Fr. Michael Weninger is a priest who has been mentioned several times on this website, as he is one of the few ecclesiastical freemasons who makes no secret of his dual allegiance. (See articles here and here.)
Fr. Weninger, a former diplomat who entered the priesthood late, has never renounced his membership in Freemasonry, which scandalously has even been encouraged by his superiors. He is famous for publishing a book in 2019 called Lodge and Altar, which is based on his doctoral thesis. He studied under Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran at the Pontifical Gregorian University which casts some doubt on Tauran’s own allegiance to the Catholic faith. Weninger also works under the Cardinal at the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.
A Scandalous Conference
Last month, Fr. Weninger, gave an address at the French National Grand Lodge at which he again attempted to affirm a compatibility between Freemasonry and Catholicism. The lecture can be found here on Youtube, but as both the video and transcript are in French, it’s necessary to rely on translated reports for this article.
The Spanish website, Infovaticana, tells us that according to Fr. Weninger, the “Great Architect of the Universe” is synonymous with the God of the Bible, and that this is the same God “to the Yahweh of the Jews, to the Allah of the Muslims and to the Trinity of the Christians.” This is perfectly consistent with the heresy of indifferentism which is a hallmark of Freemasonry.
The priest also stated that “a Catholic Freemason is no longer excommunicated for the mere fact of his membership in Freemasonry” – an error he shares in common with the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. Note that Weninger limits this apparent compatibility to Anglo-Saxon lodges; despite the Church making no exceptions to their centuries-old condemnation of Masonry.
Infovaticana suggests that the timing of Fr. Weninger’s address suggests that it is a test to the limits of the new pontificate’s authority – and to date no condemnation of the talk or of the Judas-priest’s dual allegiance has been issued by Pope Leo.
False Interpretation of Canon Law
Fr. Weninger makes his claim of compatibility based on the removal of the penalty of excommunication for Masons from the 1983 Code of Canon Law even though then-Cardinal Ratzinger confirmed that “Membership in them remains prohibited. The faithful who belong to Masonic associations are in a state of serious sin and cannot approach holy communion.”
Even Pope Francis, through Cardinal Fernandez, re-affirmed the ruling in 2023 when he stated that “Active membership in Freemasonry of a faithful is prohibited, due to the incompatibility between Catholic doctrine and Freemasonry.”
Weaponised Confusion
The French media outlet, Tribune Chretienne, com made some insightful comments about Fr. Weninger’s address:
Note that during this same conference, an anonymous speaker testified to a word received during a confession, which alone sums up the constant teaching of the Church: “I absolve you of all your sins, you can do whatever you want, except… don’t go to Freemasonry. “ A revealing sentence which says a lot about the perceived seriousness of this belonging with regard to the Catholic faith.
Father Weninger took the liberty of concluding his intervention with “So be it”, which is not trivial. This expression, [the] liturgical translation of the Christian “Amen”, traditionally concludes a prayer, a blessing or a proclamation of faith. Using it to close a relativistic presentation on the compatibility between the Gospel and an initiatory organization based on secrecy and the rejection of Christian dogma demonstrates the confusion he wants to create to accredit his speech. This amounts to giving a liturgical anointing to a word which contradicts the Magisterium.
As Serge Abad-Gallardo, a former converted Freemason, recalled in a direct criticism addressed to Father Weninger: “Masonic principles are incompatible with Catholicism: they profess doctrinal relativism, refuse all revealed truth and reject the Kingship of Christ. Freemasonry claims to replace faith with human reason. However, man cannot save himself.“
Ecclesiastical Freemasonry 