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 funerals, 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.
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