Freemasonry involves a fraternity which is secret in so far as those admitted take an oath never to divulge its particular rituals and practices, although its membership and meeting places are not secret. Freemasons, who also take an oath to help one another, include politicians, businessmen and military officers and are often some of the most powerful and prominent men in any one country. Although freemasonry claims to be based on the fundamentals of religion and admits all faiths, it has been denounced and continues to be denounced by organized religion for practising occult rites, for its secrecy and for its power.
By virtue of their secrecy, lodge activities lend themselves to covert, concerted political action. Under certain conditions Masons may originate, or be manipulated into originating, politically dissenting and provocative activities tending towards the destabilization of governments.
Freemasonry began as an organization of operative masons in England in mediaeval times. By the 18th century it had developed into a speculative brotherhood. The Grand Lodge connecting all others was founded in 1717. Within half a century of its foundation, freemasonry had spread to Europe, America and Asia.
Freemasonry has had a long association with politics. Its lodges provided meeting place for Masonic men of affairs – tradesmen, bankers, lawyers, politicians – where the issues of the day could be discussed and debated. In such lodges, activists of the American and the French Revolutions met. The Vatican condemned Freemasonry first in 1738 and later in 1917, asserting that any member would be excommunicated. It was condemned by the Greek Orthodox church in 1933 as a system reminiscent of heathen mystery religions. In Rome in 1981, the P-2 Masonic Lodge which was declared illegal and considered to be a conspiracy against the government; its members were politicians, businessmen and military officers. Freemasonry has had offspring, such as the Bavarian Illuminati who were suppressed in 1785 for plotting revolution, and possibly the Rosicrucians who are now considered to have had a role in the Reformation.
Official Masonic liturgy says anyone who discloses their secrets or membership shall have their tongue ripped out.
There are over 9,000 lodges in all parts of the world; most are under the jurisdiction of the United Grand Lodge of England, and some are under either the Grand Lodge of Ireland or the Grand Lodge of Scotland. In most Commonwealth countries, local Lodges are under the jurisdiction of independent Grand Lodges. There are also 50 autonomous Grand Lodges in the USA, all recognized by the Grand Lodge of England, as well as 5 in Central America and Mexico, 11 in South America, 2 in the West Indies, and 1 in Israel. In Europe there are recognized Grand Lodges in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, France, Greece, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland. Considerable media attention has been devoted to the connections of the P2 Masonic Lodge in Italy with various political corruption scandals, and to the infiltration of the police force in the UK by masons. In 1994 the 359,000 masons in England and Wales were advised to avoid contact with their counterparts in Italy and Greece, because of allegations of corruption, mafia links and political statements made in breach of their Masonic rules.
In 1993 the UK government indicated in official staff guidelines that conflicts of interest could arise in the case of personnel involved in freemasonry. The guidelines require civil servants to report such associations to their superior. There has been considerable concern over the infiltration of the UK police force and the judiciary by masons and the the possible perversion of justice in consequence.
It was reported in 1997 that, in the UK, two out of the 39 Appeal Court Judges and one out of the 96 High Court Judges were Freemasons. As many as 16 of the 64 judges on the North East Circuit were Freemasons. A sample of magistrates found that 11 out of 107 asked were members.
The Church's negative position on Masonic associations therefore remains unaltered, since their principles have always been regarded as irreconcilable with the Church's doctrine. Hence joining them remains prohibited by the Church. Catholics enrolled in Masonic associations are involved in serious sin and may not approach Holy Communion. (Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Masonic Associations, 1983).
After nineteen centuries of Christian civilization, this sect tries to overthrow the Catholic Church and to cut off its divine sources. It absolutely denies the supernatural, repudiating every revelation and all the means of salvation which revelation shows us. Through its plans and works, it bases itself solely and entirely on such a weak and corrupt nature as ours. Such a sect cannot be anything other than the height of pride, greed, and sensuality. Now, pride oppresses, greed plunders, and sensuality corrupts. When these three concupiscences are brought to the extreme, the oppressions, greed, and seductive corruptions spread slowly. They take on boundless dimensions and become the oppression, plundering and source of corruption of an entire people. Everyone should avoid familiarity or friendship with anyone suspected of belonging to masonry or to affiliated groups. Know them by their fruits and avoid them. Every familiarity should be avoided, not only with those impious libertines who openly promote the character of the sect, but also with those who hide under the mask of universal tolerance, respect for all religions, and the craving to reconcile the maxims of the Gospel with those of the revolution. These men seek to reconcile Christ and Belial, the Church of God and the state without God (Papal Writings, Custodi di Quella Fede, 1892).
Some 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. 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.
The presence of masons among the police, legal professions and judiciary is the root cause of unfair trials and miscarriages of justice.
Nothing so much undermines public confidence in public institutions as the knowledge that some public servants are members of a secret society, one of whose aims is mutual self-advancement.
The political potential of Freemasonry remains wherever there is authoritarianism. For centuries it has opposed the excessive power of the Vatican; later it opposed the regimes of the four Axis powers in World War II. Its vigilance remains a threat in some countries as is shown by its proscription in the USSR and anti-Masonic agitation by socialist-liberal-labour elements in the UK where Marxist philosophies have gained considerable ground. It is unreasonable to besmirch the characters of so many illustrious personalities who have been Freemasons with accusations extending to devil worship.
Under the Grand Lodge of England, members who transgress the law of the country are obliged to report it only if they receive prison sentences. Their cases are then heard before masonic courts (often presided over by serving judges) which have the power to suspend or expel members.
Evidence that Freemasonry has materially affected the course of trials in the second half of the 20th century remains thin and largely unproven. Claims of defendants escaping prison sentences by making masonic signs from the dock have always been rife among the conspiracy theorists, who blame Freemasonry for a high proportion of social problems, but there are no independently verified samples of such incidents.
A compulsory register of Freemasons among judges is unnecessary because, as a matter of course, they state if there is a conflict of interest at the outset of a trial, in the UK. This would apply only if a trial involving Freemasonry were to go in front of a judge who is a mason.
It would be a breach of their human rights, a detraction from freedom of association and offensive to individual judges to be forced to state whether they are Freemasons.