The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

Chapter 2 – Historical Background 67
There could be no more striking illustrations of the chaos of Italian
Masonry than the conditions which prevailed at the time Mussolini
closed the lodges and started the campaign to destroy them permanently
in that country, for two rival Grand Bodies were at that very period
posed to fly at each other's throat and saved Mussolini the trouble of
delivering more than the coup de grace. 166
In 1925, the Anti-Masonic law was enacted in the form of a law against all
secret societies. All lodges under the Grand Orient were dissolved, and in 1926,
the Fascists seized all Masonic buildings. Even before the Second World War
broke out, the Grand Orient had to go into exile. Its Grand Master, Torrigiani,
was placed into a concentration camp and died as a result to his sufferings. On
July 25 th , 1943, the Italian Fascist government fell, and the complete liberation
from the Germans followed on April 25, 1945. By this date, 200 lodges had been
revived. In the same year, an American Masonic commission went to Italy, and
in 1949, the two then existing divided branches of Italian Masonry were united.
The Grand Orient of Italy - Grand National Lodge was formed. By 1956, thirtyseven
States of the U.S. recognized the Grand Orient of Italy.
However, there was to be no peace in Italian Masonry. A scandalous
intermeddling with political affairs brought a decisive incision. In the 1960s, the
Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy, Giordano Gamberini, trusted the
businessman Licio Gellio to enhance the image of Freemasonry by enlisting
prominent men to join the order. 167 He fulfilled this task in his own manner and
not as envisioned by the legitimate Grand Orient officers. It was suspected that
Gamberini's lodge, "Propaganda Due" (nick-named "P-2") was misused for
political purposes. Therefore, this lodge was suspended in the mid 1970s. Later it
was detected that several of its members, now suspended Masons, were highranking
politicians, and that many of them were into bank fraud. The most
shocking revelation was that among these men was Roberto Clavi, one of the
largest investors of funds for the Vatican Bank. In 1982 it was found out that
over two billion dollars were missing from his bank. A short time later Clavi was
found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London, and it has never been
established whether it was suicide or murder. The whole affair threw a shadow
on the image of Italian Freemasonry in the world and in Masonic circles.
Although the P-2 lodge was suspended and therefore illegal and not recognized
by Italian Freemasonry, the reputation of the fraternity suffered.
In 1980 the P2 'Masonic lodge' scandal broke in Italy, and resulted in
the fall of the Italian Government of the day. It was discovered that this
bogus lodge, which had engaged in deep political and criminal intrigues,
was originally under the Grand Orient, but had been suspended by it in
1976. While this explanation satisfied other Grand Lodges, the P2 Affair
brought the Craft bad press around the world, and resulted in the
166 CME, p. 334.
167 For the activities of P-2, cf. CME, p. 335.