Pope Leo XIV appoints bishop who attended Masonic lodge opening in Italy

(LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV has appointed a bishop who participated in the opening ceremony of a Masonic lodge as Metropolitan Archbishop of Sassari, Italy.

The Holy See announced the decision to promote Monsignor Francesco Antonio Soddu to his new position in its daily bulletin on February 21. Soddu, who was originally appointed as bishop of Terni-Narni-Amelia by Pope Francis in 2021, caused a scandal in September 2022 when he attended the opening ceremony of the Grand Orient of Italy (GOI) Masonic lodge.

As LifeSiteNews reported, Soddu participated in the inauguration of the local Freemasonry headquarters in Via Roma in Terni, together with numerous city and government officials.

The Grand Master of the GOI, Stefano Bisi, in his keynote address, expressed typical masonic anticlerical sentiments, praising the secular state as the one and only guarantor of freedom, and voicing the hope that September 20 would be restored as a holiday in celebration of the liberation of Italy from “the domination of the Church.”

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Responding to the indignation among the Catholic faithful sparked by the bishop’s presence at the Masonic ceremonies, the Diocese of Terni issued a statement defending the prelate’s attendance, stating that the faithful had “deliberately misunderstood and misinterpreted” his presence, which it claimed was not intended to “identify” with Freemasonry but to witness to the Gospel. 

The diocese further claimed that the bishop’s purpose at the ceremony was “witnessing fidelity to the Gospel and to the Church, especially in this time of the Synodal path that characterizes it.”

The Catholic Church has continuously condemned Freemasonry, as it is based on secular relativism and is therefore incompatible with the Catholic faith. Catholics who become members of a Freemasonic lodge may be punished by excommunication under canon law.

Pope Leo’s decision to make Soddu the archbishop of Sassari will undoubtedly be seen as a promotion from his current position as bishop of Terni-Narni-Amelia.