Rome, Italy, Aug 7, 2005 / 22:00 pm
In an unusual show of “openness” to the Catholic Church, a Masonic lodge in Italy has announced the appointment of a Catholic priest as chaplain. The news was announced during an address to members of the lodge by Grand Master Fabio Venzi of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Italy.
During his address announcing the appointment of the priest, whom he did not identify by name, Venzi explained what he considers to be the relationship between freemasonry and the Catholic Church. “If we examine the documents at our disposal and if we look at the contrasts of the presumed incompatibility of the Catholic Church with freemasonry, we might get the impression that we find ourselves in the presence of a comedy of errors,” he said.
“The documents of the Holy See,” he continued, “are often based on Masonic realities which we consider ‘irregular,’ and therefore not representative of true Masonic tradition.” “The rituals that have been studied and are considered typical of Masonic thought are not known exactly, but this does not appear to be a question of little importance, since we know that rituals can vary from lodge to lodge.”
Likewise, Venzi stated that “the first chapter of the book Freemasonry, by Zbigniew Suchecki of the Pontifical Lateran University and published by the Liberia Editrice Vaticana, notes: ‘During the last century, the Grand Eastern Lodge of France and the Grand Eastern Lodge of Italy were among the most anti-clerical Masonic lodges in the world.’ We hope that in the future, these lodges, which historically have represented the Anglo-Saxon Masonic tradition, not be considered typical.”