From The Michigan Freemason, Vol. I (1870)
Published by Chaplin, Ihling & Bix, Kalamazoo, Michigan Pages 448-460
IS POPE PIUS IX A FREEMASON?
The New York World recently published a striking claim sourced from the Era Paoli Sarpi, a Catholic reform journal in Venice. Freemasons will be interested to know that Mastai Ferretti, better known as Pope Pius IX, once belonged to their Order, having joined in Philadelphia while he was Papal Nuncio to this country and that he continued to be a Mason two years after becoming Pope.
This assertion has created ripples through both the Catholic and Masonic communities. If true, it would place the Pope in the unprecedented position of both being a spiritual enemy of the Craft through Papal Bulls and yet formerly one of its initiates.
The Paradox of Condemnation
In his recent Syllabus of Errors, the Pope condemned both Freemasons and Carbonari in the same breath, calling them evil societies against which the terrors of the Papal Bull are equally hurled.
If he had once been a Mason, his condemnation suggests a deep backsliding:
If he ever was [a Mason], he has permitted the light he then received to become darkness, and great is that darkness. To unite Freemasons and Carbonari in a common condemnation, while having shared in Masonic light, presents an irony of theological and moral proportions.
Testimony from France: Initiation de Pie IX In 1868, the Grand Master of Pennsylvania, R.W. Richard Vaux, received
from the editor of Le Monde Maconnique in Paris an article titled Initiation de Pie IX. This article reprinted a letter from the Freemasons of Messina (1865) to M. Aglotti, Capitular Vicar of that diocese, which claimed Mastai Ferretti, while on a mission to North and South America, remained for a time in Philadelphia. During his stay, he was initiated into Freemasonry.
In his speeches, Ferretti reportedly declared:
I am fully convinced that Masonry is one of the best associations known in the world. I shall ever be a warm defender of this sublime Order, whose mission is to moralize the universe, and to relieve and protect suffering humanity.
Archival Investigation in Havana prompted by the article, Grand Master Vaux ordered an investigation.
The Grand Secretary of Pennsylvania, Bro. John Thomson, consulted the official Lodge records, and found:
- Juan Aug. Ferretti was made a Mason on Jan. 15, 1815, at Le Temple des Vertus Theologales, No. 103 in Havana, Cuba.
- He withdrew from this Lodge on March 21, 1817.
- Later, J.A. Ferretti joined Las Delicias de la Havana, No. 157 on March 27, 1818.
- A Martin Ferretti was initiated on November 17, 1819.
These records were transcribed into the official Register at the Grand Secretary’s Office, Masonic Hall, Philadelphia.
The lingering question remains: Is Martin Ferretti the English rendering of Mastai Ferretti, who later became Pope Pius IX?
Ongoing Mystery and Historical Significance Despite the archival references, no direct signature or personal identification confirms with certainty that the Pope and the listed Masonic member are the same. Yet the convergence of:
- Messina Masons’ letter
- French Masonic publication
- Philadelphia lodge records
- all point to a possibility that has never been fully denied.
The closing remarks of the article state:
We expect yet to hear more of the question: Is Pope Pius IX a Mason?
