... and all Shriners must be Freemasons first, of course.
Some history: Giuseppe Garibaldi was a great admirer of the USA and its founding fathers-- many of whom, such as Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, etc. were very active and dedicated Freemasons-- or Masons.
Garibaldi founded a revolutionary organisation, the Carabinieri. One requirement for membership was that one had to be a Mason.
Garibaldi's objective was to bring the Italian cities and states together in a secular republic with freedom of religion like the US. One can imagine what the Vatican thought of potentially being surrounded by a country that was not officially Catholic.
The RC Church had never been friendly to Masons but this was the last straw and the Pope declared a Papal Bull excommunicating any Catholic who became a mason. I think this was about 1813.
Despite that, I have known a few Catholics who were Masons. I asked one why he had joined the Masons instead of the Knights of Columbus-- or the Elks for that matter.
He said that his brother had had a severely crippled son who had received a tremendous number of surgeries,extensive therapy, etc. at a Shriner's hospital at no cost to him. He thought that any organisation that would do that was one he would like to be in. So he became a Mason in order to join the Shriners. He really enjoyed the Lodge and became very active in the order. I don't remember if he ever went on to the Shriners or not!
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