One of the most astonishing recent publications is a book from a Portuguese author, Costa Pimenta, arguing that Salazar, the former dictator was a freemason. The author goes through an elaborated reasoning to prove its argument detailing several passages of Salazar speeches and public testimonies and confronting it with passages from several masonic rituals, including the three degrees of the Blue Lodges and of the philosophical degrees of the High Degrees of the AASR. The controversial thesis is to be scrutinized in this blog but it would be curious to acknowledge how the author match this reasoning with 6 elementary facts that point the other way around:
1. The persecution of Masonic Lodges and famous freemasons of the first Republic conducted by the Dictator conducting to the exile of a large number of freemasons in Spain, France and other European countries;
2. The closing of all Masonic Lodges of the Grand Orient Lusitano and the occupation of the Masonic Palace by the Portuguese Legion, a fascist organization created by Salazar;
3. The intimate relation of Salazar and Cardinal Cerejeira, a reputed enemy of freemasonry and Salazar's personal spiritual counsellor;
4. The absolute power that the Catholic Church enjoyed during the period Salazar reigned and the difficulties that other religious creeds suffer under his rule;
5. The lack of any clue of this secret part of its life in any other biography of the dictator, of its comrades or any record of the Estado Novo period;
6. The hatred he motivated in all intellectuals, even people like Fernando Pessoa, the most important Portuguese poet of the 20th Century, who has no sympathies on the Left;
This story is, most probably, another fictional story with a little bit of esoterism and fairytale aim to chock and amuse.
