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Spanish Freemasons praise Pope Francis, laud ‘International Fraternity Day’
LifeSite News ^ | February 10, 2021 | Jeanne Smits

Posted on 02/10/2021 9:29:07 AM PST by ebb tide

Spanish Freemasons praise Pope Francis, laud ‘International Fraternity Day’

The Spanish Grand Lodge has taken it unto itself publicly to endorse Pope Francis.

February 10, 2021 (LifeSitenews) — For the second time in less than five months, the Gran Logia de España, Spain’s main masonic lodge, has expressed its profound satisfaction at Pope Francis’s involvement in the “Human Fraternity” initiative launched in Abu Dhabi on February 4, 2019. This time, the Spanish Freemasons published a long message welcoming the first ever International Day of Human Fraternity a few days ago, again on February 4, during which Pope Francis, together with Grand Imam Ahmad al-Tayyeb, bestowed an award for peace and fraternity on U.N. secretary general António Guterres in an online ceremony.

That the Spanish Grand Lodge should have taken it unto itself thus publicly to endorse Pope Francis is not just a local reality: its grand master, Óscar de Alfonso, was elected to the post of executive secretary of the World Conference of Regular Grand Lodges in November 2019, making him the master Mason at the head of the Coordination of World Masonry — some four million people.

Back to Guterres. A self-proclaimed Catholic from Portugal, a former president of the Socialist International, and a proponent of “LGBT” rights, he used to be known for his previous personal rejection of legal abortion. But as U.N. secretary general, he promotes “sexual and reproductive health,” and he did so most energetically during the COVID-19 crisis, when his report was used by European States to ask for the ongoing availability of “safe and legal abortion,” following a demand from a “Human Rights Committee” of the United Nations.

Alongside “Fraternity,” which is one of the keywords of Freemasonry, access to contraception and abortion — as well as other aspects of the culture of death —– is a self-avowed goal of the Masons. A gynecologist and former grand master of the Grande Loge of France, Pierre Simon, wrote about the Freemasonry’s and his own personal involvement in making contraception and abortion legal in France in the 1960s and 1970s in an autobiographical book called De la vie avant toute chose (Of Life before Everything, 1979).

The U.N.’s support for the avoiding and killing of babies could only encourage the Freemasons to commend the Pope and the imam’s commitment to “human fraternity” despite its obvious one-sidedness, which allows so many millions of the unborn to be deliberately eliminated every year.

The Italian daily Il Messaggero published a story this Tuesday underscoring the Spanish Grand Lodge’s “enthusiasm” about the first worldwide implementation of the Abu Dhabi Document on Human Fraternity — a document that obeys another principle of Freemasonry in that it presents the diversity of religions as “willed by God.” One of the main tenets of the Masons is the rejection of any kind of “dogma” — that is, a belief that must be accepted because it is held to be true.

Quoting the Grand Lodge of Spain’s public statement, Il Messaggero noted that it pointed at the difficulties that had existed until now to have a full and meaningful dialogue for the construction of a common future. It did so with grandiloquence:

Is it possible that in the 21st century we can at last aspire to full Human Fraternity, to the mutual tolerance of our profound differences? Will we be able, among all of us, to build this dream? Universal Freemasonry holds its breath before the giant step taken by Humanity on February 4th, when, for the first time in its History, the world celebrated the International Day of Human Fraternity. In these dark days, what happened on February 4th is a ray of hope, the first stone to transform the world into a temple of fraternal love that can accommodate us all.

Later on in the day, the Grand Logia of Spain’s Twitter account published a long message similar to the above statement, which is now accessible in full here, together with ample quotes from Pope Francis’s words on the February 4 virtual meeting with al-Tayyeb, his co-signatory of the Abu Dhabi Document.

“Today fraternity is humanity’s new frontier,” said Pope Francis, and that was the phrase with which the Spanish freemasons opened their emphatic statement.

It went on to say:

Certainly, no television news programs opened with this news, dedicated as they are to this pandemic that is filling the narrative.

But the leaders of the two great religions of the planet, Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmad el-Tayyeb, met once again, this time virtually, and they called each other “brother” again, to the scandal of those who still do not understand that fundamentalism is the path of hatred; they wanted to ask the world to listen to the call for #UniversalFraternity among all human beings to build together a common future.

“The Grand Imam of al-Azhar, the highest religious authority for 90 percent of Muslims, explained that the implementation of Human Fraternity will require “goodwill” and “determination in the solid and firm belief that we are all brothers and it is our right to live in #Peace, recognizing that the differences between us are the will of #God in His creation.”

Therefore, he called to “preach a message of #Peace, carry it around the world to all #Humanity, call for fraternity, cooperation and the end of wars and promote #Tolerance, harmony and the rejection of intolerance, hatred, power politics and arrogance,” in the hope that, from now on, every fourth of February will “Represent a bell-call, an appeal for the world to wake up, alert its leaders and call their attention to the need to consolidate the principles of #Peace.”

These words were followed by a series of tweets quoting extensively from Pope Francis’s video message for the International Day of Human Fraternity, available here, in particular this phrase: “We are brothers and sisters, born of one and the same Father. With different cultures and traditions, but brothers and sisters all. And it is in respect of our different cultures and traditions, of our different citizenships, that this fraternity needs to be built. Not by negotiating it. It is the moment for listening. It is the moment for sincere acceptance. It is the moment for certainty that a world without brothers and sisters is a world of enemies.”

Some days before the February 4 meeting, the Grand Provincial Lodge of Canarias, Spain had already voiced its approval of the event, typically illustrating its comments on its own website with a photoshopped picture of Pope Francis “kissing” Imam al-Tayyeb on the mouth (after another photoshopped picture, the one showing Pope Benedict XVI “kissing” an imam, used as publicity by the Italian fashion house Benetton in 2011 before confessing to the fraudulent editing of the image).

The Grand Lodge of Canarias made clear why the Freemasons are so happy with the Abu Dhabi initiative and all its ramifications, including the proclamation of the International Day of Human Fraternity:

The capital principle of Freemasonry, the universal fraternity of our heterogeneous Humanity, has been elevated to an international day by the United Nations. Its General Assembly has proclaimed February 4 as the International Day of Human Fraternity in memory of the joint declaration in favor of fraternity signed in Abu Dhabi two years ago by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad al-Tayyeb. The UN statement stresses “the importance of greater awareness of different cultures and religions or beliefs and of education in the promotion of tolerance, which implies acceptance of and respect for religious and cultural diversity.”

“Tolerance, pluralistic tradition, mutual respect and diversity of religions and beliefs promote human fraternity,” the General Assembly affirms. The celebration of Human Fraternity will be an expression of the “deep concern regarding acts that advocate religious hatred” undermining “the spirit of tolerance and respect for diversity.” In the face of the fundamentalism that different religions have shown throughout their history, February 4 should open us to a new way of understanding our own spirituality, “recognizing the valuable contribution of people of all religions, or beliefs, to humanity and the contribution that dialogue among all religious groups can make towards an improved awareness and understanding of the common values shared by all humankind.”

Note that the Freemasons see this as a call to understand their own “spirituality.” Behind the diversity of religions, there is in fact a new, overarching religion, a new spirituality, full of (false) dogmas that the freemasons are apparently so eager to reject — the very rejection of truth is one of them, together with the priority given to “universal fraternity” without its justification, which is the being of the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Theology; Worship
KEYWORDS: apostasy; francischism; freemasons
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1 posted on 02/10/2021 9:29:07 AM PST by ebb tide
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To: Al Hitan; DuncanWaring; Fedora; irishjuggler; Jaded; JoeFromSidney; kalee; markomalley; ...

Ping


2 posted on 02/10/2021 9:29:44 AM PST by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: ebb tide

Weren’t the Knights of Columbus formed as a counter to the Freemasons?


3 posted on 02/10/2021 9:38:01 AM PST by EEGator
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To: ebb tide

So, the Freemasons are degraded woke filth also?


4 posted on 02/10/2021 9:40:17 AM PST by Seruzawa (TANSTAAFL)
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To: Seruzawa

The Freemasons are sworn enemies of the Church.


5 posted on 02/10/2021 9:48:10 AM PST by viewfromthefrontier
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To: ebb tide

Some people have one foot in the modern decadent world and another foot in the world of bizarre, mystical rituals and beliefs. No one should be suprised that the Grand Lodge of Spanish Freemasons identifies and approves of this pope. Tolstoy would have predicted this nonsense chapter and verse.


6 posted on 02/10/2021 9:52:08 AM PST by allendale
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To: allendale

These are very likely Continental or Irregular Freemasonry lodges that came out of the French Revolution and are affiliated with the Grand Orient de France. Very different from the Anglo/American Free and Accepted Masons. The continental masons don’t require belief in a supreme being.


7 posted on 02/10/2021 10:04:22 AM PST by JMS
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To: Seruzawa
So, the Freemasons are degraded woke filth also?

If anything, maybe slightly upgraded from sleeping filth.

8 posted on 02/10/2021 10:04:40 AM PST by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: JMS
Accepted Masons.

Accepted by whom?

9 posted on 02/10/2021 10:08:28 AM PST by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: ebb tide

Let me get this straight. The Freemasons are a secretive society. So tell me-why do they have buildings and parades for all the public to see?


10 posted on 02/10/2021 10:11:09 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET
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Eight (Catholic} Popes Have Condemned Masonry Since 1738
11 posted on 02/10/2021 10:12:09 AM PST by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

Their buildings are not open to the public. It’s a dirty secret.


12 posted on 02/10/2021 10:13:47 AM PST by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: ebb tide

Accepted by the Anglo/American lodges that conform to the original guidelines of Freemasonry. Again, there are many differences between the Anglo/American lodges and the Irregular lodges found primarily in the Latin countries. For example, Anglo/American lodges have a requirement for a belief in a Supreme Being and are only open to free men whereas the irregular lodges have no requirement for a belief in a Supreme being and accept female members.


13 posted on 02/10/2021 10:19:00 AM PST by JMS
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To: JMS
Again, I ask: accepted by whom?

Fellow masons?

Grand masons?

And what is this Supreme Being you speak of?

Is it the Holy Trinity?

Is it the muslims Allah?

Is it The Hindus Brahman?

14 posted on 02/10/2021 10:30:18 AM PST by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: ebb tide
Again, I ask: accepted by whom?

Fellow masons?

Sort of, a LONG time ago.

The Masonic fraternity used to be just that, a fraternity of stone masons who passed down the secrets of stone masonry through the centuries since the building of Solomon's Temple.

As buildings became made more of wood, the craft and organization was dropping in size.

A couple of fellows where were not stone masons thought it was a good group and wanted to join, even though they weren't stone masons to help keep the organization going.

The stone masons had a conflab and decided to accept them as members.

Thus the term to describe a Mason ever since has been "free and accepted mason".

15 posted on 02/10/2021 11:05:40 AM PST by Mogger
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To: ebb tide
Their buildings are not open to the public. It’s a dirty secret.

Our local lodge has an open house every year (except cancelled last year due to Covid-19)

Guests are shown throughout the lodge and the various artifacts and their meaning explained.

50 years ago, no way that would have happened, everything was a secret.

There is a really good Masonic museum in Lexington, MA that explains a lot.

Without the efforts of Masons, the American Revolution would never have happened.

16 posted on 02/10/2021 11:11:35 AM PST by Mogger
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To: Mogger
...who passed down the secrets of stone masonry...

What "secrets" are there to stone masonry? And why are they secrets.

Sounds more like an agnostic labor union.

17 posted on 02/10/2021 11:42:34 AM PST by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: ebb tide
What "secrets" are there to stone masonry? And why are they secrets.

Same as there are "secrets" to any trade.

These days people go to trade schools or apprentice to learn them.

Different mortar mixes for different purposes, and what materials are available.

Methods of cutting and shaping stone.

How to build a foundation that won't sink or cause the walls to collapse.

How to design structures such as domes, flying buttresses, etc. Of course you keep such things secret so you can charge more.

It's the way capitalism works.

These days, with the majority of Americans being misled, lazy folks who don't want to get their hands dirty, you don't have to bother keeping such things "secrets", as most folks are unwilling to bother to investigate and learn them.

That's why a plumber, carpenter, electrician, auto tech, electro-mechanical tech, etc., make a good income.

18 posted on 02/10/2021 12:16:31 PM PST by Mogger
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To: Mogger

What a joke.

I know plenty of masons who don’t keep secrets.

It’s a skill, nothing more.


19 posted on 02/10/2021 12:22:11 PM PST by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: Mogger
Are all of you freemasons graduates of trade schools and capable of building foundations that won't sink or cause the walls to collapse or designing structures such as domes, flying buttresses, etc.?

If not, what common secrets do y'all have in common?

20 posted on 02/10/2021 12:34:25 PM PST by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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