Canceled Masonic Funerals Put Church-Freemasonry Tensions in Spotlight| National Catholic Register

Recent last-minute cancellations of two Catholic funerals for prominent Italian Freemasons have revealed growing confusion over Freemasonry and its relationship with the Italian Church after a decade of controversial efforts to establish dialogue with the secretive group, long proscribed by the Church.

In early August, a funeral had been scheduled for Bruno Battisti D’Amario, 88 — an accomplished Italian classical guitarist known for his long collaboration with the late film-score composer Ennio Morricone — who died on Aug. 5.

Due to take place on Aug. 7 at the Church of Santa Maria in Montesanto, otherwise known as the “Artists’ Church” in Rome, the funeral was canceled after the Grande Oriente d’Italia, one of the country’s main Freemasonic lodges, revealed in an online tribute (since removed) that the musician was a top-ranking (“33rd degree”) Freemason.

After the Italian Catholic daily La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana alerted the local priest to the deceased’s Masonic connections, the priest informed the church’s rector, Bishop Antonio Staglianò. Staglianò then contacted Cardinal Baldassare Reina, the Vicar General of Rome, who consulted the diocese’s legal office before refusing authorization for the funeral Mass. As Bishop Staglianò put it, Cardinal Reina “had no choice but to refuse authorization of the funeral Mass.”

Two days later, Bishop Antonio Suetta of Sanremo-Ventimiglia announced a similar measure, halting at the 11th hour the funeral rites of Mario Tarducci, a former grand master of the Grande Oriente d’Italia. The funeral for Tarducci, 73, was to be held in the St. Mark the Evangelist Church in Camporosso, near Sanremo. Bishop Suetta learned about Tarducci’s Masonic connections after local newspapers revealed them.

Both funerals were forbidden under Canon 1184, which stipulates that, unless the person shows some signs of repentance before death, “notorious apostates, heretics and schismatics” must be denied a requiem Mass. It also applies to those who choose cremation for “anti-Christian motives,” or “other manifest sinners to whom a Church funeral could not be granted without public scandal to the faithful.” If there is any doubt, it must be left to the ordinary’s discretion.

But various questions are being asked about the two funeral cancellations, including how they came so close to taking place.

The Catholic Church has consistently and formally prohibited Catholic membership in Freemasonry since Clement XII’s 1738 bull In eminenti, with the Vatican issuing a doctrinal note forbidding such membership as recently as November 2023.

Rome Funeral

For the Rome funeral, the parish priest told La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana that he was “dismayed” at learning of D’Amario’s Freemasonry, of which D’Amario had shown no signs of repudiating, nor was there any evidence of him converting to the Catholic faith. Bishop Staglianò told the newspaper, “we were completely in the dark about the whole matter,” as was D’Amario’s daughter. Upset at her father not being granted a Catholic funeral, a prayer service for the family was held instead, in conformity with canon law, and the deceased’s soul was entrusted to the mercy of God.

Bishop Staglianò, who is also president of the Pontifical Academy of Theology, explained that the musician would also be allowed to have memorial Masses celebrated after the burial, as is customary 30 days after the deceased’s passing, but the Catholic funeral rite could not be granted.

However, the rector’s story has some inconsistencies: Bishop Staglianò claimed he had been informed of the funeral by his own staff who had been alerted by the Vatican Secretariat of State. This contrasts with what he had told La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana: that he did not know of D’Amario’s Freemasonry when they revealed D’Amario’s membership to him on the telephone.

Bishop Staglianò’s involvement in this story is significant. He was a leading figure behind the first public meeting of senior Church and Masonic leaders in Milan in February 2024 where, according to Riccardo Cascioli, editor of La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, which had access to the private meeting, he showed “remarkable familiarity with the Grand Masters present.”

The meeting was the fruit of a growing rapprochement between Italian Church leaders and Italian Freemasonry, beginning with a 2016 open letter from Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi addressed to “Dear Masonic Brothers.” The letter identified areas for dialogue and common action while still acknowledging serious differences.

At the Milan meeting, Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmiero floated the idea of an official “permanent dialogue” between Church and Masonic leaders and all those present stressed an alleged compatibility of membership of Freemasonry and the Catholic Church.

“They pointed out that there are also many Catholics within Freemasonry and considered the barrier erected by the Church to be anachronistic, particularly in light of Pope Francis’s ‘Who am I to judge?’ and ‘Todos, todos, todos,’” Cascioli wrote in an Aug. 11 editorial. “In other words, if remarried divorcees can receive the sacraments, why can’t Freemasons? Why are same-sex couples blessed whilst Freemasons must remain outside the Church? Does the much-vaunted mercy of Pope Francis’s pontificate not apply to Freemasons?

“This is why they explicitly requested that membership of Freemasonry no longer be regarded as an impediment to receiving the sacraments,” Cascioli wrote. “The request for Catholic funerals is therefore a step in this direction.”

Bishop Suetta’s Decision

Regarding the canceled funeral in Bishop Suetta’s diocese, the bishop knew nothing of it until Tarducci’s Masonic links were publicized and after the funeral had been arranged. In a statement, Bishop Suetta said he was in agreement with Cardinal Reina’s actions and so canceled the funeral in accordance with Canon 1184.

A further point of interest regarding the funerals, noted by La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, was the strikingly lopsided media coverage of the two cases. Bishop Suetta — well known for his orthodoxy, strong opposition to abortion and recent call for the evangelization of Muslims — was widely criticized as harsh and uncharitable, while Bishop Staglianò was let off lightly, aided by his claim that the Vatican’s Secretariat of State (not La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana’s reporting) had tipped him off.

For Cascioli, both incidents reveal growing complicity of Italian Church leaders and Italian Freemasonry. “There is certainly a claim on the part of Masonic lodges to be accepted by the Church, a claim that has grown stronger precisely under Pope Francis’ pontificate, whose encyclical Fratelli tutti — with its theorization of ‘universal fraternity’ — smacks rather of Freemasonry,” he told the Register Aug. 12.

“At this point, I believe the Pope should intervene once again with clarity to condemn Freemasonry and reaffirm that membership of Freemasonry is incompatible with being a Catholic,” he added. “There is a great deal of confusion on this matter.”

“Just this morning,” he said, “someone I know — a Catholic police officer — asked me, after reading my article, whether all forms of Freemasonry are to be condemned or whether there are compatible lodges. The reason? Several lodges had invited him to join, and he was convinced that some lodges were compatible.”