Talk:Papal ban of Freemasonry/to do/1905

1905 Separation of Church and State
Catholic sources, quoting Masonic documents from both the United Grand Lodge of England and the Grand Orient of France, saw Freemasonry as the primary force of French anti-clericalism from 1877 onwards. The 1905 separation of Church and State was pushed through largely on the initiative of the interior minister, Émile Combes, an active freemason. French Masonic publications had gone further than the anti-clericalism of 1905, expressing the hope that religious orders (or congregations) should be expelled from France. The Catholic Encyclopedia claims that French Freemasonry was the inspiration behind the suppression of religious orders, the nationalisation of Church resources, measures against Catholic charitable establishments and private Christian schools and the secularization of public education.