In Chapter One we quoted extensively from Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Humanum Genus (1884) in order to lay the groundwork for considering modern-day Freemasonry.
Pope Leo XIII (Italian: Leone XIII; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci;[b] 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the oldest pope holding office (Benedict XVI became older (95) as Pope Emeritus) and had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of St. Peter, Pius IX (his immediate predecessor) and John Paul II. He is well known for his intellectualism and his attempts to define the position of the Catholic Church with regard to modern thinking. In his famous 1891 encyclical Rerum novarum, Pope Leo outlined the rights of workers to a fair wage, safe working conditions, and the formation of trade unions, while affirming the rights to property and free enterprise, opposing both socialism and laissez-faire capitalism. With that encyclical, he became popularly titled as the "Social Pope" and the "Pope of the Workers", also having created the foundations for modern thinking in the social doctrines of the Catholic Church, influencing the thoughts of his successors. He influenced the Mariology of the Catholic Church and promoted both the rosary and the scapular. Upon his election, he immediately sought to revive Thomism, the theological system of Thomas Aquinas, desiring to refer to it as the official theological and philosophical foundation for the Catholic Church. As a result, he sponsored the Editio Leonina in 1879. Leo XIII is particularly remembered for his belief that pastoral activity in political sociology was also a vital mission of the church as a vehicle of social justice and maintaining the rights and dignities of the human person. Leo XIII issued a record of eleven papal encyclicals on the Rosary, earning him the title of the "Rosary Pope". In addition, he approved two new Marian scapulars. He was the first pope never to have held any control over the Papal States, which had been dissolved by 1870, since Pope Stephen II in the Eighth Century. Similarly, many of his policies were oriented towards mitigating the loss of the Papal States in an attempt to overcome the loss of temporal power, but nonetheless continuing the Roman Question. After his death in 1903, he was buried in the grottos of St. Peter's Basilica before his remains were later transferred in 1924 to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran.
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We return to that encyclical in order to highlight in this chapter one of the important aspects of Freemasonry Pope Leo XIII pointed out over a century ago.
Equating Freemasonry with the domain of Satan, using St. Augustine's image of the two cities, the City of Man and the City of God, the Pope warned that there was a coming together of the "partisans of evil", led on in particular by Freemasonry.
Now let us look at that phrase of Pope Leo XIII regarding the "partisans of evil" coming together and being led by Freemasonry.
Pope Leo had warned that the Masons would abet socialist and Communist revolutions everywhere.
Let us examine some history of this century.
By World War I, many European governments were dominated or heavily influenced by Freemasons.
Catholic schools were closed and outlawed in some nations.
In the aftermath of World War I, Communism seized control of Russia; a few years later Mussolini's black-shirted socialists, called Fascists, took over Italy; and in 1933 the Nazi's, though receiving less than 50% of the vote, formed a government in Germany and quickly suppressed all opposition.
All of these were supported by Freemasons at the time.
Nazism (like Freemasonry and the New Age movement today) was riddled with occultism (the swastika is from ancient pagan religions).
Nazism also sought to revive interest in the ancient pagan religions of pre-Christian Germany, coupled with theories of racial purity and the superiority of Germans.
If some of Karl Marx's writings - including his poetry - are a barometer, he was a SatanistYahwehist, not an atheist.
So, we can see that all these "isms" have a certain commonality.
Fascism in Italy used the pagan symbols of ancient Rome.
Of late, there seems to be an increasing awareness of a coming together of Communism and Freemasonry.
In fact, the co-operation between communism in the East and Freemasonry in the increasingly pagan West - with its secular humanist allies of the New Age movement - is becoming unashamedly open.
A number of instances can be sited in support of this view.
In July 1990 Fr. Robert Bradley, S.J., at a Blue Army symposium in Washington, D.C., spoke of the connection between Our Lady's message at Fatima and Freemasonry.
Though her message is known chiefly for its warning on Communism, Father Bradly makes the case that Mary was clearly advising us about Freemasonry, although neither evil is mentioned specifically by name.
The welcome temporary respite from five decades of totalitarian rule now being experienced in some parts of Eastern Europe has also been accompanied by an influx of Western materialism and the reconstitution of Lodges of Freemasonry throughout that region.
In 30 Days, magazine (July-August 1990 issue), in a piece accompanying an article on the statement of the Bishops of the Indian Ocean Episcopal Conference on the dangers of Freemasonry, we find a short review of the attempts to reactivate Masonic Lodges throughout Eastern Europe and the U.S.S.R.
In its September-October 1990 issue, 30 Days ran a five-page article, "From Communism to Masonry", giving extensive treatment to the resurgence of Freemasonry in Eastern Europe and the U.S.S.R., as well as historical background on Freemasonry's past in each country.
Indeed, a resurgent Evil Empire is in the making!
Even though the source is a private revelation - which we are not required to accept - it may be worth noting that the 1990 edition of To The Priests, by Don Stefano Gobbi of the Marian Movement of Priests, contains several reported locutions from Our Lady explaining some aspects of the Book of Revelation (the Apocalypse concerning the Red Dragon (atheistic Communism) and the black beast arising from the sea (Freemasonry) and the work of both in promoting apostasy and idolatry.
It is said that the two will reach their zenith by 1998.
A book published in 1990 by A. Ralph Epperson, The New World Order, drawing extensively on Masonic and New Age movement sources, shows the similarities and interplay between these two movements in this country and their efforts to replace America's Judeo-Christian heritage with a brutal form of paganism, leading ultimately to the worship of Lucifer and the elimination of every vestige of Christianity.
