When the Pope becomes the chaplain of Masonry

Los Angeles Times, April 19, 2008

On April 18, 2008, Benedict XVI went to the United Nations headquarters to officially commemorate the 60th anniversary of the promulgation of the Declaration of Human Rights. As anyone knows, this declaration closely follows the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of the French Revolution, inspired by the principles of the Enlightenment, which professes a system called Deism, a belief in a vague "god."

In his speech Benedict could not have been more admirative of this Masonic document. Indeed, he affirmed, "It is evident that the rights recognized and expounded in the Declaration apply to everyone by virtue of the common origin of the person, who remains the high-point of God's creative design for the world and for history." Therefore, the Pope conferred a kind of divine mission to this Declaration.

His eulogies of the revolutionary ideals were not limited to the Declaration. The institution of the UN itself, an organ to accomplish the goals of the Universal Republic dreamed of by Freemasonry, were also the object of his warm praise. He emphatically stated: "The United Nations embodies the aspiration for a greater degree of international ordering, inspired and governed by the principle of subsidiarity, and therefore capable of responding to the demands of the human family by means of binding international rules and structures capable of harmonizing the day-to-day unfolding of the lives of peoples."

Further on, he declared: "My presence in this Assembly is a sign of esteem for the United Nations, and it is intended to express the hope that the Organization will increasingly serve as a sign of unity between States and an instrument of service to the entire human family."

He also gave an account of the inter-confessional efforts of the Conciliar Church to build a Panreligion as a collaboration that should be placed under the hegemony of the UN. He said: "The United Nations can count on the results of the dialogue between religions, and can draw fruit from the willingness of believers to place their experiences at the service of the common good. Their task is to propose a vision of faith not in terms of intolerance, discrimination and conflict, but in terms of complete respect for truth, coexistence, rights and reconciliation."

He ended his speech by declaring the Holy See itself a type of subordinate of the UN when he affirmed: "The Holy See has always had a place at the assemblies of the Nations, thereby manifesting its specific character as a subject in the international domain ... The United Nations remains a privileged setting in which the Church is committed to contributing her experience in humanity ... and placing it at the disposal of all members of the international community."

It is not difficult to see that Benedict XVI took upon himself the role of a chaplain of the UN, who supports its actions wholeheartedly. A chaplain of the UN is in effect the same as to say, a chaplain of Masonry.

Below first row, he blesses a flag of the UN that was damaged by a car bomb in Iraq. Second row, during his speech. Third row, an overview of the assembly hall with Benedict at the podium. Last row, at right, he poses with the president and the secretary of the UN in turn.

http://www.un.org/webcast/pdfs/Pope_speech.pdf