Humanum Genus (on Freemasonry) was a papal encyclical promulgated on April 20, 1884, by Pope Leo XIII.
It starts by using the Augustinian concept of the two cities, the City of Man and the City of God. So the human race was "separated into two diverse and opposite parts, of which the one steadfastly contends for truth and virtue, the other of those things which are contrary to virtue and to truth. The one is the kingdom of God on earth, namely, the true Church of Jesus Christ ... The other is the kingdom of Satan," which were "led on or assisted" by Freemasonry.
The encyclical argued that the late Nineteenth Century was a time of particular danger for Christians as the "partisans of evil" were now far more open, as evidenced by the new openness of Freemasonry. Freemasonry had been condemned by previous Popes as contrary to Christian doctrine, but the nature (if not beliefs) of Freemasonry was changing as Freemasons were now far more open in their practices and affiliations.
Previous Papal denouncers of Freemasonry were:
It had long been a practice of the church to forbid Catholics from becoming freemasons, often backed up by temporaral governments. This did not stop Freemasonry growing into a position where it now (1884) has considerable power.
Leo XIII's denunciation of freemasonry should be seen in context of his examination of socialism (Quod Apostolici Muneris ), his defence of Christian marriage (Arcanum) and on the role of government (Diuturnum ). The secrecy inherent in freemasonry, means that the society has an enormous amount of secret discipline of its members - which is seen by the Pope as enslavement. So although individual Masons were decent people, they were being led to do evil things.
The fundamental erroneous doctrine of Masonry was seen as naturism, which leads to Deism and gnosticism. This leads them to a fundamental clash with Christianity as due to their beliefs the Masons support the radical seperation of church and state, with an attempt to impose legal obstacles to the church.
See also Catholicism and Freemasonry
External Links
Humanum Genus, from EWTN
Last updated: 08-12-2005 16:50:44
