THE POPE A FREEMASON.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 158, 12 May 1876, Page 14

THE POPE A FREEMASON.

To the Editor of the ' Times.'

Sie — I observe that your columns are not yet shut against the stale announcement of the Pope having been a Freemason in his youth. It is loathscme to Catholics to hear this statement repeated. They know certainly that all crimes are remissable in this world. Yet that their Pope should have given such scandal, and ever been in the state of damnation, is to them painful to think of. The thing has been denied over and over again. It has been proved false and ludicrous. The tale is still rehearsed, either to vex the Catholics or to mock the Pope, and no doubt to gratify Masonry. Well, sir, to you and to your readers I will give a proof that will settle the matter at once. In France there is a certain law, even apart from the law for libel, by which those who propagate false news in the Press are amenable to a criminal court. Such proved to be the case in that country a few months ago in regard to the news of the Pope having been a Freemason. On the Ist December, at Lyons, G. Petilleau, editor of the Frondeur, was found guilty of the above offence, and sentenced to the penalty attached to it. Should you wish to have the proceedings in full, I will be most happy to forward them to you. So far, the French law upholds God's commandment : Thou shalt not bear false testimony against thy neighbour. In New Zealand there is no enactment against the propagation of false news, but the Divine law is universal, and there ought to be a conscience everywhere, especially among journalists. — I am, &c, Wellington, sth May, 1876. James Doyle.