Freemasonry's bitterest foe has always been the Church of Rome. The first outburst of hatred occurred in the year 1738 following the publication of the new book of constitutions. In fact, Freemasonry had no more than taken definite form when it excited the ire and suspicion of papal authorities who believed in the extermination of everything which was not made subservient to their will.

In the years which have passed since 1738, a number of papal bulls have been issued against the society, so called from the blob of metal which are attached to these documents by hempen bands. Of the various bulls issued by the Popes of Rome, the following may be enumerated: The Bull in Eminenti, of Clement XII, dated 27th April, 1738, confirmed and renewed by that of in 1821 Benedict IV, 17th of May, 1751; the Edict of Pius VII, in 1821, and the Apostolic Edict Quo Graviora of Leo XII, in 1825; with those of Pius VII, in 1829, Gregory XVI, in 1832, Pius IX, in 1846, and Leo XIII in 1892.

The first of these tiraids against the craft, the famous Bull of Pope Clement XII, is quoted in brief. It became known to the Pope of the existence of "some Societies, Meetings, Gatherings, Conventicles or Lodges, commonly named as of Liberi Muratori or Free Masons . . . in which men of any affectation of natural virtue are associate with laws and statutes framed for themselves; and are bound as well by a stringent oath sworn upon the Sacred Volume, as by the imposition of heavy penalties, to conceal under inviolable silence, what they secretly do in their meetings . . . so strong suspicion in the minds of the faithful that to enroll oneself in these Lodges is quite the same, in the judgment of prudent and virtuous men, as to incur the brand of depravity and perverseness, for if they were not acting ill, they would not by any means have such a hatred of the light, the very serious injuries which are in the highest degree inflicted by such Societies and Conventicles not merely on the tranquility of the temporal state, but also on the spiritual welfare of souls. His Holiness decrees that these same societies should be condemned and prohibited as by this present Constitution we do condemn and prohibit them. Wherefore we direct the faithful in Christ, all and singly, of whatever status, grade, dignity, and preeminence . . . that no one under any pretext or far fetched colour dare or presume to enter the above mentioned Societies . . . or to propagate, foster and receive them whether in their houses or elsewhere, and to conceal them, or be present at them, or to afford them the opportunity or facilities for being convened anywhere, or otherwise to render them advice, help, or favour, openly or in secret, directly or indirectly, of them selves or through the agency of others in whatever way; and likewise to exhort, induce, incite or persuade others to be enrolled in, reckoned amongst, or take part in Societies of this kind, or to aid and foster them in any way whatsoever but in every particular to abstain utterly, as they are in duty bound, from the same Societies, Meetings, Assemblies, Gatherings, Lodges and Conventicles, on pain of excommunication to be incurred by all who in the above ways offend-to be incurred ipso facto without any declaration, and that from this excommunication no one, except on the point of death, can obtain benefit of absolution except through Us, or the Roman Pontiff for the time being. Further it is our will and charge that as well Bishops and higher Prelates, and other local Ordinaries as the deputed Inquisitors of Heretical Depravity everywhere take action and make inquisition against transgressors of whatever status, grade, condition, order, dignity, or eminence they be, and inflict upon them condign punishment, as though strongly suspected of heresy, and exercise constraint upon them. To the above mentioned and any individual of them, we grant and impart free power of proceeding against the said transgressors, of making inquisition, of constraining by condign punishment, and of invoking thereupon, if need he, even the aid of the secular arm for that purpose."

Thirteen years after the fulmination of Clement XII, Benedict IV, in the year 1751, issued his Pull now known as Providas. It was for the most part a reaffirmation of the Bull of Clement XII. He declared himself as follows: "Accordingly from certain knowledge, and the plenitude of our apostolic authority, by the tenor of these same presents, in everything and throughout, just as if it had been first published on our own notion, and authority, and name, we confirm, corroborate and renew it, and will it to have perpetual force and efficacy, and so decree." He further went on to say, "Furthermore, among the gravest causes of the before mentioned prohibition and condemnation enunciated in the previously inserted constitution, one is, that men of every relegion and sect are associated together in the societies and conventicles of this kind; from which circumstance it is obvious how great injury may be given to the cult of reason, the Catholic teaching of morality, the progress of genius by that materialism." He further declared, "The bad and powerful influence of Freemasonry on our affairs is manifest today, trot judging by a few and passing signs, nor by the series of evil deeds committed for the past thirty years, but rather because, made proud by success, this sect has spoken out openly, and related what it has clone in the past, and what it purposes to do in the future. 'flee public authorities are consciously used as its tools, which means that this impious sect boasts of the religious persecutions which have disturbed our Italy and still cause trouble, as its principal work, carried out by orders, but kindled, encouraged and assisted by means of flattery or threats, by enticement or revolution. They have dared to put against the holy dogmas and laws of the gospel, principles and laws which may be called revolutionary, a teaching denying the existence of God, and misbelief in the school, the sciences, and all Christian arts. After having broken into the Temple of the Lord by confiscating the church property, the hereditary possessions so necessary to the holy priests were destroyed, and by the power of the learned men, the number of the holy servants was reduced to the most urgent requirements. Since they were unable to prohibit the administration of the Holy Sacrament, they are trying to introduce in every way civil marriages and other pernicious customs."

Among other allegations which lie charged against Freemasonry was that it exerted "odious intolerance and oppression on religion," and that while Monasteries and Convents were being closed, Masonic Lodges, the breeding places of sects, were being allowed to multiply. He also charged the fraternity with being indirectly responsible for the refusal of people to recognize paternal authority, while discord, divorce, frivolity, and a spirit of ignorant liberty were constantly on the increase. All of which proved that Masonic patriotism was nothing more or less than a sectarian egotism anxious to dominate everything in the world. He further charged the society with taking possession of the public schools, public charity, and called upon all good Catholics to counteract its efforts through the private schools of the Church.

The last Bull was that of Leo XIII issued on the 8th day of December, 1892. In this, Pope Leo assailed the Masonic Fraternity with unabated fury charging that "the religion of our fathers has been made the signal for all sorts of persecutions, with the satanic aim to replace Christianity by naturalism; a second is the close and impenetrable bond of secrecy whereby the proceedings in such conventicles are concealed, to which deservedly may be applied the sentiment expressed by Caecilius Natalis in Minucius Felix, in a very different cause, Things honourable always delight in publicity; crimes are secret; a third is the oath whereby they bind themselves to keep a secret of the kind inviolably; as though it were lawful for anyone under colour of any promise or oath, to protect himself from being; bound to confess, when questioned by legitimate authority, all that is demanded for the purpose of ascertaining whether anything is done in conventicles of this sort contrary to the existence of religion and the state, and to the laws; a fourth is that societies of this kind are known to be opposed to civil no less than canonical sanctions, for it is well known that by Civil Law all colleges and societies are prohibited if formed irrespective of public authority, as may he seen in the forty-seventh Book of the Pandects, Tit. as On unlawful Colleges and Corporations' and in the well known letter of Cams Plains Secundus, Book X. 97, in which he says that by his edict, in accordance with instructions from the Emperor, the formation of Hetaeriae was forbidden, i.e., the forming and holding of Societies and Meetings without the authority of the Prince; a fifth is that already in many quarters, the said Societies and Aggregations have been proscribed and banished by the laws of secular princes; Lastly, because these same societies were of ill repute among wise and virtuous men, and in their judgment all who joined them, incurred the brand of depravity and perversion."

The whole document is nothing more or less than a frantic appeal to the peoples of the world to destroy Freemasonry.

In fact, every Papal Bull that has ever been issued has been of the same tenor. It will be quite impossible in a brief article to enter into any refutation of the statements made by the various Catholic Popes in their fulminations against Freemasonry. Every Freemason knows that the statements made by them are lies woven out of whole cloth. In France and Italy, there has probably been just cause for the Roman Catholic Church to take up the cudgel against the Freemasons of those countries because of their political activity. Those States more than any others have felt the baneful influence of the Church of Rome, in its frequent attempts to throttle the rights of the individual. Freemasons the world over have ever stood for political and religous freedom. it would be most natural that whenever they behold these rights being seriously jeopardized, that they should declare themselves and this has been true in certain European countries where the Freemasons have used the Fraternity as a political agency to wage war against the ever increasing power of the Church of Rome. In America, conditions have been different, and the fraternity has had no occasion to assert itself as a political factor, although at times, discerning men view with alarm the unwarranted assumption of political power by the apostolic delegates in this country.

Notwithstanding the various Bulls which have been issued by the Popes of Rome, Freemasonry has grown and prospered. It was the lamented Bob Burdette, himself a Mason, who said that he would back the Masonic goat against the Pope's Bull any time, and "back him head first because that was the way he backed best."

In free America, there has never been any opposition to Catholicism as a religion so far as Freemasonry ; is concerned, for the one cardinal principle which the fraternity has contended is that of toleration - the absolute right of every man to worship God in accordance with his own convictions. It has, however, denied the right of any church or religious society to compel men to profess a belief in what it might with pretended infallibility decree to be religious truth, and to persecute with rack and faggot those who refuse to accept that to which they cannot subscribe.

The tremendous growth of the Masonic Fraternity in the Twentieth Century not only attests its popularity among free people, but is an ever increasing bulwark against the audacious advances of the Church of Rome. It is wholly unnecessary that Freemasonry should wage any sort of a contest against Catholicism, whose acts are self condemnatory. It is only necessary to review the religious persecutions inspired by the Church of Rome over a period of three hundred years when thousands of people were burned at the stake, massacred at St. Bartholomew, tortured, murdered, persecuted, to realize that all fulminations which have been uttered against Freemasonry or may be thundered forth in the future are simply the frantic rantings of one of the most pernicious and dogmatic institutions ever born into the world under the guise of religion.

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