Svobodní zednáři v dokumentech katolické církve 1878‒1983 (1985)
Free Masons in Documents of the Catholic Church 1878‒1983 (1985)

From Conflict to Dialogue

Summary/Abstract: The authors of the study present the evolution of the relationship of the Catholic Church with Free Masons during the period 1878‒1983. The pontificate of Leo XIII was characterised by an acute confrontation. This is testified to by many documents of this Pope who accused the Free Masons of enmity toward the Church, of pantheism, relativism, syncretism and dishonouring basic truths of the Christian faith. The Pope sometimes used apocalyptic­‑like vocabulary (the synagogue of Satan). This does not amount to, however, accusations of satanism. In papal pronouncements during the twentieth century, the issue of Free Masonry markedly recedes and statements about enmity between the Catholic Church and Free Masons slowly disappear. In the period after the Second World War, there were a number of particular dialogues between Free Masons and Catholics, especially in Austria and Germany. All of this came to a certain degree to an end in 1983 when the Code of Canon Law was published and since then its paragraph 1374 has been applied to Free Masons by most canon lawyers. The authors of the study state that there are lodges among the Masons regular to London that are friendly to the Catholic Church. Every local Church should study the Free Masons in their territory and take a stand towards them according to their findings. Based on their several­‑years of research, the authors suggest, to the local Catholic Church in Bohemia and Moravia, starting an official dialogue with the Czech Free Masons regular to London. All of this, of course, depends on the Czech Bishop’s Conference.

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