With Michael Heinrich Weninger, (Roman Catholic priest).
The Freemason Museum Switzerland, the ALPINA research group and the Bernese lodge ‘Zur Hoffnung’ cordially invite Freemasons to a public conference and discussion.
This book is the expanded, improved and illustrated new version of the dissertation Weisheit-Stärke-Schönheit: Über Die Aussöhnung Von Katholischer Kirche und Regulärer Freimaurerei.
The relationship between the Catholic Church and Freemasonry, which was accepted summa cum laude by the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 2019, has been characterised by misunderstandings, prejudices and hostility throughout history. It is high time to achieve reconciliation. Can this finally succeed? The book by Austrian Vatican employee and priest Michael Weninger provides encouraging answers to this question. For the first time, the author has researched all the key sources from the Vatican and the Austrian and German Freemason archives.
On 27 November 1983, the new canon law of the Catholic Church (CIC) came into force, which no longer included the centuries-old excommunication of Catholics who were also members of the Masonic fraternity; indeed, it no longer mentioned Freemasonry in a condemnatory way. The declaration of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on 26 November 1983, just one day before the new canon law came into force, was therefore literally a bombshell, stating that the ‘judgement of the Church against Freemasonry remained unchanged’ and that excommunication for Catholic Freemasons would therefore continue to apply.
Perplexity, disappointment and bitterness on the one hand and undisguised schadenfreude on the other were the consequences, which have not really been overcome to this day. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. Michael Weninger’s book corrects old misjudgements and points the way forward.
Michael Heinrich Weninger
Michael Heinrich Weninger was born on 18 February 1951 in Wiener Neustadt/Lower Austria and initially worked as a diplomat for his home country of Austria. He then embarked on a career in the church, became a priest and rose to become one of the closest collaborators of the popes in the Roman Curia.
Michael Weninger was ordained a priest on 24 June 2011 by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn in St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. He was incardinated into the Archdiocese of Vienna. He celebrated first masses in Vienna, Leipzig and Istanbul and is the first ambassador in the history of Austria to be ordained a priest.
On 1 November 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Michael Weninger as a member of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. There he works for dialogue with Islam in Europe, Central Asia and Central and South America.
Programme
19:15 – Entrance of the guests
19:30 – Welcome by Christoph Meister and Dominique Alain Freymond
19:35 – Conference by Michael Heinrich Weninger
20:15 – Discussion
20:45 – Book signings by the author
21:00 – Aperitif
