**I think, for me, the real deal-breaker is the Masonic thing. I got booted from AQ (I think) for demanding proof of even one Masonic plot against the Vatican.
If one disbelieves in the continuing malevolent, powerful Masonic influence, someone always accuses them of disbelieving Church teaching.**
According to some arch-Protestant polemicists, it’s not just a Masonic conspiracy. It’s a Vatican-Masonic conspiracy.
And then there are those who say it’s some combination of Zionist-Communist-Vatican-Masonic conspiracy. (Pick your favorite 2 or 3.)
But there are some facts that cannot be denied.The secret papers of the Alta Vendita that fell into the hands of Pope Gregory XVI embrace a period that goes from 1820 to 1846. They were published at the request of Pope Pius IX by Cretineau-Joly in his work
The Roman Church and Revolution. With the brief of approbation of February 25, 1861, which he addressed to the author, Pope Pius IX guaranteed the authenticity of these documents,
Pope Leo XIII was greatly concerned about Freemasonry, Pope Pius X was greatly concerned about the Modernists. Pope Paul for some unknown reason **did abolish **the *Oath against Modernism *in 1967 Father Annibale Bugnini was suddenly, after 11 years as secretary of the Commission on the Liturgy , removed from that position and sent to Iran
It was these conspiracies that caused Archbishop Lefebvre to be relieved of his priestly duties.Father Bugnini who is most responsible for the New Mass wrote this in his book
Reform of the Liturgy
Pg –91-92 . “Toward the end of the summer a cardinal who was usually no enthusiast for liturgical reform told me of the existence of a “dossier” which he had seen on [or brought to?] the Pope’s desk and which proved that Archbishop Bugnini was a Freemason…the charge was absurd, a malignant calumny…I have never had any interest in Freemasonry: I do not know what it is, what it does, or what its purposes are.”
Footnote PG 281. March 1976 “Archbishop Lefebvre wrote…When we learn in Rome that the man who has been the soul of the liturgical reform is a Mason, we may think he is not the only one. The veil covering the great mystification that has been worked on clergy and faithful is undoubtedly beginning to lift”
Pg 294-295 “The opposition became more serious and worrisome, however when Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre became its champion. All attention was focused on him…a period of disobedience and opposition began…in the “manifesto” or profession of faith that *Archbishop Lefebvre issued on November 21, 1974…*he states his refusal to heed, “the Rome that has clearly shown itself to be neo-Modernist and neo-Protestant in tendency at Vatican II and in all the postconciliar reforms…these reforms have helped and are still helping to demolish the Church, ruin the priesthood, destroy the sacrifice and sacraments…No authority, even the highest in the hierarchy, can force us to abandon or water down our Catholic faith that has clearly expressed and professed by the magisterium of the Church for nineteen centuries…we choose what has always been taught, and we close our ears to the destructive novelties now found in the Church…the new Mass is matched by a new catechism, a new priesthood, new seminaries…this reform which derives from liberalism and Modernism, has poisoned everything: it is born of heresy and ends in heresy, even if all of its acts are not formally heretical. It is therefore impossible for a conscientious, believing Catholic to accept this reform and submit to it in even the smallest degree. The only response possible for those who are faithful to the Church and Catholic teaching and who wish to be saved is a categorical rejection of the reform”…Thus began the disobedience, the public demonstrations, the protest celebrations, the ordination of priests, and the resultant suspension of Archbishop Lefebvre from his priestly functions”
Archbishop Lefebvre was willing to put his soul on the line for his beliefs. He clearly did not dismiss the “conspiracy theories”
