Papal Condemnations of Freemasonry
Pope Leo XII 1823-1829
Pope Leo XII 1823-1829
Soon after his election as Pope on March 13, 1825, Leo XII published his Encyclical "Quo Graviora"
condemning the Society called Freemasonry, as well as all other Secret
Societies. In this Encyclical he first of all, republished the
Constitutions of Popes Clement XII, Benedict XIV and Pius VII. Their
appeal had remained fruitless as far as the various governments were
concerned and Pope Leo XII wrote:
"We have endeavored to discover the state, number and influence of
secret societies and We easily have been able to acknowledge that, if
only due to the number of new sects which have joined them, their
audacity has increased. The Sect known under the name of
"L'universitaire" has especially drawn Our attention: It has established
a center in several Universities where young men, instead of receiving
the correct teaching are perverted by a few teachers who are initiates
of certain Mysteries which might be called Mysteries of Iniquity and are
trained to commit crimes."
Let us note that Pope Leo XII was afraid of the masonic penetration
in public school teaching and seemed to foresee the devastation that the
"One School" would rapidly inflict upon both the Church and society at
large.
Leo XII, in summing up the harm caused by clandestine sects, so evident in works written by their members, wrote:
"They have dared publish works on Religion and Affairs of State, they
have exposed their contempt for authority, their hatred of Sovereignty,
their attacks against the Divinity of Jesus Christ and the very
existence of God: They openly vaunt their materialism as well as their
codes and statutes which explain their plans and efforts in order to
overthrow the legitimate Heads of State and completely destroy the
Church.
"What is definitely ascertained is that those different sects,
despite the diversity of their names, are all united and linked by the
similarity of their infamous plans."
Related:
Thus speaking, Pope Leo XII, considered he was accomplishing his duty
as Supreme Pontiff and he wrote further, this page, which thoroughly
throws light on our actual situation:
"Let us use the words of our predecessor, Pope Clement XIII, in his
Encyclical Letter of September 14, 1758, addressed to all Patriarchs,
Primates, Archbishops and Bishops of the Catholic Church, in which he
said:
'I entreat you to become penetrated of the Strength of the Spirit of
God, His Intelligence and His Virtue, in order to escape being likened
to the mute dogs who, unable to bark, leave Our flocks exposed to the
voracity of beasts roaming the fields. Let nothing stop Us, in the
fulfillment of Our duty which enjoins Us to suffer all kinds of combats
for the Glory of God and the salvation of souls. Let Us constantly keep
before Our eyes the picture of HIM who, during HIS lifetime, was also
exposed to the opposition of sinners. If we allow ourselves to be shaken
by the audacity of evildoers it will be the end of eposcopal strength,
the end also of the sublime and divine authority of the Church:
moreover, let us abandon even the thought of being Christians if we have
reached the point of trembling before the threats or the traps laid for
us by perverts'."
Leo XII ends this magnificent Encyclical anathematizing Freemasons and writing:
"Those men are like those to whom, according to Saint John, the
Apostle, hospitality and greetings should be denied. (Second Epistle of
St. John, V. 10). They are the same men whom our Fathers, without
hesitation, termed the first-born of the devil."
