THE BUGNINI FILE (Le dossier Bugnini)

The Bugnini Verdict: Guilty or Not Guilty?

Before attempting anything resembling a summation of the "Archbishop" Annibale Bugnini case, the evidence must be reviewed. First, stock must be taken of the known aims of the Masons and their allies, as well as the extent to which they fulfilled them. Likewise, Bugnini is entitled to his day in court.

The documentation regarding Masonic goals can be outlined as follows:

• Destruction of the Roman Catholic Church through its infiltration, involving plants who would feign orthodoxy, while promoting revolutionary ideas.
• Corruption of other clergy and the laity.
• Denunciation of truly orthodox clergy (and other faithful Catholics).
• Development of a faction (or bloc) of sympathetic clergy to sway opinion to the "progressive" side.
• Infiltration to reach even unto the Holy See.
• Engagement of said bloc to redirect Catholic teachings and sacraments into "new" directions at an "ecumenical" council.

What about the realization of those goals? Consider these findings:

• Proof of such internal subversion is manifest; so much so that, over 200 years ago, a pope could explicitly note it in an encyclical, and more than a century-and-a-half ago, evidence was in the hands of the Holy See demonstrating massive infiltration.
• More than a century ago, a papal Secretary of State noted a widespread doctrinal perversion of young clergy, in line with the teachings of the Lodge.
• "Catholic" attacks on Popes and others who promoted orthodoxy.
• Increasing sympathy for "loyal" dissenters.
• Infiltration reaching even unto the Holy See.
• An "ecumenical" council, in which traditional teachings and sacraments were surgically removed, and replaced with "progressive" ones, a move openly applauded by the enemies of the Church.

When the evidence is dispassionately examined, it becomes now clear that there is a close correlation between the sustained infiltration and the Vatican II coup d'etat. It is also obvious that radical alteration of the liturgy was regarded as key to institutionalizing the revolution. This conspiracy that today poses as the Church, the most insidious campaign ever mounted by the forces of hell against the Spotless Bride of Christ, is exposed as un-Catholic (non-Catholic) by the destruction it has wrought. "By their fruits you shall know them," declared the Lord. 88

TBC...

Was Bugnini oblivious to all that was going on around him? He lived for more than a decade after the promulgation of the new "Mass," — his handiwork — and saw both the just criticism it drew, and the ruin it wrought. Yet never for a moment did he acknowledge that the Novus Ordo Missae might be to blame for the harm caused to the Church. The theme of his 900+ page memoirs is hammered home time and again — the "reform" is perfectly "valid," and any reasons for subsequent weakening of the faith, while "many and complex," are completely unrelated to the new "Mass." In truth, however, almost all of the principal elements of the Conciliar service have been shown to be both proscribed by Pope Pius XII and in keeping with Masonic errors about human nature.

Bugnini's defense is likewise suspect when viewed from the practical order. Anyone who makes an objective study of the modern crisis of faith that has developed in the Church, can trace it first to the Vatican 2 Council, and, then, to the promulgation of the new "Mass." And the progress of this crisis can be seen to accelerate dramatically after the Novus Ordo Missae was imposed throughout the body of the Church. The desecrating of the churches (trashing of altars, chalices, statues, and other sacred accouterments), the trivializing of worship, confession reduced to a counseling session, more empty pews, the decline of vocations (both priestly and religious), the promotion of a false "social gospel," the open opposition by "Catholics" of essential moral and dogmatic teachings, the falling off of conversions, the rash of pedophile clergy, etc. are the fruits of conciliar "reforms," including this "valid" revision.

Unfortunately for the "reformers," some Catholics did not take kindly to the changes. Poor Bugnini caught the brunt of this displeasure. He reports as follows:

"W]hile attending a meeting of traditionalists in Rome, a woman recognized the secretary of the Consilium [i.e., Bugnini, here using third person as he was wont to do], was filled with a holy anger, and attacked him in St. Peters Square with scorching words and spat in his face. He received many letters, more or less anonymous, that were filled with unquotable insults and, in one case, even threatened him with death." 89

While the common reaction is to recoil at the idea of someone spitting in another's face, the more important question is: Given the circumstances, was she justified — if not in her act, at least in the sentiment behind it? Even a pontiff so mild in nature as Saint Pius X had instructed that the proper greeting of Catholics to Modernists was to beat them with fists. Should an ecclesiastic who subverts his post in line with Masonic goals fare any better?


TBC...

And yet Bugnini never admitted to any connection with the Lodge; in fact, he strenuously denied it. He records in his memoirs the following passage from a letter written on October 22, 1975 to Paul VI:

'I have never had any interest in Freemasonry; I do not know what it is, what it does, or what its purposes are. I have lived as a religious for fifty years, as a priest for forty; for twenty—six my life has been limited to school, home, and office, and for eleven to my home and office alone. I was born poor and live as a poor man....' 90

To paraphrase Shakespeare: The prelate doest protest too much methinks! While his refutation may appear reasonable at first glance, its underlying weakness is revealed on closer examination. For how can a man who was ordained in 1936 claim total ignorance of a group that the Church had for nearly two centuries repeatedly condemned as being the principal instrument of Satan in modern times, and that has as its final goal, in the words of Leo III, "to ruin the Holy Church, so as to succeed, if it is possible, in the complete dispossession of Christian nations of all the gifts they owe to Our Saviour Jesus Christ"? 91 But it is the very duty of a priest to know the enemies that seek to devour his flock the better to protect it. Hence, even were he not lying, Bugnini would still — by is own admission — be guilty of culpable ignorance and willful negligence. In his haste to distance himself from the rumor, he has given all the more reason to doubt him.

In January 1980, he again attempted a defense of himself, in a letter to the editor of Homiletic & Pastoral Review. This time he actually went on the offense. Bugnini talks about how "in 1976 polemics on freemasonry spread in the ecclesiastical circles, and at first 2, then 17 and then 114 names were paraded around," accuses Si, Si, No, No of "calumny and defamation" (though he dismisses talk of a lawsuit as "to give too much importance to people who behave in a shameless way"), and declares "not one of the prelates pointed out by them has ever had anything to do with freemasonry." 92

Here, again, his apologetic leaves much to be desired. His recalling of the different numbers of Masons that were "paraded round" is very reminiscent of the treatment Senator Joseph McCarthy received from leftist critics of his efforts to expose Communists in the United States Government in the 1950s. The tactic is similar: By ridiculing the discrepancies in counting, the very premise of infiltration is also ridiculed. Given two hundred years of internal subversion that had continued to quietly spread, without much opposition, like a cancer in the Church, are even 114 Masonic prelates all that incredible? 93 In any case, even if the higher number is too great, it still does not make the basic premise flawed, since Masonic infiltration is a historical fact beyond debate. Interesting, as well, is his countercharge of "calumny and defamation." Was Bugnini's stated reason for not pursuing a libel suit legitimate, or was there the ulterior motive of putting the potentially explosive controversy behind him?

TBC...

But the most telling moment of all comes when Bugnini attempts to get the other suspected Masons off the hook (or is it "off the harpoon*."). Not one of them, he somberly intones, "has ever had anything to do with freemasonry." It's impossible to know which list it is to which he refers (it cannot be the one with just two names, as he would have worded it "neither" instead of "not one of the prelates]"), but in either case he is making a categorical statement that is asinine on the face of it for at least two reasons: 1) if, as earlier claimed, he knows absolutely nothing about Masonic aims and methods, there would be no way on earth that he would be able to spot the tell—tale signs that might give away the cover of a Masonic operative; and 2) even if he did have knowledge in this area, it would still be impossible to have certitude that each and everyone was innocent, short of an in-depth investigation of their past and 24 hour-a-day surveillance. The cover of the Communist plant "Father" Tondi, for example, was sufficiently good that he was trusted to work in as sensitive an area as the Vatican Archives. Therefore, given his own admission of ignorance about the Lodge, Bugnini cannot be trusted in this statement either. It is perfectly logical, though, to presume that a Mason would do his best to help his "brothers" maintain their cover.

Against the backdrop of these protestations of innocence are remarks by one of Bugnini's chief accusers, Vatican correspondent Mary Martinez once challenged Si, Si, No, No's editor, a retired priest named Father Francesco Putti, about not revealing his sources. He responded:

'No, I don't. But I can tell you this: every word I print is documented. I publish nothing about which I am not absolutely certain. Take the case of Cardinal [Gabriel — JKW] Garrone*, the Frenchman who heads the Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education. If you read my paper you will find I consider him the greatest destroyer of the Church in the world today. He has ruined the whole field of Catholic education, emptied the seminaries in Italy and abroad [perhaps not an entirely bad idea, given what is now being taught in them! — JKW], destroyed the catechism. I write and publish these accusations but I do not say he is a Mason. I have no proof of that. If tomorrow you come to me with convincing proof that Cardinal Garrone is a Mason, I will print it but not before.' 94

This hardly sounds like the sort of man prone to allow rash judgement to push him into making libelous charges. It is only prudent to preserve the confidentiality of the evidences source, since disclosure could well prove fatal. While defenders of Bugnini would dismiss Father Putti's comments as simply self-serving, why, it must be asked, have other reputable clergymen, as important as Cardinal Siri, also accepted the authenticity of the "Buan" dossier had they not been privy to knowledge of its source and considered it a reliable one?

In summation, one fact in the Bugnini case can be stated with absolute certainty: A conspiracy has taken place. The question involves which conspiracy theory to believe. Either Annibale Bugnini was a Mason who used his office to tamper with the sacred liturgy or he was the victim of a terribly vicious smear by those bitter over the changes made since Vatican II.

TBC...

The closest thing to a "smoking gun" in this case are the letters cited near the beginning of this article, 30 Days’ Andrea Tornielli writes "the outcome of Bugnini's reforms fully matches the intentions expressed in them," but holds out the possibility of them being "forgeries," since they seem "too crude and blunt." As to this latter point, it is instructive to compare these letter samples with the fragments of secret documents found elsewhere in the present article. The rhetoric will be found quite often alike; the Alta Vendita's Permanent Instruction, for example, is no less "crude and blatant" in its phrasing than the "Buan" letters.

Torniellis "forgeries" argument focuses on the idea that the perpetrator wanted "to created rival 'factions' in the Curia." He does not elaborate on who this might have been, or exactly what the motive was for such a divisive move. As has been shown many times, creating factions within the Church is the Masonic modus operandi. But by the time of the Bugnini disclosures, there was no need for the Lodge to have continued that tactic — it had already achieved its goal, and to proceed as before would have been unnecessary and perhaps even counterproductive. What if, some might argue, the scheme was perpetrated by traditional Catholics? The problem there is that it is difficult to see what they believed they could gain by such a move. A rollback to pre—Vatican II days? Surely, anyone clever enough to have hit upon such an idea as fabricating authentic—looking Masonic papers would not be so naive as to believe that there was any way for a restoration to be accomplished by such means. By the mid-1970s, Curial conservatives were a dwindling few and already without significant influence. And in the final analysis, as long as Paul VI was in power, there was not the slightest chance of the "reforms" being rescinded; anyone in the Curia who refused to be a Vatican II "team player" would be shown the door. No ethical Catholic, of course, would consider employing such a deceit as fake documents, while no realistic Catholic would believe in the long-range value of such a tactic.

The greatest determinant for settling the Bugnini case boils down to one question: Who is more worthy of trust -- Bugnini or his accusers? When considered in this light, the matter becomes much clearer. Bugnini's defense consisted of answers that are either plainly false (e.g., no souls have been harmed by the reform) or transparent in their evasiveness (e.g., no knowledge of Masonry). In a word, he seemed to be stonewalling as though he had something to hide. It strongly resembles the sort of behavior characteristic of past infiltrators. His accusers, on the other hand, have made Catholic restoration the whole of their lives. They had no other reason to oppose him than the harm he was doing to their beloved Church, and their opposition is buttressed with a substantial amount of historical corroboration. No base motivation has been uncovered concerning them.

TBC...

While the case against Bugnini is based on circumstantial evidence, thus preventing the final degree of certitude, that evidence is nonetheless compelling, sufficiently so to bring a conditional verdict of guilty. In all likelihood, "Archbishop" Annibale Bugnini, in addition to being the chief "architect" of the new "Mass," was also its chief Mason. Some, while agreeing with this assessment, would say: "All right, maybe Bugnini was a Mason. But what difference does it make, since the new "Mass" is just as harmful either way?" In the practical order of things, it is true, the difference is negligible, but there is the bigger issue, and that is the plight of the Church. Some have said that we are experiencing the Good Friday (Viernes Santo) of the Church. An apt description, even down to the fact that, like Our Lord, the Church is victim of both betrayal and conspiracy. Catholics cannot expect any restoration to begin in earnest until they are able to clearly identify the enemy. While Conciliar clerics who are conscious subverters may be few overall, it is they, most assuredly, who have the greatest control and who are setting the agenda. Hence, those traditionally oriented Conciliarists who insist on circulating petitions, writing letters to their local "bishop," and the like will continue in their frustration, because they fail to see that the fort is being occupied by enemy forces who are wearing Catholic uniforms as a ruse. And until the day when they have at last awakened to the truly grim dimensions of the crisis, the cohorts of Annibale Bugnini — from St. Peter's Basilica down to the most humble mission chapel — will continue their impious drive to de-Catholicize the world. Pope Leo XIII's statement on Freemasonry takes on a new significance in the midst of this continuing occupation, and ends with a note of resolve that every Catholic must carry in this fight:

Pope Leo XIII

"There is no denying that in this foolish and criminal plan it is easy to understand the implacable hatred and passion for revenge which animates Satan toward Jesus Christ. We refuse to follow the dictates of such iniquitous masters that bear the names of Satan and of all evil passions [emphasis added]." 95

THE END

Foot Notes

1 Translation made here and in note seven is courtesy of Mrs, Joseph Cornello.

2 Cited, DAVIES, MICHAEL Pope John's Council, Volume Two: Liturgical Revolution (Dickinson, TX: Angelus Press 1980, 4th printing), p. 166. In the Italian it reads: "a conclusione di una Riforma—condotta da un Bugnini che si e infine scoperto per che si sospettava: massone." Ibid., p. 319 n. 26.

3 An ironic confirmation of his reputation can be found in Bugnini's own memoirs: "There were also manifestations of extreme intolerance [against the "reforms"—JKW], The most violent came from a rather well-known Italian writer, Tito Casini, a fervent Catholic who had drawn inspiration from the liturgy for some of his better publications." Annibale Bugnini, The Reform of the Liturgy: 1948-197;trans. Matthew J. O'Connell (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press 1990), p. 280. pg3

4 Cited, DAVIES, p. 166.

5 Cf. BUGNINI, p. 91 n. 36.

6 It seems fitting that a man who contributed so greatly to the Conciliar apostasy would be compelled to spend his final dap in a nation of infidels.

7 BUGNINI, p. 91 n. 36. For the sake of fairness, and since the staff of the cited publication is not present to defend themselves, an anticipated counter-question from them is offered: How is it that a Freemason is able, not only to remain undetected in the Church for decades, but to ascend to the highest ranks?

8 Cited, ANDREA TORNIELLI, "In Search of Babel," 30 Days [English language edition], No. 6, I992, p. 41.

9 Cited, ibid., pp. 41-42.

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid.

12 Ibid., pp. 42-43.

13 Cited, ibid., p 43.

14 Cited, ibid., p. 42.

15 Cited, ibid., p. 45.

16 Cited, ibid, A most illuminating passage, particularly given that Latin is supposedly the official Language of the Conciliar "Catholic" Church.

17 Dismissed and Deported," p. 46.

18 Ibid., p. 47. According to Bugnini, Paul VI assured him of "complete confidence" in the "reforms," to which the latter replied: "Holy Father, the reform will continue as long as Your Holiness retains this confidence. As soon as it lessens, the reform will come to an end." Bugnini, op, cit,, p. xxviii.

19 Ibid.

TBC...

20 p. 49. Would someone please tell the tens of thousands of Conciliar churches around the world that, since liturgical "reform" is now officially over, there is nothing to stop them from dropping the new "Mass" and returning to the Mass of Pope Saint Pius V. The notion that it has ended is preposterous, however, as is evident by more than a quarter of a century of liturgical sabotage, a reality which is clearly corroborated in the text and in a passage by Bugnini cited in footnote 17. Neither Paul VI nor his successors have made the slightest effort to "undo" the new "Mass," but have ever been ardent promoters of it.

21 (VouilK: Diffusion de la Pensée Françoise 1975), p. 7. I am indebted to Father Joseph Collins for his translation of excerpts from L'Église Occupée. (Page listings are taken from the book, not the translation.)

22 Ibid., pp. 199-100, In April 1906 'il santo' was placed on the Index of Forbidden Books by Pope Saint Pius X.12

23 Cited, MONSIGNOR GEORGE F. DILLON, D.D., Grand Orient freemasonry Unmasked (London: Britons Publishing Co. 1965 edition), p. 33. Pope Leo XIII had the Italian edition of this work published in Rome at his own expense.

24 Ibid., p. 34.

25 (Boston & Los Angeles: Western Islands 1974), p. 78. While it is true that sometimes a translation can strip a quotation of its original gist, the word "device" seems particularly.appropriate here, as in the definition given by Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary: "A scheme; often, a scheme to deceive; a stratagem."

26 Op. fit., p. 56,

27 trans. Rev. Augustine Stock, O.S.B., (St. Louis & London: B. Herder Book Co. 1950)

28 The similarities were not missed by Sodalitium Pianum, the watchdog group approved by Pope Saint Pius X to monitor Modernist activities. One hostile author, commenting on the organization and its head, Monsignor Umberto Benigni, writes: "As for Benigni's secret police, its methods were infinitely more arbitrary [sic, than those of the Holy See-JKVf]. The brother of a priest who collaborated with him even became a Freemason in order to ascertain whether the lodges had any links with the Modernists." Carlo Falconi, The Popes of the Twentieth Century: From Pius X to John XXIII, trans. Muriel Grindrod (Boston & Toronto: Little, Brown & Co. 1967), p. 41. Among the parallels pointing to such a nexus are: (l) secrecy and dissimulation; (2) the heresy that all religions are true and equally pleasing to God; (3) the companion heresy that Jesus Christ is not the unique Saviour of mankind and the only begotten Son of God, but merely one in a long line of illustrious religious teachers including Krishna, Buddha, Mohammed, etc.; (4) the heresy that all religions (including Catholicism) are subject to fundamental doctrinal and sacramental change—or "evolution"; (5) the hiding of a pernicious agenda behind an innocuous public face; and (6) the goal of internally subverting the Catholic Church. Did Saint Pius also see a Masonic/Modernist connection? Conciliar antimasonic author Paul A. Fisher believes so. In his booklet, Their Codis the Devil: Papal Encyclicals & Freemasonry, Fisher, having already cited Pope Leo XIII on Masonry's attempts to corrupt priests, writes:

Once again, in Pascendi Dominici Gregii (On the Modernists), September 8, 1907, a Pope expressed concern about penetration of Masonic philosophy into the Church.

Pius X wrote: "...partisans of error [a term he and his predecessors frequently applied to adherents of Freemasonry — JKW] are to be sought not only among the Church's open enemies; they lie hidden in her very bosom and heart." His Holiness went on to say he was referring specifically to Catholic laymen cont'd, and those in "the ranks of the priesthood itself, who...thoroughly imbued with the poisonous doctrines taught by the enemies of the Church...who vaunt themselves as reformers of the Church; and...assail all that is most sacred in the work of Christ, not sparing even the person of the Divine Redeemer, whom, with sacrilegious daring, they reduce to a simple, mere man." (Baltimore: American Research Foundation 1991), pp. 31-32. Likewise, Saint Pius' portrayal of Modernism as the "synthesis of all heresies" closely resembles Pope Gregory XVl's description of Masonry in Mirari Voi (1832) as a cesspool in which "are congregated and intermingled with the sacrileges, infamy, and blasphemy which are contained in the most abominable heresies."

29 Of. at., p. 13.

30 "Etiam in sanctuarium insinuant (Even should they penetrate into the sanctuary)." See Monsignor £. Jouin, Papacy dr Freemasonry (Hawthorne, CA: Christian Book Club: n.cl.), p. 10.

31 Cited, ibid., p. 9.

32 Cited, FATHER EDWARD CAHILL, S.J., Freemasonry & the Anti-Christian Movement (Dublin: Gill & Son, 1949, 3rd impression), p. 121.

33 Cited, AJIRIAGA, p. 394. cabala: (variously spelled cabbala, kabala, kabbala, etc. from the Hcb. qabbalah, lit., the received or traditional lore). A collection of writings surfacing in medieval times that contains Jewish ritual magic and "mystical" interpretations of scripture. It has long been a favored text of Rosicrucians, advanced Freemasons, and other occultists — "Christian" and non-Christian alike.

TBC...