Freemasons Participate as Catholics in the Synod of Synodality in the Philippines!

And they also distribute communion.

It has caused astonishment that declared Freemasons are participating as delegates in the Synod of Synodality of the Universal Church in the Philippines and are also distributing communion. What is happening with the Freemasons and the ecclesiastical authorities? Are we facing a new onslaught by the Freemasons to infiltrate the Church so that it changes its doctrine and harmonizes it with the values of the world?

Here, we will talk about the Masonic infiltration in the Synod of Synodality, which has been discovered in the Philippines, and how it is combined with the new strategy of the lodges adopted since the second half of the 20th century.

In March 2023, there was commotion in the Philippines because it came to light that two Freemasons, who were also distributors of Holy Communion in the Buen Camino parish, were delegates in the discussions of the Synod of the Synod of the Universal Church, which became a scandal.

For this reason, on March 24, the bishops published a statement which, on the one hand, reaffirms "the non-acceptance of Freemasonry, given its serious errors" and adds that belonging to Freemasonry entails canonical penalties. But they admit that a growing number of Freemasons have been participating in local Catholic liturgies and events, including the parish and diocesan phases of the global synod process, although they did not explain the reason for that presence. On the other hand, they have said that pastoral priorities must show openness to the situation of individual Catholics in each case, so the non-acceptance of Freemasonry is diluted. It got even more complicated because US-resident Filipino Freemason Edward Cruz has said that about 20 years ago, Father William Justice, now Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco, assigned him to distribute Communion, and he still does. This reveals that what is happening in the Philippines is just the tip of the iceberg.

By 1717, the first Masonic Grand Lodge had been founded in London, and initially, Catholics also joined. But in 1738, Clement XII banned Freemasonry for promoting religious indifferentism. Also, in Italy, the Masonic lodges of the Carbonari operated as revolutionary cells against the papal states and called to infiltrate the Church to achieve a Freemason pope. From Clement XII until the promulgation of the first Code of Canon Law in 1917, eight popes issued papal encyclicals and bulls denouncing Freemasonry and imposing an automatic penalty of excommunication for any Catholic who joined.

The Church saw that its greatest threat came from the Masonic promotion of what today we would call secularism. In some places, such as the United States, Masonic lodges openly opposed the opening of Catholic schools, the election of Catholics to public office, and endorsed anti-Catholic candidates and laws along with the Ku Klux Klan. In general, everywhere, they promoted values far removed from Catholic morality, which today we would call modernist. The infiltration of high-ranking Vatican officials became evident in the second half of the 1900s.

Let us remember the financial scandal of the 1970s and 1980s involving the Freemason Monsignor Paul Marcinkus, president of the Vatican Bank. And the disastrous performance of the Freemason Annibale Bugnini, secretary of the pontifical department for divine worship, the architect of the current mass, whose greatest achievement was to change the orientation of the celebrant. The priest before looked at God, the head of the community looked at the Almighty Lord. But Bugnini creates the masterpiece of Freemasonry, giving a 180-degree revolution. During the Eucharist, the celebrant now turns his back on God, and man becomes the main actor.

Once his Masonic affiliation was discovered by the publication of the Pecorelli List, which denounced more than 180 cardinals and bishops who were members of a lodge in Italy, he was exiled as nuncio to Iran by Paul VI. It had also been discovered that the Grand Master of the Lodge was giving him a very important monthly allowance, and one of those checks was photographed and published in a well-known magazine in 1975.

But as dangerous as he was, the Freemason Cardinal Sebastiano Baggio, in charge of naming all the bishops of the world, is linked in some way to the death of John Paul I.

These few cases that we have mentioned show that Masonic infiltration in the Church is not a conspiracy theory. Freemasonry defends itself by saying that it does not compete against the Church, that it is not a religion, and that it is just a society of men who value fellowship and cooperation. However, the main architect of modern Freemasonry, James Anderson, defined it in his Masonic constitution of 1728 as "The religion in which all men agree." In other words, it is not only a religion, but it claims to be the religion of all, in open competition with the Catholic Church. In the 30th degree of the Scottish Rite, for example, the Freemason is presented with a skull wearing a papal tiara and is told that it represents the tiara of the cruel and cowardly pontiff, and is therefore the crown of an impostor. And he must stab the skull with a dagger, while the candidate yells “Down with the impostor, down with the crime”, before stepping on it.

But the Freemasons changed their strategy in the second half of the 20th century, which confused several bishops. In 1917, for example, they celebrated 200 years of Freemasonry, with posters displayed in the Vatican, saying that Satan will reign in the Vatican and the Pope will serve him in the uniform of the Swiss Guard, and showing Lucifer stepping on the head of the Archangel Michael. However, in the second half of the 20th century, they opted for a shadow opposition, which persuaded many bishops that Freemasonry had changed.

However, in the 1970s, the bishops of Germany entered into a six-year dialogue with local Masonic leaders to examine whether there was any reason why Catholics should not be allowed to join Freemasonry. Their conclusion was that there were many reasons why Freemasonry continued to be at odds with the Catholic faith, and they concluded that "the Freemasons have essentially not changed."

When the new Code of Canon Law was promulgated in 1983, there was no explicit mention of Freemasonry, which was previously named explicitly, attaching an automatic excommunication to members. Many assumed that things had changed. Then, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a clarification, saying that "the Church's negative judgment regarding the Masonic association remains unchanged, and membership in it remains prohibited."

It is important to note that joining a lodge is actually a double sin. One, joining a prohibited association, which must be punished with a "just penalty," and two, committing an act of heresy, which has an automatic excommunication attached. However, in the case of the Philippines, it has come to light that declared Freemasons distribute communion at masses and participate as delegates to the Synod of Synodality, and that their participation is increasing according to the bishops.