Italian Freemasonry had an involvement in politics from the very first, from the time when Garibaldi, a Freemason, achieved Italian unification in 1861, and the Grand Orient of Italy has maintained that principle. But in recent years an unfortunate reputation for secrecy and manipulation has erupted, in particular as a result of the P2 scandal.
    The principles of the Grand Orient were not viewed favourably by all Freemasons, with the result that, in 1993, the Regular Grand Lodge of Italy (Grande Loggia Regolare d’Italia) was founded to act independently of politics and religion on the English model. At the time that the Regular Grand Lodge of Italy was founded, the only other significant masonic body in Italy was the Grand Orient, which is not recognised by the United Grand Lodge of England, and so the advent of regular, recognised Freemasonry in Italy was an historic step.
    Three years ago, Professor Fabio Venzi became Grand Master. Those who attended the Cornerstone Society Conferences in Sheffield in 2003 and in London in 2004 will remember his inspiring papers on Renaissance influences in Freemasonry, and the great interest those papers stirred in masonic circles worldwide.

ANGLO-SAXON FREEMASONRY

The First Communication of the Regular Grand Lodge of Italy was held last summer at the Grand Hotel St. Regis in Rome, under the Grand Master, in the presence of four hundred Brethren from all the Italian regions and many overseas visitors
    The Grand Master reported that on the day he was installed in office, he had said that the creation in Italy of a traditional masonic body, on the lines of Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry, distinguished by the fact that they were universally recognised, would be a demanding and delicate question. He then talked about publicity: ‘Our Review, De Hominis Dignitate,’ he said, ‘which I founded five years ago, is our pride and joy and I think that among masonic publications it can rightly occupy a position of the highest order.
    In it, we have a variety of contributors since, in my opinion, when we speak about masonic culture we speak about culture in its entirety, that is, about the many-sided aspects of culture when interpreted in the light of the principles of Freemasonry.’ It contained the transactions of two years’ work of the Italian Research Lodge Quatuor Coronati, in which major historians of the world of masonic studies had participated, he said.
    The Grand Master has attended conferences at important international masonic research centres, such as the Cornerstone Society in London, and has awarded a scholarship at the Centre for Research into Freemasonry at Sheffield University. ‘This has permitted us to be appreciated by people who do not know us or our commitment.’

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GRAND LODGES

A frequent question, he continued, was asked by journalists who wished to write about his Grand Lodge, and to understand the differences among the other irregular masonic organisations in Italy, a question also asked by nonmasons interested in joining Freemasonry. ‘How is it possible to affect society if we only limit ourselves to publishing cultural reviews or establishing research lodges (as, for example, our Santa Cecilia Lodge, exclusively made up of musicians).
    Before answering, it is necessary to agree on a fundamental point: what are the purposes of a masonic body and, most of all, what does its Grand Master represent?’
    In Italy, unfortunately, Freemasonry had always historically represented, in the collective consciousness, a hidden power. The P2 Lodge event certainly had not contributed to a change in the opinion of those who shared this view.
    ‘More and more frequently we read interviews given by the Grand Masters of other Italian masonic bodies. In these interviews, they dispense advice even to the United Nations Organization, on how this organization should be reformed.’ This was unacceptable, he said. A few weeks before, the same body had sided with the referendum on assisted procreation, in opposition to the Catholic Church, not the first time that such a confrontation had taken place between them. This was a subject that needed to be discussed elsewhere. In the public mind, this created the erroneous conviction that a masonic body must express itself on all social problems in which political parties are regularly involved.

CHARITY

Speaking about charity, the Grand Master pointed out that the Regular Grand Lodge of Italy had donated h31,000 during the past years. ‘A few weeks ago,’ he said, ‘I met the Dean of the Lutheran Church in Italy. We made them a contribution for a children’s hospital in a depressed area near Naples.
    The meeting was pleasant, by virtue of the Dean’s open-mindedness and cultural background. The Dean knew and appreciated the initiatives and principles of Freemasonry.’
    Another field the Grand Master considered important was that of sport.
    ‘When we speak of sport, we immediately think of millionaire football stars; these are a bad example for fathers and children who undertake this sport hoping, most of the time in vain, to have a potential football wonder.’ The social importance of the so-called ‘minor’ sports was often overlooked, he said, and we may forget about their role as a social catalyst for those sometimes ‘depressed’ areas, in which such minor sports rescued many young people from drugs and organized crime. ‘For this reason we have this year contributed to the sponsorship of a Premier League women’s Handball team in Nuoro in Sardinia, a place in which such a move has an undoubted importance.’
    The active lodges of the Regular Grand Lodge are currently one hundred and thirty and in the past three years they have established 40 lodges, in other words more than one lodge every month.
    It is expected that in the near future there will be two hundred lodges working under the Regular Grand Lodge. ‘From April 2002, the year of my taking office,’ he said, ‘the Regular Grand Lodge has been recognised by forty Grand Lodges. For the first time in the history of Italian Freemasonry, we have been recognised by the Grand Lodge of Norway and the Grand Lodge of Finland. The Grand Lodges of Cuba, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, South Australia and the Northern Territory, eleven United States Prince Hall Grand Lodges, the young Grand Lodges of Estonia and Madagascar have all recognised us. Moreover, we had the great honour of having participated in the foundation of the Sovereign Grand Lodge of Malta and of the Supreme Grand Chapter of the Grand Orient of Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro.’

FREEMASONRY AND THE CHURCH

The Grand Master referred to the relationship between Freemasonry and the Catholic Church. ‘If we examine the assumed incompatibility between the Catholic Church and Freemasonry, we find ourselves in a disquieting comedy of errors. The documents of the Holy See are often based on masonic realities that we consider irregular, and therefore not representative of the true masonic tradition. We hope that in the future the Anglo-Saxon masonic tradition will be the one chosen for consideration.
    Whenever a small overture to the Catholic Church was made in the past, it was not conducted with intelligence and common sense.’
    Canon 2335 of The Code of Canon Law of 1917 imposed a sanction only on Catholics who were enrolled as members of associations that effectively plot against the Church. ‘Both the Italian masonic bodies and some masonic scholars affiliated to such bodies have managed this overture clumsily, and the Catholic Church promptly took a step backwards.’ The Regular Grand Lodge, on the other hand, had always referred to the Holy See with great respect, even calling a Lodge ‘Enea Silvio Piccolomini’, after Pope Pius II.
    ‘In an historic step,’ he continued, ‘I am appointing to the position of Grand Chaplain a priest of the Roman Catholic Church,’ he said. ‘The Regular Grand Lodge of Italy and its Grand Master make, with this act, a conciliatory gesture. Never has a masonic body made such a significant act towards the Roman Catholic Church, dissociating itself from the other irregular masonic bodies who, with their anticlericalism, have caused so much damage and harm to the image of worldwide Freemasonry.’
    Since Professor Venzi delivered his speech to the Grand Lodge, there have been several applications to join the Regular Grand Lodge of Italy from Catholics who, because of Freemasonry’s previous bad reputation, had been convinced that Italian Freemasonry was an atheist association.
    The Regular Grand Lodge has also had huge feedback from the media The speech has been published on hundreds of Catholic and procatholic sites.
    Reactions have mostly been of a positive nature and expressed interest regarding a future reconciliation between the Roman Catholic church and Freemasonry. Some important Study Centres related to the Catholic church have expressed a great interest to learn about Italian Freemasonry and its characteristics. The fact that there has not yet been an official reaction by the Catholic Church may suggest that the Bishops are free to make an independent choice and that every case is being judged in its own light.
    It is clear that this young Grand Lodge, energetically pursuing the path of English-model Freemasonry, in addition to forging links with all the major Christian churches, is achieving an opening up of its charitable and academic pursuits, which will continue to make this a masonic influence to be reckoned with in Italy. It is to be hoped that it will also add to the influence that Freemasonry has on the general good of our culture – standing beyond those things which divide men, religion and politics, it can serve to bring men of goodwill together, worldwide, for the benefit of all.