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- TABLE OF CONTENTS
- 1. The Conclave: The Process of Electing St. Peter's Successor
- Who selects a pope?
Popes have been selected by the Roman Catholic Church's College of Cardinals since the early 12th century. This was established as official policy of the Church at the Lateran Council III in 1179 AD. The pope is elected in a process called a conclave.
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2. Catholicism vs. Freemasonry: IRRECONCILABLE FOREVER - What is the truth regarding the present official attitude of the Catholic Church toward Freemasonry? To begin this inquiry into that which is now in effect, we should go hack to what was stated in the Church's Canon Law before there was any doubt about where the Church stood on Masonry.
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Who selects a pope?
Popes have been selected by the Roman Catholic Church's College of Cardinals since the early 12th century. This was established as official policy of the Church at the Lateran Council III in 1179 AD. The pope is elected in a process called a conclave.
The word "conclave" is derived from two Latin words which mean "with a key." It referred to the past practice of locking the cardinals in a somewhat confined space—lately the Sistine Chapel—and not allowing them to emerge until they have elected a new pope. On Feb. 22, 1996, Pope John-Paul II updated the rules governing the conclave.
The cardinals will no longer be confined to the Sistine Chapel, day and night, throughout the entire election process. They will be assigned comfortable living quarters in suitable locations within the Vatican. Only those members of the College of Cardinals who have not reached their 80th birthday are allowed in the conclave. They currently constitute a group of about 117 men. Almost all have been personally selected by Pope John II.
Conclaves have a history of selecting unexpected cardinals as the next pope. The election of Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul I reigned for only 33 days, from Aug. 26 to Sept. 28, 1978. He is believed to have died from a pulmonary embolus due to an untreated blood problem. On Oct. 14, 1978, 111 cardinals went into the conclave to elect his successor.
For the first time, the number of European cardinals was surpassed by the number of non-European cardinals. There were 55 Europeans (including 26 Italians), 19 Latin Americans, 13 North Americans, 12 Africans, 9 Asians and 4 from Oceania. Joseph Cardinal Siri and Giovanni Cardinal Benelli were allegedly an early favorites. However, neither was able to receive sufficient votes. The impasse was resolved on the eighth ballot when a compromise candidate, Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, 58, of Poland was elected pope on Oct. 16, 1978. He chose the name John Paul II. He was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. 1 Pope John Paul II died on April 2, 2005 at 9:37 PM (Vatican City Time) in his private apartment in Rome.
The election of the next pope: In 1970, Pope Paul VI issued a decree which declared that cardinals over the age of 80 could not take part in a conclave. It was considered a revolutionary development at the time. Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani, 80 years old at the time, (one of the authors of ’A Critical Study of the Novus Ordo MIssae) described the decision as "absolutely unheard of, arbitrary, revolutionary, in contempt of a centuries-old tradition." 2
In 1975, Pope Paul VI issued new legislation concerning the conclave which introduced new security regulations, required the cardinals to recite terrifying oaths, and required that cardinals would normally enter the conclave alone. In the past, cardinals were allowed to have one or two "conclavists" —secretary-assistants—to accompany him in the conclave. He could have three if he was ill. Under the new regulations, only seriously ill cardinals could have an assistant, and then only if they could prove that they needed serious medical attention. 3
Pope John-Paul II issued his Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis in 1996. He abolished any provision for election by acclamation or by any means other than secret ballot. He also made other changes relating to voting procedures and accommodation for the Cardinals. The Current Procedure A votive mass is held between 15 and 20 days after the death of the pope. Later that day, the cardinals walk to the Sistine Chapel. The cardinals take an oath of secrecy. At the cry "Everybody out" all who are not taking part in the conclave leave the chapel.
A ballot may be held on the first day. There will typically be four ballots on the second and subsequent days: two in the morning and two in the afternoon. Each cardinal picks up a blank ballot paper, writes the name of his choice for pope, folds the paper twice, recites an oath, and deposits it into the chalice at the altar. He bows to the altar and returns to his place. The ballots are counted to confirm that all of the cardinals have voted. If the count is correct, three scrutineers independently write down the name from each ballot. The third scrutineer reads the name out loud, so that the cardinals can keep count if they wish. Each ballot is then threaded onto a string with a needle. If no candidate receives a two-thirds majority, the voting is immediately repeated. If no cardinal is elected on the second ballot, all of the ballots and paper records are burned. Damp straw is added to the stove to produce black smoke which exits through the roof of the chapel. This is visible to outside observers and indicates that no pope had been elected.
On the fourth day, voting is suspended for a maximum of one day. The cardinals are expected to pray, and conduct discussions among themselves. This sequence continues.
If the new pope is not elected after 13 days and about 30 ballots, then the cardinals can decide, by a simple majority vote, to change the two-thirds majority rule. They can decide to go with a simple majority. They can decide to vote on the two candidates who received the largest number of votes in the preceding ballot.
When a pope is elected, the dean of the college asks if he is willing to accept the decision. If he does, then he has become, at that moment, the new pope. He is asked by what name he wishes to be known. The dean of the college leaves the Sistine Chapel and tells the collected crowd the name of the new pope. The dean then presents the new pope to the crowd, who recites his first Urbi et Orbi ("To the City and to the World") blessing.
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ON FREEMASONRY
by Rev. Robert I. Bradley, SJCatholicism vs. Freemasonry:
IRRECONCILABLE FOREVER
Updated: May 10, 2005
What is the truth regarding the present official attitude of the Catholic Church toward Freemasonry? To begin this inquiry into that which is now in effect, we should go hack to what was stated in the Church's Canon Law before there was any doubt about where the Church stood on Masonry. The Former code (which, incidentally, was promulgated on Pentecost, May 27, 1917, just two weeks after Our Lady's first apparition at Fatima) contained a canon which definitely capped all the previous papal condemnations of it. Canon 2335 reads as follows:
Persons joining associations of the Masonic sect or any others of the same kind which plot against the Church and legitimate civil authorities contract ipso facto excommunication simply reserved to the Apostolic See.
In the wake of the Second Vatican Council, however, when the revision of the Code of Canon Law was underway, the prevailing spirit of "ecumenical dialogue" prompted questions among various bishops as to whether or not Canon 2335 was still in force. Responding to these questions, a letter from Cardinal Francis Seper, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to the presidents of all the episcopal conferences, dated July 18, 1974, stated that:
(1) the Holy See has repeatedly sought information from the bishops about contemporary Masonic activities directed against the Church;
(2) there will be no new law on this matter, pending the revision of the Code now underway;
(3) all penal canons must be interpreted strictly; and
(4) the express prohibition against Masonic membership by clerics, religious and members of secular institutes is hereby reiterated.
This rather awkwardly structured letter (which, for whatever reason, was not published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the official journal of record for the Holy See) came to be interpreted in many quarters as allowing membership by laymen in any particular Masonic (or similar) lodge which, in the judgment of the local bishop, was not actively plotting against the Church or legitimate civil authorities.
The goal of Masonry is the overthrow and replacement of the Christian religious and political order with a new order based on naturalism.
This state of affairs, in which undoubtedly a fair number of Catholics in good faith became Masons, lasted for some years.
Then, on February 17, 1981, Cardinal Seper issued a formal declaration:
(1) his Original letter did not in any way change the force of the existing Canon 2335;
(2) the stated canonical penalties are in no way abrogated; and
(3) he was but recalling the general principles of interpretation to be applied by the local bishop for resolving cases of individual persons, which is not to say that any episcopal conference now has the competence to publicly pass judgment of a general character on the nature of Masonic associations, in such a way as to derogate from the previously slated norms.2
Because this second statement seemed to be as awkwardly put together as the first, the confusion persisted. Finally, in 1983 came the new Code with its Canon 1374:
A person who joins an association which plots against the Church is to be punished with a Just penalty; one who promotes or takes office in such an association is to be punished with an interdict.
Cardinal Ratzinger's Declaration
Following the promulgation of the new Code, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the new Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a new declaration:
(1) the new Canon 1374 has the same essential import as the old Canon 2335, and the fact that the "Masonic sect" is no longer explicitly named is irrelevant;
(2) the Church's negative Judgment on Masonry remains unchanged, because the Masonic principles are irreconcilable with the Church's teaching ("earum principia semper iconcilia-bilia habita sunt cum Ecclesiae doctrina");
(3) Catholics who join the Masons are in the state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion; and
(4) no local ecclesiastical authority has competence to derogate from these Judgments of the Sacred Congregation.3
With these official statements of the Universal Church now on record,1 it should be clear that the lamentable confusion of so many Catholics regarding Freemasonry must be seen as only a temporary aberration — to be written off as one most costly consequence of a mindless "spirit of Vatican II." But we may hope that, as in other issues that have plagued the Church in the last score of years, there is a providence in this, a veritable blessing in disguise. For now, more clearly than ever before, we should sec just why the Catholic Church has been — and will always be — so opposed to Masonry.
It may at first seem plausible that the main (if not only) reason for its being condemned by the Catholic Church is that Masonry is conspiratorial. Its plotting against the Church (and, in the old Code, its also plotting against the State) is the one descriptive statement mentioned in both versions of the Code of Canon Law. Moreover, as the first curial document we cited (that of 1974) seems clearly to imply, the one requisite condition for permitting Catholics to join a Masonic lodge is that the lodge in question was not actively plotting against Church and State- Yet, for all its initial plausibility, this opinion seems to be inadequate. The proof of this is evident not only from the two subsequent curial documents (of 1981 and 1983), but more decisively still from the entire previous history of Roman documents, both curial and papal, treating of Masonry.
Beginning in 1738 with Clement XII's encyclical In Eminenti (just twenty-one years after the establishment of the Grand Lodge of England, the event usually recognized as ihe commencement of the modern Masonic movement) and running through ten successive pontificates, the Church's case against Freemasonry finds its culminating statement in 1884 in Leo XIII's encyclical Humanum Genus.
Masonic deceitfulness regarding its real objectives in society — and its consequent policy of secrecy regarding the authorities of Church and State, and including even the rank-and-file of its own membership — has always been noted by the popes, and most tellingly by Leo XIII. And in the century since then and in our own country this conspiratorial policy has been amply documented.
However useful this knowledge of Masonic strategy is for our understanding of the authentic nature of the movement, it is quite secondary. It is wholly subordinate to that which defines the movement itself; the content in function of which conspiracy is but "method," the end determining and Justifying the means. That content — that end — is what we must now examine, if we are to find the fundamental and explicit reason for the Church's condemnation of Freemasonry.
This fundamental reason can be briefly stated. The following summary passage from Leo XIII's Humanum Genus suffices.
... that which is their ultimate purpose forces itself into view — namely, the utter overthrow of that whole religious and political order of the world which the Christian teaching has produced, and the substitution of a new state of things in accordance with their ideas, of which the foundations and laws shall be drawn from mere "Naturalism."...
Catholicism is essentially a revealed religion;
it is essentially supernatural,
both in its destiny and in its resources.
Now, the fundamental doctrine of the Naturalists, which they sufficiently make known by their very name, is that human nature and human reason ought in all things to be mistress and guide. Laying this down, they care little for duties to God, or pervert them by erroneous and vague opinions. For they deny that anything has been taught by God; they allow no dogma of religion or truth which cannot be understood by the human intelligence, nor any teacher who ought to be believed by reason of his authority. And since it is the special and exclusive duty of the Catholic Church fully to set forth in words truths divinely received, to teach, besides other divine helps to salvation, the authority of its office, and to defend the same with perfect purity, it is against the Church that the rage and attack of the enemies are principally directed.7
Catholicism and Freemasonry are therefore essentially opposed. If either were to terminate its opposition to the other, it would by that very fact become something essentially different from what it previously was; it would in effect cease to exist as itself. For Catholicism is essentially a revealed religion;
it is essentially supernatural, both in its destiny and in its resources. Beyond all natural fulfillment, it tends toward an eternity of ineffable union with God in Himself; and beyond all natural resources, it begins that union here and now in the sacramental life of the Church.
Masonry, on the other hand, is essentially a religion of "reason." With an insistence and a consistency matching Catholicism's self-definition, Masonry promises perfection in the natural order as its only destiny — as indeed the highest destiny there is. And it provides for this perfectibility with its resources: the accumulated sum of purely human values, subsumed under the logo of "reason."
Literally a logo, the Masonic compass and square are the symbol of a Rationalism that claims to be identified with all that is "natural." The consequent syncretism, blending all the strands of human experience — from the cabalistic mysteries of an immemorial Orient to the technological manipulations of a post-modern West — is the basis for Masonry's claim to be not just a religion bill the religion: the "natural" Religion of Man. That is why its claim to date from the beginning of history — its calendar numbers the '"Years of Light" (from the first day of Creation) or the "Years of the World" — is no mere jest on its part. And that is why its opposition to the Catholic Church antedates the Catholic Church's opposition to it- For it cannot abide Ihe Church's claim to be the One True Church, and the consequent refusal by the Church to be relegated to the status of a "sect" which Masonry would have it be.
Masonry promises perfection in the natural order
as its only destiny—as indeed the highest destiny there is.
Since the Church's claim to be the One True Church is ultimately founded and validated on the reality of the One True God, the opposing Masonic claim must ultimately derive from a perception of God that diametrically opposes the Church's faith. And so it does. Although Pope Leo does not explicitly speak of this essential opposition between Catholicism and Masonry in terms of the First Commandment of God — "I am the Lord thy God, thou shall not have strange gods before me" — surely the most radical and simplest way of situating this opposition is to say just this. The Masonic "God" is an idol.
What the Masons really worship is Man — or the Spirit who has deceived man from the beginning: the masked Spirit of Evil. This is the one primal reason why the Catholic Church has condemned, and will always condemn. Freemasonry. It is clearly sufficient to stand by itself as the only reason — and in a most fundamental sense, as Leo XIII seems to imply, that is the only reason in fact.
Gravely Evil Misuse of Oaths
We can, however, give a second reason for Ihe Church's opposition to Masonry. Not strictly independent of the first reason, based as that reason is on the First Commandment, we can yet distinguish a second reason — based on the Second Commandment.
Some ten years earlier than Humanum Genus, there appeared (even in English translation) a brief (barely more than pamphlet-sized) bnt penetrating work, A Study of Freemasonry, by the great bishop of Orleans, Felix Dupanloup. All the more impressive because of his "liberal" credentials. Dupanloup duly notes the facts, and the gravity, of the Masonic conspiracy. But what he stresses, besides the same primary point subsequently stressed by Leo XIII, viz., the Masonic violation of the First Commandment, is its violation of the Second Commandment by its gravely evil misuse of oaths. The famous (or, rather, infamous) oaths that run through the entire ritual of Masonic initiation are more than mere promises based on personal honor. They formally invoke the Deity, and have for their object a man's total commitment lo a cause under the direst sanctions. The Catholic Church sees in such oaths an inescapable grave evil.
Either the oaths mean what they say or they do not, If they mean what they say, then God is being called to invert by his witness loyalties (namely, to Church and to Stale) already sanctioned by Him.
If the oaths are merely fictitious, then God is being called to witness to a joke.
It is not the secrecy of what goes on "behind the lodge door" that elicits and justifies the Chnrch's condemnation of Masonry. It is rather the formal violation of the Second Commandment which these proceedings inescapably entail. The vaunted Masonic secrets, moreover, are scarcely that secret any longer. There is in fact a frequent Masonic plea to the effect that there are no secrets in Masonry — that all is open to a truly open mind. On this point we may take the Mason at his word: he is speaking more truly than he knows!
The case for the Catholic Church's condemnation of Freemasonry is open and clear. By its very nature as formulated in its philosophical statements and as lived in its historical experience. Masonry violates the First and Second Commandments of God. It worships not the One True God of revelation — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — but a false god, symbolically transcendent but really immanent: the "god" called "Reason." And it invokes without adequate cause the Name of the One True God. After such a case as this, to cite the secrecies of initiation and the further secrecies of machination called "conspiracy" is not only anti-climactic, it is beside the point.
To conclude: we Catholics should now see the Masons more clearly for what they essentially are-They are the heirs (unwitting or otherwise is irrelevant) of a religion which purports to be the one religion of the one "God" —and therefore the enemy, intrinsically and implacably so, of Catholicism. Freemasonry in its modern mode is "modernity" in the deepest (i.e., the philosophical and religious) sense of that term. It is, in a word, "Counterfeit Catholicism." For its "God" is the "Counterfeit God": the one who would be as God, the one who is the prince of this world, the one who is the Father of Lies.
Notes
1. "Complutes Episcopi,'' Noliziario CEI(1974) 191. (From Enchiridion Vaticanum, No. 563, pp. 350-51.
2. "S. Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei,"/Ida Aflosio'/caeSeOfs 73 (1981| 240-41. (From EV, No. 1137, pp. 1036-39)
3. "Quaesitum est," AAS 76 (1984)300. (From EV, No. 553, pp. 4B2-B7)
4. A summary of this documentation was made available in this country by the American Bishops' Committee for Pastoral Research and Practice, in a report entitled "Masonry and Naturalistic Religion,•• published in Origins, 15 (June 27,1985), pp. S3-S4.
5. Acta Sanctae Sedis 16 (1883 sic) 420.
6. For an excellent recent survey, with emphasis on the American scene, see Paul Fisher's Behind The Lodge Door Church, State and Freemasonry in America (Bowie, MD: Shield, 1988)
7. Acta Sanctae Sedis 16 (1883 sic) 421, The English version used here is from a Paulist pamphlet first published in 1944 and reprinted by TAN (Rockford, IL: 1987), pp. 6-7.
8. The English edition which I used was published in Philadelphia In 1856, printed with ecclesiastical permission
This is a reprint of Rev. Robert I. Bradley. S.J.’s ‘Catholicism vs. Freemasonry, Irreconcilable Forever’. The original pamphlet was printed with ecclesiastical permission by the World Apostolate of Fatima, Washington, New Jersey 07882-0976
The picture was taken from Paul A. Fisher’s Book, ‘Behind the Lodge Door’, published by TAN (Rockford, IL. 1994)
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