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Article THE PAPAL ALLOCUTION AGAINST FREEMASONRY. ← Page 13 of 16 →
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The Papal Allocution Against Freemasonry.
" to its funds , but Avas never even initiated into its mysteries ! As a " Catholic I cannot but express my indignation at the impious profanity " of the Avriter in The Weekly Register in ascribing the death of that " aged statesman , even by implication , as the result of the publication of "this Allocution . As he Avas not a Freemason the ' coincidence' falls to
" ground . Such arguments effect no good . It Avould be just as reasonable " as for the death of the Pope at a ripe old age at some future " period to be connected Avith the unceasing prayers of some fanatical " Calvinist for the ' downfall of Popery . ' " I do not ask you to insert a defence of Freemasonry . It may be
" that in some parts of the Continent , owing to the denial of that free " speech Avhich is our boast in England , the practice of Freemasonry has " been abused by the introduction of illegal topics . In England , " hoAvevev , this could not be , and even in Italy two , at least , of modern " Popes have patronized the order . Leo X . especially protected the
" Masonic Lodges even in Rome itself . Some English bishops have thought " fit to denounce the order , but it is certain that their opinions on " Freemasonry have been derived entirely from Continental sources . " Cardinal Wiseman , with his natural greatness of heart , never spoke " unkindly of English Freemasonry , and two of his predecessors ( then " Vicars Apostolic ) Avere active members of London Lodges . Two
" members of the present English Hierarchy are understood to have been " initiated in their early days , and I can vouch for two influential " members of English Chapters being also Freemasons , folkrwing in this " respect the example of the long line of illustrious ecclesiastics Avho , " doAvn to the time of Bishop Poynet of Winchester ( who Avas Grand" Master of the Order in England in 1552 ) presided over the craft , " including amongst them the Archbishop Giffard ( Grand-Master , 1272 ) ,
" Bishop Stapleton , Exeter ( G . M ., 1307 ) , William of Wykenham ( 1357 ) , " Bishop Beauchamp ( 1471 ) , Cardinal Wolscy ( 1515 ) , & c , & c . " I am Sir , yours obediently , A CATHOLIC AND A FEEEJIASON . This , evidently the production of a Craft Freemason , is a very
good reply to such insinuations as are contained in . the "Vert ' s " production . For our OAATI parts Ave should have been glad if the Avriter had taken a more comprehensive view of the difficulty and treated it as a Christian Freemason ; but perhaps he is not a member of that class of the Order , and , if not , has Avisely
confined himself to such lights as Craft Freemasonry have afforded him . Our readers will not expect that Ave are to go through all
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Papal Allocution Against Freemasonry.
" to its funds , but Avas never even initiated into its mysteries ! As a " Catholic I cannot but express my indignation at the impious profanity " of the Avriter in The Weekly Register in ascribing the death of that " aged statesman , even by implication , as the result of the publication of "this Allocution . As he Avas not a Freemason the ' coincidence' falls to
" ground . Such arguments effect no good . It Avould be just as reasonable " as for the death of the Pope at a ripe old age at some future " period to be connected Avith the unceasing prayers of some fanatical " Calvinist for the ' downfall of Popery . ' " I do not ask you to insert a defence of Freemasonry . It may be
" that in some parts of the Continent , owing to the denial of that free " speech Avhich is our boast in England , the practice of Freemasonry has " been abused by the introduction of illegal topics . In England , " hoAvevev , this could not be , and even in Italy two , at least , of modern " Popes have patronized the order . Leo X . especially protected the
" Masonic Lodges even in Rome itself . Some English bishops have thought " fit to denounce the order , but it is certain that their opinions on " Freemasonry have been derived entirely from Continental sources . " Cardinal Wiseman , with his natural greatness of heart , never spoke " unkindly of English Freemasonry , and two of his predecessors ( then " Vicars Apostolic ) Avere active members of London Lodges . Two
" members of the present English Hierarchy are understood to have been " initiated in their early days , and I can vouch for two influential " members of English Chapters being also Freemasons , folkrwing in this " respect the example of the long line of illustrious ecclesiastics Avho , " doAvn to the time of Bishop Poynet of Winchester ( who Avas Grand" Master of the Order in England in 1552 ) presided over the craft , " including amongst them the Archbishop Giffard ( Grand-Master , 1272 ) ,
" Bishop Stapleton , Exeter ( G . M ., 1307 ) , William of Wykenham ( 1357 ) , " Bishop Beauchamp ( 1471 ) , Cardinal Wolscy ( 1515 ) , & c , & c . " I am Sir , yours obediently , A CATHOLIC AND A FEEEJIASON . This , evidently the production of a Craft Freemason , is a very
good reply to such insinuations as are contained in . the "Vert ' s " production . For our OAATI parts Ave should have been glad if the Avriter had taken a more comprehensive view of the difficulty and treated it as a Christian Freemason ; but perhaps he is not a member of that class of the Order , and , if not , has Avisely
confined himself to such lights as Craft Freemasonry have afforded him . Our readers will not expect that Ave are to go through all