The Enduring Mystery of Freemasonry

Unsurprisingly, Freemasonry has become a powerful magnet for conspiracy theories, a phenomenon amplified by the group’s historical preference for privacy. These theories typically accuse the fraternity of operating as a clandestine shadow government, orchestrating political revolutions, controlling global finance, or even engaging in occult rituals, often linking them with groups like the Illuminati or the Knights Templar. In some jurisdictions, historical events have lent a degree of superficial credence to these claims, such as the notorious Propaganda Due (P2) Lodge in Italy, which was a genuinely subversive, irregular Masonic-like body involved in political corruption and financial crimes in the 1970s and 80s. However, mainstream Masonic bodies unequivocally condemn such activities and maintain that the reality of their influence is limited to the personal and charitable spheres.