Humanum Genus

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Humanum Genus (on Freemasonry) was a papal encyclical promulgated on April 20, 1884, by Pope Leo XIII.

Contents

1 Two Cities
2 Historical circumstances
3 Condemnation of Jeffersonian Principles
4 Background
5 See also
6 External links

Two Cities

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 fundamental erroneous doctrine of Masonry was seen as naturalism, which leads to Deism and gnosticism. This was seen to lead them to a fundamental clash with Christianity as due to their beliefs Masons supported a radical separation of church and state, with an attempt to impose legal obstacles to the church.

Historical circumstances

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.

It had long been a practice of the church to forbid Catholics from becoming freemasons, often backed up by temporal governments. This did not stop Freemasonry growing into a position where it (in 1884) had considerable power.

Condemnation of Jeffersonian Principles

Humanum Genus criticises many Jeffersonian principles, which are today equated by most people with the founding principles of the United States. For example, paragraph 22 condemns popular sovereignty:

''Then come their doctrines of politics, in which the naturalists lay down that all men have the same right, and are in every respect of equal and like condition; that each one is naturally free; that no one has the right to command another; that it is an act of violence to require men to obey any authority other than that which is obtained from themselves.

It also condemns the doctrine of perpetual revolution:

According to this, therefore, all things belong to the free people; power is held by the command or permission of the people, so that, when the popular will changes, rulers may lawfully be deposed and the source of all rights and civil duties is either in the multitude or in the governing authority when this is constituted according to the latest doctrines.

Finally it condemns the Jeffersonian and Masonic idea of the "wall of separation" between church and state:

It is held also that the State should be without God; that in the various forms of religion there is no reason why one should have precedence of another; and that they are all to occupy the same place.

Thomas Jefferson, in common with many other Deist founding fathers, was strongly influenced by Masonic ideas on the place of religion in the state.

Background

Previous Papal denouncers of Freemasonry were:

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). Because of the secrecy inherent in freemasonry, it was perceived to have an enormous amount of secret discipline of its members - which was seen by the Pope as enslavement. So although individual Masons were decent people, they were being led to do evil things.

External links