“•Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Humanum Genus, 1884”
This encyclical is particularly out-of-date, in that the good-meaning pope based his conclusions about masons on the lies of Leo Taxil, who was a bitter anti-Catholic and intentionally misled the pope, “confessing” of his hoax a few years after the Enycical was published.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxil_hoax
Look, I don’t want to get in a fight. I’m just laying out the facts.
And the fact is that the Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the current Pope) revalidated the Church’s position in 1981 and again in 1983 (after the current code of canon law was enacted).
So it is what it is. If you are a Catholic and are a Freemason, you are in a state of mortal sin. Period. It is an established Magesterial teaching. Not simply that one encyclical...but since 1738.
I’m not going to get in a rant about it. I just posted this information to make sure any Catholics (or those considering becoming that way) know what the Church’s position is.
This encyclical is particularly out-of-date, in that the good-meaning pope based his conclusions about masons on the lies of Leo Taxil, who was a bitter anti-Catholic and intentionally misled the pope, “confessing” of his hoax a few years after the Enycical was published.
I believe you are mistaken here. It was the publication of Humanum Genus which inspired Leo Taxil to perpetrate his infamous hoax. It could therefore hardly be seen as a basis for any of the Pope's conclusions printed in that document.