed not only secret societies and government-in-secret, but
also imprisonment for debt and drafts for state militia service.
"But as the party gathered strength it also began to move from the 'left' to the
'right', supporting tariffs on imported goods to prevent the collapse of local
industries, better canals for more efficient transport, and banks free from
regulatory taxes. As such, it was vainly used by politicians for their own ends,
chiefly anti-Jacksonian: Thurlow Weed and William H. Seward tried unsuccessfully
through the Anti-Masonry Party to overthrow Martin van Buren's Albany Regency
(informal group of Democratic leaders in New York), and politician Thad Stevens
in Pennsylvania tried to use it to increase his power. Soon the new party was
voting with the National Republican Party against the Jacksonians; by 1834 it
had moved entirely to the 'right', for it helped found the reactionary Whig
Party, which absorbed the Anti-Masonry Party in 1836." Brian Francis Redman
([EMAIL PROTECTED] "The Big C")
"By the 1880s eight Popes had already condemned Freemasonry when Freemasons
urged that these condemnations had been based on erroneous information and were
excessively severe. This led Pope Leo XIII to issue his famous encyclical
Humanum Genus in 1884. Leo XIII classed Freemasonry as a grouping of secret
societies in the 'kingdom of Satan' and, like the Greek Orthodox Church half a
century later, stated that it wished 'to bring back after eighteen centuries the
manners and customs of the pagans.'" Stephen Knight, The Brotherhood
"There was nothing nefarious or subversive on the pope's part, Leo XIII was a
troubled man. He felt deeply the great losses in church power, privilege, and
wealth brought on by the democratic revolutions and developed such profound
mistrust that he kept all of the gold of the Vatican in a box under his own bed.
He truly believed democracy was evil, part of the 'kingdom of Satan', and that
the Catholic church had a right and duty to oversee every secular government."
John J. Robinson, Born in Blood
"The principles of social science follow. Here naturalists teach that men have
all the same rights, and are perfectly equal in condition;that every man is
naturally independent; that no one has a right to command other; that it is
tyranny to keep men subject to any otherauthority than that which emanates
fromthemselves."
Pope Leo XIII, "Humanum Genus"
VATICAN CITY (1985) "The Vatican, clarifying its position on membership in
Masonic lodges, said yesterday that Catholics who join such organizations commit
'grave sin'.
The new reminder, in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, appeared to be
aimed mainly at Catholics in the United States, where some have interpreted
recent church statements as relaxing the 247-year-old ban on Masonic membership
imposed by Pope Clement XII. A new code of Canon Law outlined on Nov. 25, 1983,
omitted membership in the Masons in the list of offenses that incur automatic
excommunication."
(UPI)
3. P2 Lodge and the Vatican Banking Scandal
"...The Agency, through some of its priest 'assets' in the Vatican, had placed
six bugging devices in the Secretariat of State, theVatican Bank and the
Apostolic Palace, where the Pope actually lived and worked. The devices were
sufficiently powerful to enableconversations to be overheard within rooms with
walls thick enough to withstand artillery-fire.Working from 'safe houses' in
high-rise buildings overlooking the Leonine walls of the tiny city-state, CIA
operatives had recordedoften highly confidential discussions about papal plans.
"The Agency's surveillance had increased since 5 July 1979, when Walesa [future
president of Poland] telephoned the Pope askingwhether John Paul would approve
of the name 'Solidarity' being used for the fledgling union. Walesa had
explained that he had selectedthe word from the pontiff's encyclical, 'Redemptor
Homis' - a treatise devoted to the redemption and the dignity of the human race.
Atits core had been an appeal for 'acting together'. The significance of
Walesa's request was not lost on the pontiff - or on the'Department D's
electronic eavesdroppers."
Gordon Thomas, Journey into Madness
The Italian Masonic Lodge P2 "provided a means of furnishing anti-Communist
institutions in Europe and Latin-America with both Vatican and CIA funds. Calvi
[who was found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982] also claimed
that he personally had arranged the transfer of $20,000,000 of Vatican money to
Solidarity in Poland, although the overall total sent to Solidarity is believed
to have exceeded $100,000,000. Prior to his indictment for murder [of an Italian
investigator], Michele Sindona was not only P2's financier, but the Vatican's
investment counselor as well, helping the church to sell its Italian assets and
re-invest in the United States. His services for the CIA included passing funds
to 'friends' in Yugoslavia, as well as to the Greek colonels prior to their
seizure of power in 1967. He also channeled millions of dollars into the funds
of the Christian Democrats in Italy."
In March 1981, Italian police raided the villa of Licio Gelli, the ultra-right
leader of P2. Although his files had vanished the index was discovered. Some of
the headings included the Opus Dei, "Giulio Andreotti, currently Italian
Foreign Minister and alleged...to be a member of the Prieure de Sion. And they
included the organization known officially as the Sovereign and Military Order
of the Temple of Jerusalem - the organization, that is, which today claims a
direct lineal descent from the Knights Templar." Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The
Messianic Legacy
"A list of [P2] members drawn up by Gelli contained the names of nearly a
thousand of Italy's most powerful men. One prosecutor's report later stated:
'Lodge Propaganda Due is a secret sect that has combined business and politics
with the intention of destroying the country's constitutional order.' "Among the
names were three members of the Cabinet (including Justice Minister Adolfo
Sarti; several former Prime Ministers including Giulio Andreotti who had held
office between 1972 and 1973 and again between 1976 and 1979; forty-three
Members of Parliament; fifty-four top Civil Servants; 183 army, navy and air
force officers including thirty generals and eight admirals (among them the
Commander of the Armed Forces, Admiral Giovanni Torrisi); nineteen judges;
lawyers; magistrates; carabiniere; police chiefs; leading bankers; newspaper
proprietors, editors and journalists (including the editor of the country's
leading newspaper Il Corriere Della Sera); fifty-eight university professors;
the leaders of several political parties; and even the directors of the three
main intelligence services. "All these men, according to the files, had sworn
allegiance to Gelli, and held themselves ready to respond to his call. The 953
names were divided into seventeen groupings, or cells, each having its own
leader. P2 was so secret and so expertly run by Gelli that even its own members
did not know who belonged to it. Those who know most were the seventeen cell
leaders and they knew only their own grouping."
"Of the many political groupings in Italy, Gelli's files showed that only the
Communist Party had no links with P2." "Magistrates sifting the documents from
the Villa Wanda [from whence Gelli had fled] found hundreds of top secret
intelligence documents. Colonel Antonio Viezzer, the former head of the combined
intelligence services, was identified as the prime source of this material and
was arrested in Rome for spying on behalf of a foreign power."
"Fascist, torturer of partisans in the Second World War, friend and adviser of
Peron and coordinator of right-wing corruption in Italy - was an agent of the
KGB." "From the beginning Lodge P2 was a KGB-sponsored program aimed at
destablizing Italy, weakening NATO's southern flank, sweeping the Communists
into power in Italy and sending resultant shock waves throughout the western
world."
"With the failure of the ministers, generals and admirals to cooperate with
investigators, "NATO was forced to support the attitude of the corrupt
Freemasons in Italy's armed forces. Officials in Brussels and Washington
suggested discreetly that it was not the right moment to create a vacuum of
power in the Italian army, navy and secret services."
Stephen Knight, The Brotherhood
"The P2 was more than a subversive political organization. The documents
collected by the parliamentary commission show it was a kind of full-service
international organization influencing everything from arms sales to purchases
of crude oil."
Pino Ariacchi, sociologist at the University of Florence
Propaganda Due or P2 was "a lodge originally formed by the Italian Grand Orient
as a lodge of research. In 1975 an Italian fascist named Licio Gelli was made
the Venerable Grand Master of P2, and the following year that lodge was
disavowed and suspended by the Grand Orient of Italy, so whatever it was, P2
ceased to be an official Masonic organization." "...Gelli brought in Michele
Sindona, the leading financial advisor to the Vatican. Then, in 1977, Sindona
brought in Roberto Calvi, head of the Banco Ambrosiano in Milan, which was
closely associated with the papal bank, one of its major shareholders....Calvi
brought to the table his most valued contact, the Instituto per lo Opere di
Religione, the Institute for Religious Works (the 'IOR'), a financial
institution often erroneously referred to as the 'Vatican bank'. The IOR belongs
not to the Vatican city-state, but to the pope alone." "...The Banco Ambrosiano
helped to set up foreign shell companies, including ten in Panama, which were
controlled by the papal bank. Then the Banco Ambrosiano loaned these shells up
to one and a third billion dollars. The papal bank also put in funds of its own,
but not one in Rome will even hint at the amount or purpose of these extensive
fundings."
When Archbishop Marcinkus, head of the IOR, invoked the Italian Concordat which
guarantees Vatican sovereignty "when he learned he had been indicted by the
Italian government." This decision was backed up by the Italian Supreme Court.
"...The papal bank agreed to pay and paid over to the Banco Ambrosiano the
incredible sum of 244 million dollars, while denying any guilt, or even any
material involvement, in the great fraud. Together with the reputed loss of 450
million dollars, this means that the affairs between the papal bank and the
Banco Ambrosiano cost the Catholic church almost 700 million dollars, over ten
times the 1987 operating loss that Catholics all over the world were asked to
make up with extra donations..."
John J. Robinson, Born in the Blood
In late 1983, "the pontiff had recently sent Archbishop Luigi Poggi to Moscow to
begin secret discussions in the Kremlin on the prospect of coming to a mutually
acceptable accommodation over Poland: the pontiff would control Walesa if the
Church was given more freedom."
Gordon Thomas, Journey into Madness
"Though they are originated and resident in Italy, though they have the same
duties and pay the taxes like all, the Italian Freemasons doesn't have the same
rights: no more they can aspire to hold offices in a public bureau throughout
the Italy, like the rest of the Italian citizens. It is the amazing conclusion
of the junta of the region Marche: from the August 1996 a Freemason can work no
more in the Marche's public bureaus and neither propose to hold in them any
role."
"Italian Republic guarantees for whole the citizens the right to work (Clause 4
of the Italian Constitution), but the Marche's regional junta, which evidently
retains of have ideas clearer than the constituent Fathers, has concluded that
the Freemasons are not citizens like all the others, and therefore they could
not aspire to equal right. In this region, from the fatidical 5 August 1996, it
is necessary declare a "no membership in Masonic Lodges" for compete to a
function in a local public bureau."
"These sinister, grim aspects have not escaped to any deputies of the Italian
Parliament, that have presented an interpellation to the government on the
manifest unconstitutionality of the Marche's law. The law, they affirm in the
interpellation, "constitutes a serious damage to the liberty of thought and of
association, guaranteed from our Constitution, and the equality of whole the
citizens in front of the law; it seems instead that the Marche legislator has
retained that the membership to a Masonic Lodge is equivalent tout court to be
on trial or be condemned".
Maurizio Nicosia, WM Felsinea # 846, Grande Oriente d'Italia
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