THE POPE A FREEMASON.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4211, 18 September 1874, Page 3

THE POPE A FREEMASON.

TO THE EDITOII. Sin, —As long as the statement of Pope Pius IX. having been a Freemason remained the subject of -mere telegrams, an attempt at contradiction would have been futile and foolish. All sensible people must have received that announcement as news 'for sensation, or as a ludicrous retaliation on the part of Freemasons smarting under recent condemnations. As for me I simply laughed at it. Rut since you take * t up, though in a modest local, commenting upon it, bringing it in parallel with the'Marquis of Eipon’s conversion, you naturally call for some observations. Pope Pius IX. having been a Freemason ! This is an absurdity and a sheer impossibility. If we admit that, we must admit also that at one time Pius IX. ceased to be a Catholic, because it must have been known to the noble and pious family of the Pope and to himself that, for the last hundred and fifty years, by the Popes’ decisions, a member of the Catholic Church lost that membership by becoming a Freemason. Pius IX. at one time has been received in Freemasonry! But at what, time? He, the son of illustrious and religious parents, was placed by them, in the eleventh year of his age, in the College of a religious body at Volterra, most celebrated for the learning and piety of its most gifted conductors. In that very same college ho entered in the ecclesiastical

state ; and from there he went direct to Romo, iu order to complete his studies and train his mind and heart for the sacred duties of priesthood. In that capital he lived with lu> uncle, a canon of the Vatican Basilica, The latter had to fly before persecution, Pope and Cardinals being at that time transported or banished from Rome. Nevertheless, young Hastai (such is the Pope's family name) was nut long after promoted to the holy orders of suh-deacon and deacon, and iu 1818 he was finally ordained a priest. In these few close facts, which comprise the whole youth of the Pope, I fail to perceive the time and place, where and when Count di Mastal would have been made a Freemason. You, Sir, comparing the reasons of those two events, viz., the conversion of Lord Ripou, his abjurgation of his GraudHuistership of preemasonry, and the pretended expulsion of Pius IN. from the same Society, are sagacious enough to ascribe the latter to his non-compliance with some rules and requirements of Preemasonry. • But I admire your ingenuity when you look to some external circumstances to account for Lord Ripon’s conversion. -Why would you attrioutc so momentous determination to paltry incidents, not to superior considerations worthy of the noble Marquis, to conscientious inquiries, at least to mature reflections on the groat quid prodcst ■ — What does it profit a man? Whether the conversion of the Marquis of Ripon is a real fact wo will know very soon. Meanwhile, winding' up this letter, already too long', I will say, concerning the condemnation of h reemasoury 1 by the Church, no body must take offence at such a step. Apart from all Divine rights, any legitimate society must have the natural right of exclusion, and has to pur it sometimes into execution, otherwise that society, like many religious societies of our day, will be disorganised, and will hasten to its ruin. At length hi onr time of boasted liberalism the exclusions or condemnations of the Catholic Church should be taken seriously, but coolly, without complaint arid without X'esentment. There is no reason for it. Liberty is not violated. —I am, &c., Ax Observer.