THE POPE EXPELLED FROM THE FREEMASONS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 249, 20 October 1874, Page 2

THE POPE EXPELLED FROM THE FREEMASONS.

(Belfast Weekly Neios, August 1.) At the semi-annual meeting of tbe Grand Lodge of Masons, Scottish Rite, of the Orient of Palermo, Italy, on the 27th March last, Pope Piua IX , was expelled from the Order. Tbe decree of expulsion was published in tbe official Masonic pnper at Cologne,-,Ger- - t^ny^apdds preceded -byr-ftfe miputea ! O OM!M*Pg*9 i? iWb^ich] He was: initiated; < and is as follows : — " A man named Mastai Ferrelti, who received the baptism of Freemasonry, and solemnly pledged his love and fellowship, and who afterwards was crowned Pope and King, under the title pf Pio Nogo, has now cursed -his ; former brethrebj-fand excommunicated all members of- the Order o^ Freema * sons. Therefore, the said Mastai Ferretti is herewith, by the decree of the Grand Lodge of the Orient, Palermo, expelled from the Order for perjury." The charges against bim were first preferred in bis lodge at Palermo in 1865, and notification and copy thereof sent to him, with a request to attend the lodge for the purpose of answering , .the same. To -this be made no- reply, and for divers reasons, the charges were not pressed until he urged the Bishops of Brazil to act aggressively against the Freemasons. Then they were pressed, and after a regular trial, a decree of expulsion was entered and published, the same being signed by Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, and Grand Master oßbe Orient ofrltaly. > - (.For remainder of News see fourth page.)