Freemasonry and the Vatican: A Struggle for Recognition

Freemasonry and the Vatican_ by the Vicomte Leon de Poncins seeks to explain the endless warfare between the Catholic Church and the forces of subversion represented by Freemasonry. After the Second World War a campaign has been underway from within certain constituencies of "progressive Catholic" circles to legitimize freemasonry. Freemasonry has been condemned repeatedly by popes since Clement XII in 1738. The reasons for this repeated condemnation include the immorality of the secret oaths undertaken by masonic initiates, the fundamental conflict between masonic belief and Roman Catholic dogma (i.e. Christian belief), and the subversive aspects of a secret society which continues to plot against church, government, and the established traditionalist based order. However, despite these problematic concerns and fundamental differences between Freemasonry and Catholicism, certain individuals have attempted to urge the hierarchy to remove the ban of excommunication upon those Catholics