A Maçonaria e a Igreja Católica na imprensa goiana (1889-1930)

Abstract

The present dissertation is the result of a research carried out from the year 2020 and its object is the clashes between Freemasonry and the Catholic Church through the press in Goiás, between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. In the course of this historiographical investigation we seek to elucidate the conflicting past between Freemasonry and the Catholic Church in a way that we can follow a path defined in a chronological and spatial way, dealing with the relations between Freemasons and clerics at the national level and later we deal with these conflicts at the regional level, in the state de Goiás, in order to understand the indispositions at the Brazilian level, we start from the episode known historically as the Religious Question, still in the imperial period and from this historical fact we analyze Masonic documents and periodicals that demonstrate the position taken by Freemasonry in relation to the Catholic Church, in the context of The documents analyzed were pastoral letters from the bishops of Goiás, condemning the masonic actions at the national level and warningof the harm that this institution would cause to the society of Goiás. We deal with the Masonic participation in the abolitionist movement in Goiás, finally we investigate the arguments used by the Catholic Church to condemn Freemasonry in the ecclesiastical periodicals O Lidador (1909-1917) and Santuário da Trindade (1922-1931) The use of the press as a source of information The research allowed us to observe that, in addition to being informative, newspapers acted as negative opinion makers about Freemasonry in the public debate during the researched period, intending that it be understood by society as a uniting element of modern ideals (liberalism, communism, Protestantism , spiritism and religious freedom) to be fought by Catholics to guarantee the stability of the state. The condemnations made by the Catholic Church to Freemasonry for harboring and encouraging the proliferation of ideas harmful to the Church made it possible for the less educated portion of the Goiana population to recognize in Freemasonry the materialization of these ideals, hitherto abstract, but which came to be recognized as Masonic pretensions. , therefore, even if the majority of the population of Goiás were unable to recognize the circulation of these modern ideals individually due to their degree of abstraction, fighting Masonic action in the state meant fighting these ideals considered harmful and acting in defense of the Church and the state.