Masonry's Man of the Year?

Do the Grand Orient or the Grand Lodge announce their 'Man of the Year'?

Probably not, but there is an outstanding candidate for the 'revered' title if they did.

On 14th March 2013, the Grand Orient of Italy issued a public statement that praised the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

"... a Church of the people will discover its capacity to dialogue with all men of good will and with Freemasonry which, as the experience of Latin America teaches us, works for the good and progress of humanity, as shown by Bolivar, Allende and Jose Marti, to name only a few. This is the 'white smoke' that we expect from the Church of our times".

In 1999 Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio was elected as an honourary member of the Rotary Club of Buenos Aires.

Fr. Edward Cahill, commenting on the non expidere (which he explains means a prohibition) issued by the Vatican against the Rotary Club and other associations like Friends of Israel in 1929, in the pages of his book Freemasonry and the Anti-Christian Movement , writes that:

"The Rotary international organisation may be given as another example of White Masonry. Although its professed object is to 'encourage and foster high ethical standards in business and the professions,' and to make the ideal of service the basis of all enterprise, the Code of Morals which it puts forward is purely naturalistic..".