Freemasonry According to Bino Bellomo Between Truth and Deception... (Part 1)

Bino Bellomo di San Cosimano, a military intelligence agent, wrote a book about world freemasonry with interesting insights.

By Father Paolo M. Siano*

From 1940 to 1944/45, Bino Count Bellomo di San Cosimano (1904–?) was an agent (with the rank of lieutenant, then captain) of the Military Intelligence Service (SIM) . This was the Italian military intelligence service, subordinate to the General Staff of the Royal Army, which existed from 1925 to 1945. As a SIM agent, Bellomo was also an employee of Giuseppe Cambareni (1901–1972), alias "Entity was a spy. After September 8, 1943, Cambareni openly sided with Marshal Badoglio and worked as an Anglo-American and anti-fascist spy, always remaining true to his “creed” as an esoteric, Freemason and Rosicrucian. 1

I have written four articles about Cambareni, the “Magician of Generals.”

During the war, Captain Bino Bellomo was a member of the Masonic group with which Cambareni founded the Democratic Union ( 1944). Cambareni distanced himself from the British Secret Services (which sought the continuation of the Savoyard monarchy in Italy) and preferred instead to work for the American Secret Service OSS (forerunner of the CIA) to promote a centrist Italian republic that was both pro-fascist and was open to communists. 2

From 1940 onwards Bellomo, then a lieutenant, worked in the SIM department evaluating the collected information, and from 1942 as a captain in the SIM counterintelligence department. In March 1942, Bellomo was transferred to Rome to head the “First Department for Economic and Industrial Research” and then “Compound X”. Bellomo was also tasked with compiling the SIM diary of its activities. 3 The SIM had three departments: espionage, counter-espionage, and information evaluation. 4

After the war, Bellomo taught political economy at the University of Bologna. 5

In December 1975, Prof. Bino Bellomo di San Cosimano, now retired, gave an interview with the journalist Marcello Coppetti (1926-2003), an expert on Giuseppe Cambareni and the two Italian military intelligence services SIM (1925-1945) and SIFAR, in an old villa in Bologna (1949–1966).

In a 1978 book, the Bolognese Freemason Eugenio Bonvicini ( Grand Orient of Italy and 33rd degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite ) defines Bino Bellomo as a “Catholic priest” 6 . In some of Bellomo's writings he signed Probo Bino Bellomo and is referred to as P. Bino Bellomo... Perhaps Bonvicini misunderstood the "P." as the initial of the word "Father."

1. World Freemasonry according to Bino Bellomo (1960)

In 1960, the Milanese publisher Ciarrocca published the book “ La Massoneria Universale dalle origini ai nostri giorni” ( “ World Freemasonry from the Origins to Today”) by Bino Bellomo. I present various excerpts from Bellomo's book and organize them into specific themes that I think are important. Bellomo begins with a long preface, "Freemasonry and Roman Catholicism" ( pp . 11–48), in which he argues that the Church and Freemasonry no longer need to be enemies since there are really no theological or doctrinal reasons for incompatibility between them... In fact, both in this introduction and in other passages, Bellomo makes clear, even admits, the opposite: among the Freemasons of the 33rd degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (AASR), or "white" Freemasonry, there is a “Palladian Freemasonry” that worships Lucifer or Satan and is therefore hostile to the Church… But let’s go one step at a time. The italicized passages that I will quote are from the text.

1.1 Goals and methods of Freemasonry

Bellomo states that World Freemasonry seeks to create a religion inspired by rationalism and naturalism through various Masonic denominations and rites. Freemasonry strives for a “brotherhood” of all people and nations (see p. 11) and has “a program that applies worldwide” (p. 11).

Freemasonry presents itself as politically and religiously neutral and respects all religions. But it is only on the threshold of “White Freemasonry” that the adepts learn that Freemasonry wants to establish itself as a bulwark against autocratic political power as well as against Roman Catholicism (see p. 12).

Regarding Masonic work in society, Bellomo writes: “Freemasonry is primarily interested in people who are free from prejudices and, above all, from religious ideas, who have a strong personal intelligence, but who are prepared to commit themselves to the cause under any circumstances to give up the order's dependence. These are those whom Freemasonry seeks to send to its highest levels of leadership after the most thorough examination.  For them, Freemasonry, through its numerous connections, will do everything in its power to ensure that, if possible, to obtain positions in key occupations in public administration and in large economic and cultural complexes. “Hence, there has always been an effort to penetrate particularly high finance, journalism, the large publishing houses, the army, the judiciary, public education, especially the universities” ( p . 13).

1.2 Church against Freemasonry (18th century): only for “political reasons”?

As Freemasons usually do, Bellomo wants us to believe that the first condemnations of the Holy See against Freemasonry (Pope Clement XII in 1738; Pope Benedict XIV. 1751) only concerned political reasons. Bellomo claims that Freemasonry at that time did not yet have a hostile attitude towards the Catholic religion, there were even lodges that were named after the names of saints... But Bellomo knows very well what Freemasonry of the 18th century Enlightenment embodied (see pp. 16–19)!

Indeed, Pope Clement XII's anti-Masonic bull In eminenti ( 1738 ) denounced some errors in the beliefs and customs of the Masonic sect, including the Masonic oath on the Bible under threat of death if the oath was violated or amounted to perjury, as well as the climate of religious indifference in the lodges...

It is strange that a cultured person like Count Bellomo, trained in information analysis and counterintelligence, did not discover these elements.…

1.3 Church and Freemasonry: political struggle between the 19th and early 20th centuries

On Freemasonry at the end of the 19th century, led by Leo XIII. was condemned as a bearer of philosophical naturalism, religious indifferentism and moral paganism, Bellomo writes: “ This was no longer the Freemasonry of the past, animated and driven by a deep civic passion, by the love of science and truth: it began to disintegrate, at least in Italy, due to internal friction and an increasingly lively personalism, so that there would soon be loud Masonic divisions (which continue to this day) ” (p. 42).

So Bellomo wants us to believe that 18th-century Freemasonry was better than 19th-century Freemasonry because it was driven by a love of science and truth... But Bellomo himself admits that 18th-century Freemasonry was the Enlightenment! In fact, former secret agent Bino Bellomo argues like a Freemason.

Then Bellomo also quotes the encyclical Custodes fidei by Leo XIII. (December 8, 1892), denouncing the anti-clerical and anti-Catholic activities of Freemasonry. Bellomo wrongly insists on political reasons as the cause of the dispute between Freemasonry and the Church: “As we can see, the last encyclical against Freemasonry also documents the cause of the dispute, which is political and not theological. It concerns earthly problems, the scope and activities of the Holy See, rather than its word of faith. Like the liberals, the Freemasons demanded a clear separation of religious and political power, that is, the independence of the state from the church. […] So it was not a theological and transcendental problem that confronted and opposed Freemasonry and the Vatican in the past. The encounter and the fight arose, at least predominantly, from problems of a political order. This is documented above all by the encyclicals that deal with the topic” (pp. 44–45).

What the former secret agent (perhaps Freemason) Bellomo writes above is wrong: In reality, the root of the dispute between Freemasonry and the Church is primarily theological, and doctrinal. Strangely (a deliberate deception?) Bellomo seems to ignore the doctrinal reasons for the opposition between the Church and Freemasonry, reasons which he himself cites in his book...

Bellomo talks about the anticlericalism of the Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy (GOI ) Adriano Lemmi (1822-1906). Bellomo cites an article from the "Rivista Massonica" ( actually Rivista della Massoneria Italiana) from 1893, p. 118, in which Lemmi states the goals of his Freemasonry: to attack the Vatican, to separate religious power from secular power, and to destroy the congregations and to take over the educational and educational institutions. In the same Masonic magazine of 1897, on page 242, Lemmi explains the need to recruit viable elements for Freemasonry among the army officers, and also explains that the Masonic presence in the army would be a bulwark against Italian clericalism; the priests could lead the children, but Freemasonry would know how to lead the youth through the army. 7

Bellomo reports that Italian Freemasonry (the Grand Orient) was criticized internally at the beginning of the 20th century: various Freemasons (who would later form the Obedience in the “Piazza del Gesù”, named after the location of their Roman headquarters) accused it to be frozen in a fruitless anticlericalism. Bellomo accuses Lemmi of having caused the crisis within Italian Freemasonry (see p. 260f). Is Bellomo also from the direction of “Piazza del Gesù”?

1.4 Freemasonry between war, espionage and the post-war period

Regarding Masonic activities before and during World War II, Bellomo explains that Freemasonry infiltrated into the major states of Italy and Germany with the aim of overthrowing the Fascist and National Socialist dictatorships. 8 At this point Bellomo reports that in 1938 “the American Rosicrucians” sent one of their high dignitaries to Europe, a young, enterprising and open-minded man who managed to infiltrate high military circles in Italy and was even a friend of Marshal Pietro Badoglio to take over the government in 1943 in that part of Italy where the fascist regime could be eliminated. This spy of Italian descent from Calabria (Bellomo does not mention the name, but it is Giuseppe Cambareni), who was sent from overseas, also uses magical and spiritualistic practices and poses as the reincarnation of Cagliostro (see p. 256).

About Masonic activities during fascism, Bellomo writes: “Freemasonry, which was overrun by fascism in 1925, took the hit, went into hiding skillfully and, through secret but powerful cells, contributed in no small part to the events that in turn led to “The destruction of fascism, which had unconsciously hurled itself down the slope of pride, arrogance, despotism and incurable, increasingly serious errors” (p. 266).

Bellomo explains that Freemasonry infiltrated the power structures of fascist Italy very well: “ It crept into court circles, into the cabinets of the ministries, into high finance and, above all, into those very sensitive bodies such as the general staff and the military staff of the armed forces a ” (p. 267).

In the wake of the war events of 1943, Freemasonry again appears fragmented into different groups, reflecting to a certain extent the fragmentation of the territory, although there are contacts between different Masonic groups. Here are some of them: the Grand Orient of Italy – Palazzo Giustiniani (GOI) ; the Grand Lodge of Raoul Vittorio Palermi 33°, successor to Saverio Fera 33° ( Serenissima Gran Loggia Nazionale Italiana di Piazza del Gesù) ; the group called United Freemasonry and another called Regency . The following separated from the Freemasonry of Grand Master Palermi: 1) the Avezzana group ; 2) the Via della Mercede group ; 3) the De Franchis group ; 4) the group of Grand Master Prof. Labriola, who also chaired a political formation called Unione Democratica (Democratic Union), which operated in 1940-1943 to hasten the overthrow of fascism. After 1949, the “families” of the AASR Freemasons De Franchis, Terzani and Avezzana came together (see p. 267f).

One of the co-founders or first members of the “Democratic Union” founded by Giuseppe Cambareni was the then captain Bino Bellomo. There is no evidence, but Bellomo was probably a Freemason himself.

1.5 Sympathy for Freemasonry in the “Piazza del Gesù”

Bellomo explains that in 1908 there was a split within the Greater Orient of Italy because it was strongly anti-clerical. Brother Saverio Fera, a Freemason of the Grand Orient and of the 33rd degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (AASR, High Degree Freemasonry), founded a second Supreme Council (in which the Freemasons of the 33rd degree of the AASR were brought together), which is organized by the World Association of Supremes Councils of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite . Bellomo says that Masonic anti-clericalism has caused Italian Freemasonry (GOI) itself to destroy its ritual structure and to be less and less initiatory... One could say that Bellomo looked with sympathy or at least with interest on the Freemasonry of Fera, known as that of the “Piazza del Gesù” (see pp. 233–237). In the postwar period, says Bellomo, the Freemasonry of the Piazza del Gesù under the leadership of Grand Master Raoul Vittorio Palermi “clearly overcame all anti-Catholic, anti-clerical and anti-Vatican prejudices” (p. 237). Bellomo explains that Palermi died as a Freemason and endowed with the sacraments (cf. p. 237)... The Freemasonry of the Piazza del Gesù, according to Bellomo, was accused by the Grand Orient of selling itself to the Vatican... Bellomo represents the Freemasonry of Fera- Palermi presents itself as pro-Catholic, spiritualist and anti-communist, and - as Bellomo emphasizes - this Freemasonry (of Palermi) is a movement that should not be underestimated by other Freemasons, so that the Jesuits - always according to Bellomo - hope that this Freemasonry acts in the light of day and can then be a force at the side of the Church against the dangers of materialism and world communism (see p. 238f)...

Together with the already famous Freemason-friendly Don Rosario Esposito (1921–2007), priest of the Society of St. Paul, Bino Bellomo also calls for reconciliation and cooperation between Freemasonry and the Church “for social progress and the unity of citizens” (cf. p. 239f). Is such a wish an expression of naivety or of a Masonic consciousness?

1.6 Church and Freemasonry: from struggle to peace and cooperation (1960ff)?

In his time (after the Second World War), Bellomo claims that the tensions and conflict between the Church and Freemasonry no longer have any basis for existence, because, according to Bellomo: The Church no longer claims to have a secular government, the Catholic parties rule over secular way, the world is divided between spiritual and materialistic forces (see p. 45f). Bellomo claims that the spiritualist forces are led by the Catholic Church and that Freemasonry is also one of the champions of spiritual reality... In short, Bellomo believes that the time has come for the final overcoming of the old antagonism between Freemasonry and the Church... Freemasonry should examine their concepts and prejudices, renounce ritual traditions that no longer have any right to exist, dark initiations, etc. (see p. 46). Bellomo refers specifically to Italian Freemasonry, which is divided into different groups. In the Anglo-Saxon countries, on the other hand, Freemasonry has no points of contact with the Church and - according to Bellomo - "works towards the same goal", namely the "will to unite the world", "and the unification of practical interests and the way of life means “first and foremost, the union of the spiritual forces, the moral will and the ideals that must be cultivated in the climate of millennial Christian civilization” (p. 47). A speech worthy of a Freemason!

Then Bellomo affirms that after 70 years since the last anti-Masonic excommunication by the Pope (Bellomo refers to Humanum genus from 1884 and/or to Custodes fidei from 1892) the Church has changed its attitude: it no longer insists on the old schemes against Freemasonry, the Church is adapting to the new course of history, and Freemasonry also seems to be adapting to the new requirements of history, especially given the dangers that threaten all religions (see p. 47)…

Bellomo hopes for good relations between Freemasonry and the Church to save civilization and humanity from the common dangers of wars and materialism: “ The conditions for better mutual understanding are therefore present. Conditions that go beyond the insignificant political events of the moment. “The ideal immanence in the face of the impending common danger must fatefully unite all people and all faiths in a common effort for the salvation of civilization first, and then for a better future for the human race” ( pp. 47f).

How strange. In everything that Bellomo writes in this book about Freemasonry, especially about the high degrees, the "white" Freemasonry, within which the "Palladian" Freemasonry would also be, the desire for a conciliatory cooperation between Church and Freemasonry is contradictory, utopian, illusory and a telltale sign of at least a sneaking sympathy and alliance of Bellomo with Freemasonry or, even more realistically, of Bellomo's affiliation with Freemasonry.

By also referring to the convocation of the Second Vatican Council by Pope John XXIII. Bellomo (1960) tries to emphasize that Freemasonry no longer represents a danger to the Church today, but that the danger comes only from materialism, which is why the Church and Freemasonry should form a common front against it... Bellomo explains that Freemasonry also affirms the existence of the spirit - even if it lulls itself into deceptive suggestions, namely the occult (see p. 241)...

Then Bellomo claims: If an agreement on a religious level between the Church and Freemasonry is impossible, it might instead be feasible and fruitful on a social level... And yet Bellomo himself makes it clear that the higher spheres of Freemasons hate Catholicism, hence the proposal of such an alliance with Freemasonry seems at least naive, if not downright mystifying and misleading. Let us not forget that Bellomo is a former military intelligence officer, possibly a Freemason, or at least with Masonic sympathies like Giuseppe Cambareni...

Bellomo writes: “ If, then, on a religious level, understanding between Freemasonry and the Church is impossible (which is obvious, since the Catholic Church, by definition, has the absolute primacy of divine truth and obviously cannot cede it or share it with others) , there are definitely possibilities for coexistence and even unity on a political and social level, provided of course that Freemasonry first renounces the 'secret' that makes it suspicious and opaque. After this renunciation, there are many reasons for them to live and thrive. Mutual aid, charity, culture, the spread of universalist ideas. In this last area, Freemasonry can indeed look back on good traditions; Today people talk casually about the 'United States of Europe', but one should not overlook the fact that the Freemasons were among the main supporters of this continental federation in the last century (ER 227). And in the present century, we add, one of the most famous leaders of the Christian Democrats, Alcide de Gasperi, was a sincere and active supporter of such a union; and with him many other important men of high culture and religious faith who occupy important positions in political life today” ( p. 242f).

[The work cited by Bellomo as ER 227 is the book by Don Rosario Esposito, “La Massoneria e l'Italia dal 1800 ai nostri giorni”, Rome 1956 (cf. Bellomo, op. cit., p. 337)]. 

(Sequel follows.)

* Father Paolo Maria Siano belongs to the Order of the Franciscans of the Immaculata (FFI); The doctor of Church historian is considered one of the best Catholic experts on Freemasonry, to which he has dedicated several standard works and numerous essays. Through his publications, he provides evidence that Freemasonry, from the beginning until today, contained esoteric and gnostic elements, which justify its incompatibility with church doctrine.

Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
Image : MiL

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

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1 cf. Gianni Ferraro: Enciclopedia dello spionaggio nella Seconda guerra mondiale (Encyclopedia of Espionage in the Second World War), Sandro Teti Editore, Roma 2010, art. Cambareni Giuseppe, p. 122 (121–123)

2 cf. Ferraro, op. cit., p. 122

3 cf. ibid., Bellomo Bino, p. 75

4 ibid., Art. SIM, p. 633

5 cf. Mario Isnenghi: Le guerre degli Italiani: parole, immagini e ricordi 1848–1945 (The Wars of the Italians: Words, Images and Memories 1848–1945), Arnaldo Mondadori Editore, (Milan) 1999, p. 285

6 E. Bonvicini: L'esoterismo massonico (The Masonic Esotericism), in the anthology: La Libera Muratoria (Freemasonry), edited by Claudio Castellacci, foreword by Giordano Gamberini, SugarCo Edizioni, Milan 1978, pp. 205–206 (203– 243)

7 cf. Bellomo, op. cit., p. 259

8 cf. Bellomo, ibid., p. 256

AMDG