Tell me, can a freemason be a pope?
Do you have proof that John XXIII was a Freemason? By that I do not mean hearsay or conjecture, I mean real evidence. I have never seen anything which definitively establishes this as fact.
Your question is only relevant if we first establish whether John XXIII was a Freemason.
Ambrose,
Sorry for the delay in responding.
Much evidence has come to light in recent years on Roncalli's freemasonic past.
Lodge photo:
http://www.thepopeinred.com/masonic-anti-pope-john-xxiii.jpg"Cardinal" Angelo Roncalli A.K.A Antpope John XXIII, was a Docuмented Freemason (Angelo Roncalli [with hand on right knee] seated next to his "confidant," Edouard Herriot, Secretary of the Radical Socialists
whom he (Roncalli) hosted, along with other officials of the Masonic "Fourth Republic" of France, in 1953)
Also, check out this link:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but there have been more Papal Encyclicals on the evils of Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ than any other Papal teaching.
Also, since there is compelling evidence that Roncalli was a lodge member, he would have to have renounced Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ, before he became Pope.
I'm not aware of any evidence that he did this?
So if he did not renounce, he became a "de facto" pope.
That is, he physically held the Seat, but was not the de jure (legal) pope.
Of course, this is all very troublesome news.
I believe 500 years ago, Our Lady of Good Success, of Ecuador predicted this would happen.
Also, St. Francis of Assisi warned his fratres of a future, non canonically elected pope on his deathbed. The oldest source I has on this goes back to a book from the 1800s.