View source for Propaganda Due

{{short description|Italian masonic lodge banned in 1982}}
{{use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox political party
| name             = Propaganda 2 (P2)
| native_name      = Propaganda Due
| logo             = 
| colorcode        = 
| leader           = [[Licio Gelli]]
| foundation       = {{Start date and age|1877}} (as Propaganda Massonica)<br>{{Start date and age|1966}} (as Propaganda Due)
| ideology         = [[Neo-fascism]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Finchelstein |first=Federico |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PND0EAAAQBAJ&dq=%22neofascist%22+%22videla%22&pg=PA119 |title=The Wannabe Fascists: A Guide to Understanding the Greatest Threat to Democracy |date=2024-05-14 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-39250-2 |language=en}}</ref><br>[[Anti-communism]]
| headquarters     = 
| international    = {{ublist
|{{flagdeco|NATO}} [[Operation Gladio]] (alleged)}}{{cn|reason=Not mentioned in article body|date=August 2025}}
| registered       = 
| country          = Italy
| abbreviation     = 
| dissolved        = {{End date and age|1925}} (Propaganda Massonica banned)<br>{{End date and age|1976}} (officially by [[Grand Orient of Italy]])<br>{{End date and age|1982|01|25}} (by Italian law)
| colours          = 
| split            = 
| predecessor      = Propaganda Massonica (1877–1925)
| membership       = ~962 (1981)
| membership_year  = 
| position         = [[Far-right]]
| religion         = [[Catholicism]]
| national         = {{ublist
|[[Banda della Magliana]]
|[[Cosa Nostra]] (alleged)
}}
| caption          = 
}}
{{Freemasonry}}
{{Anti-communism|Organisations}}
{{lang|it|italic=no|'''Propaganda Due'''}} ({{IPA|it|propaˈɡanda ˈduːe}}; '''P2''') was a [[Masonic lodge]], founded in 1877, within the tradition of [[Continental Freemasonry]] and under the authority of [[Grand Orient of Italy]]. Its Masonic [[charter]] was withdrawn in 1976, and it was transformed by Worshipful Master [[Licio Gelli]] into an international, illegal, clandestine, [[anti-communist]], [[anti-Soviet]], [[anti-Marxist]], and [[Radical right (Europe)|radical right]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Herman |first=Edward |title=Manufacturing consent the political economy of the mass media |publisher=Pantheon Books |location=New York |year=2002 |page=152 |isbn=0307801624 |quote=... the extreme right-wing organization Propaganda Due (P-2), ...}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Naylor |first=R. T. |title=Hot money and the politics of debt |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |location=Montreal Que |year=2004 |page=84 |quote=... [Licio Gelli] organized a special, ultrasecret, ultrarightist lodge, Propaganda-Due |isbn=0773572074}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bar-On |first=Tamir |title=Where have all the fascists gone |publisher=Ashgate |location=Aldershot, England; Burlington, Vermont |year=2007 |page=39 |quote=... a similar strategy of infiltration within the military milieu by Italian radical right-wing terrorist groups and clandestine elite pressure groups such as ''Propaganda-Due'' (P-2) ... |isbn=978-0754671541}}</ref> [[criminal organization]] and [[secret society]] operating in contravention of Article 18 of the [[Constitution of Italy]] that banned all such secret associations.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b59cc.html |title=Constitution of Italy (English) |date=1947-12-22 |access-date=2022-07-05}}</ref> Gelli continued to operate the unaffiliated lodge from 1976 to 1984.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Gray
 |first1               = David L.
 |author-link1         = David L. Gray
 |date                 = 4 February 2020
 |title                = The Catholic Catechism on Freemasonry: A Theological and Historical Treatment on the Catholic Church's Prohibition AgainstFreemasonry and its Appendant Masonic Bodies
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=171vEAAAQBAJ
 |publication-place    = Belleville, Illinois
 |publisher            = Saint Dominic's Media. Inc.
 |page                 = 122
 |isbn                 = 9781732178496
 |access-date          = 30 April 2023
 |quote                = In 1976 the Grand Orient of Italy formally seized the charter of P2 and expelled its Worshipful Master, Licio Gelli (a Fascist), who continued to operate P2 as an unaffiliated lodge in Italy until 1984.
}} 
</ref> P2 was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries, including the collapse of the [[Holy See]]-affiliated [[Banco Ambrosiano]], the contract killings of journalist [[Carmine Pecorelli]] and mobbed-up bank president [[Roberto Calvi]], and political corruption cases within the nationwide ''[[mani pulite]]'' bribery scandal. P2 came to light through the investigations into the collapse of [[Michele Sindona]]'s financial empire.<ref>{{cite news |title=Masonic lodge affair leaves Italy shocked |work=The Times |date=May 23, 1981}}</ref>

P2 was sometimes referred to as a "[[state within a state]]"<ref name="BBC 260581">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/26/newsid_4396000/4396893.stm "BBC On This Day: 26 May 1981"].</ref> or a "[[Shadow government (conspiracy)|shadow government]]".<ref>Jones, ''The Dark Heart of Italy'', p. 187.</ref> The lodge had among its members prominent journalists, members of the Italian parliament, industrialists, and senior Italian military officers —including [[Silvio Berlusconi]], who later became [[Prime Minister of Italy]]; the [[House of Savoy]] pretender to the Italian throne [[Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples|Prince Victor Emmanuel]];<ref name="Hooper 2006">{{cite news|last1=Hooper|first1=John|title=The fall of the house of Savoy|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jun/23/italy.johnhooper|newspaper=The Guardian|date=23 June 2006|access-date=2 June 2016}}</ref> and the heads of all three Italian foreign intelligence services (at the time [[SISDE]], [[SISMI]], and [[CESIS]]). When searching Gelli's villa in 1982, police found a document which he had entitled "Plan for Democratic Rebirth", which called for a coup d'etat, the consolidation of the media, the suppression of Italian labour unions, and the rewriting of the Italian constitution.<ref>Jones, ''The Dark Heart of Italy'',  p. 186.</ref>

Outside of Italy, P2 had many active lodges in Venezuela, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. Among its Argentine members were [[Raúl Alberto Lastiri]], who was briefly interim president of the country after the end of the self-styled "[[Argentine Revolution]]" dictatorship (1966–1973); [[Emilio Massera]], who was part of the military junta led by [[Jorge Rafael Videla]] during [[National Reorganization Process|Argentina's last civil-military dictatorship]] (1976–1983); the [[Orthodox Peronism|Peronist orthodox]] [[José López Rega]], who was Minister of Social Welfare (1973–1975) and founder of the paramilitary organisation [[Argentine Anticommunist Alliance]] (AAA); and former [[Argentine Army]] general, [[Dirty War]] perpetrator, and convicted murderer [[Guillermo Suárez Mason]].<ref name="p12 barco" />

P2's leader, Gelli, has been recognized in the 2020s as the mastermind behind the [[1980 Bologna massacre]], the deadliest [[terrorist attack]] in post-WWII Italy.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Strage di Bologna, ecco perché Licio Gelli finanziò l’eccidio neofascista. Le carte segrete svelate da L’Espresso |url=https://lespresso.it/c/attualita/2023/4/6/strage-di-bologna-ecco-perche-licio-gelli-finanzio-leccidio-neofascista-le-carte-segrete-svelate-da-lespresso/2883 |access-date=2025-10-27 |website=lespresso.it |language=it}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Baldessarro |first=Giuseppe |date=2025-01-08 |title=2 Agosto, l’ultima verità: “Gelli consapevole finanziatore della strage. Bellini portò la bomba” |url=https://bologna.repubblica.it/cronaca/2025/01/08/news/strage_bologna_motivazioni_sentenza_appello-423925155/ |access-date=2025-10-27 |website=la Repubblica |language=it}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2023-04-05 |title="Strage di Bologna, prova eclatante che Licio Gelli e i servizi segreti di D'Amato contribuirono": le motivazioni dei giudici |url=https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2023/04/05/strage-di-bologna-prova-eclatante-che-licio-gelli-e-i-servizi-segreti-di-damato-contribuirono-le-motivazioni-dei-giudici/7121666/ |access-date=2025-10-27 |website=Il Fatto Quotidiano |language=it-IT}}</ref>

==Foundation==
With the proclamation of the [[Kingdom of Italy]], the [[Grand Orient of Italy]], the most important and numerous Masonic community in Italy, felt the need to safeguard the identity of its most prominent members, even within the organisation. For this reason, the membership of the latter did not appear on any official list, but was known only to the [[Grand Master (Freemasonry)|Grand Master]], who recorded it as an initiation "by ear". It was not until 1877 that {{Ill|Giuseppe Mazzoni|it}} began to draw up a list called Propaganda Massonica, officially establishing the lodge in question and becoming its first venerable master.

Propaganda was founded in 1877, in [[Turin]], as '''Propaganda Massonica'''. This lodge was frequented by politicians and government officials from across Italy who were unable to attend their own lodges and included prominent members of the [[Piedmont]] [[nobility]]. Since its foundation, the main feature of the lodge was to provide adequate cover and secrecy for the most important initiates, both inside and outside the Masonic organisation.<ref>Dino P. Arrigo, ''Fratelli d'Italia. Cronache, storie, riti e personaggi (per capire la massoneria)'', Messina, Rubbettino, 1994, {{ISBN|978-8872843345}}.</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2025}}

Adriano Lemmi (Grand Master from 1885 to 1895) was initiated into the Propaganda lodge in 1877 and helped to give it prestige by bringing together members of parliament, senators and bankers who, due to their positions, were forced to leave their local lodges and settle in Rome. During its history, the lodge included important Italian figures, such as the poet [[Giosuè Carducci]], politicians [[Francesco Crispi]] and [[Arturo Labriola]] and journalist Gabriele Galantara.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gnocchini |first=Vittorio |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J4stvgAACAAJ |title=L'Italia dei liberi muratori: brevi biografie di massoni famosi |date=2005 |publisher=Mimesis |isbn=978-88-8483-362-4 |pages=59, 88, 135, 160 |language=it}} Other members were [[Agostino Bertani]] (1883) (Gnocchini, p. 36), [[Luigi Castellazzo]] (1888)(Gnocchini, p. 65), [[Giuseppe Ceneri]] (1885) (Gnocchini, p. 67), [[Giuseppe Aurelio Costanzo]] (1889) (Gnocchini, p. 86), [[Nicola Fabrizi]] (Gnocchini, p. 115), [[Camillo Finocchiaro Aprile]] (Gnocchini, p. 122), [[Menotti Garibaldi]] (1888) (Gnocchini, p. 141), [[Pietro Lacava]] (p. 161), [[Ferdinando Martini]] (1885) (Elisabetta Cicciola, forewords of Bernardino Fioravanti and Stefano Bisi, ''Ettore Ferrari Gran Maestro e artista fra Risorgimento e Antifascismo. Un viaggio nelle carte del Grande Oriente d'Italia'', Mimesis, 2021, {{ISBN|978-8857576824}}, p. 170, 1.17), [[Giuseppe Muscatello]] (1907) (Fulvio Conti, ''I Fratelli e i Profani. La Massoneria nello spazio pubblico'', Pisa, Pacini ed., 2020., p. 224), [[Ernesto Nathan]] (1893) (Gnocchini, p. 195), [[Oreste Regnoli]] (1892) (Conti, p. 226), [[Aurelio Saffi]] (1885), p. 245), [[Gaetano Tacconi]] (1885) (Gnocchini, p. 263)e [[Giuseppe Zanardelli]] (1889) (Gnocchini, p. 277).</ref>

Even after Lemmi's Grand Mastership, the lodge continued to be an important reference point in the organisation of the Masonic Grand Orient. Among its members, at the beginning of the 20th, century there were [[Giovanni Ameglio]] (1920),<ref>Gnocchini (2005), p. 12.</ref> Mario Cevolotto,<ref>Gnocchini (2005), p. 71.</ref> [[Eugenio Chiesa]] (1913),<ref>Gnocchini (2005), p. 72.</ref> [[Alessandro Fortis]] (1909),<ref>Gnocchini (2005), p. 128.</ref> Gabriele Galantara (1907),<ref>Gnocchini (2005), p. 135.</ref> and Giorgio Pitacco (1909).<ref>Gnocchini (2005), p. 224.</ref> 

Propaganda Massonica was banned in 1925, alongside all other Masonic lodges and secret societies, by the [[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|Fascist regime]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fedele |first=Santi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hQwe_PkfK_EC |title=La massoneria italiana nell'esilio e nella clandestinità: 1927–1939 |date=2005 |publisher=FrancoAngeli |isbn=978-88-464-6526-9 |page=11 |language=it}}</ref><ref>[https://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:::1925;2029 Law n°. 2029 of 26 November 2025].</ref> The Grand Master {{Ill|Domizio Torrigiani|it}} signed the decree dissolving all lodges.<ref name="Fedele">Santi Fedele, ''[https://books.google.it/books?id=hQwe_PkfK_EC&pg=PA4&dq=Santi+Fedele,+%27%27La+massoneria+italiapag%2011#v=onepage&q&f=false La massoneria italiana nell'esilio e nella clandestinità. 1927-1939]'', Franco Angeli, Milano 2005.</ref> However, Italian Freemasonry was reconstituted in exile in [[Paris]] on 12 January 1930.<ref name="Fedele" />

Following the end of [[World War II]], Freemasonry became legal again and the lodge was reformed. The name was changed to {{lang|it|Propaganda Due}} when the Grand Orient of Italy numbered its lodges. By the 1960s, the lodge was all but inactive, holding few meetings. This original lodge was only tangentially related to the one established by [[Licio Gelli]] in 1966, two years after becoming a [[Freemason]].<ref name="lodge">[http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/anti-masonry01.html#p2 "What was the P2 Lodge?"], Anti-masonry Frequently Asked Questions, Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon.</ref> On the contrary, Giuliano Di Bernardo, former Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy, affirmed that "the cards of the P2 affiliates bore the signature of the Grand Master, therefore they were all effective members of the Grand Orient of Italy."<ref>
*The ''P2 Lodge'', until its dissolution in 1982 due to the [[w:Tina Anselmi|Anselmi]]-[[w:Giovanni Spadolini|Spadolini]] law, ''was a regular lodge of the Grand Orient of Italy'', as attested by extensive documentation that passed between the grand masters Gamberini, Salvini and Battelli on the one hand and Licio Gelli on the other.
:'''Peter Gomez''':The existence of the Propaganda Due Lodge was known, but it was not known who exactly its members were?
:'''Giuliano Di Bernardo''':Grand Masters knew it, because the Grand Masters signed the badges. The cards of the P2 affiliates bore the signature of the Grand Master, therefore they were all effective members of the Grand Orient of Italy.
**From an interview of [[w:it:Peter Gomez|Peter Gomez]] to [[w:it:Giuliano Di Bernardo|Giuliano Di Bernardo]], as quoted in ''[https://www.antimafiaduemila.com/home/primo-piano/94919-giuliano-di-bernardo-so-che-esiste-un-elenco-completo-di-nomi-della-loggia-p2.html Giuliano Di Bernardo: ''So che esiste un elenco completo di nomi della loggia P2'']'' (April 17, 2023).</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://robertogalullo.blog.ilsole24ore.com/2015/01/26/storia1-lex-gran-maestro-giuliano-di-bernardo-in-esclusiva-su-questo-blog-parla-di-p2-massoneria-legge-anselmi-e-deviazioni/?refresh_ce=1|language=it|author=Roberto Galullo|website=[[Il Sole 24 Ore]] |access-date=April 21, 2025 |date=January 26, 2015|title=Storia/1 L'ex Gran Maestro Giuliano Di Bernardo in esclusiva su questo blog parla di P2, massoneria, legge Anselmi e deviazioni
|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250421184910/https://robertogalullo.blog.ilsole24ore.com/2015/01/26/storia1-lex-gran-maestro-giuliano-di-bernardo-in-esclusiva-su-questo-blog-parla-di-p2-massoneria-legge-anselmi-e-deviazioni/|archive-date=April 21, 2025 |url-status =live}}</ref>

With the return of the Grand Orient to Italy, the lodge was reconstituted under the name 'Propaganda 2', for reasons of numbering of Italian lodges imposed by organisational necessity. The lodges resumed their activities,<ref name="Arrigo 1994 p46">Dino P. Arrigo, ''Fratelli d'Italia. Cronache, storie, riti e personaggi (per capire la massoneria)'', Rubbettino, Messina 1994, p. 46. {{ISBN|978-8872843345}}.</ref> returning to the direct authority of the Grand Master of the Order until the advent of Licio Gelli. During the [[Cold War]], Italian Freemasonry traditions of free-thinking under the {{lang|it|[[Risorgimento]]}} transformed into fervent [[anti-communism]]. The increasing influence of the political left at the end of the 1960s became a concern to the Masons of Italy. Gelli was first appointed by Lino Salvini, Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy—one of Italy's largest Masonic lodges, to represent him in all functions within the lodge (1970),<ref>Aldo A. Mola, ''Storia della Massoneria italiana dalle origini ai nostri giorni'', Bompiani, Milano 1982, p. 746.</ref> with task of reorganizing P2,<ref name="Ginsborg p144">Ginsborg, ''Italy and Its Discontents'', pp. 144–148.</ref> then he was appointed Venerable Master, i.e. head in all respects (1975).<ref>Dino P. Arrigo, ''Fratelli d'Italia. Cronache, storie, riti e personaggi (per capire la massoneria)'', Rubbettino, Messina 1994, p. 52. {{ISBN|978-8872843345}}.</ref>

Based on notes from the SISMI and SISDE discovered by magistrate Vincenzo Calia during his investigation into the death of [[Enrico Mattei]], the P2 Lodge was allegedly founded by {{Ill|Eugenio Cefis|it}}, who ran it until he became president of [[Montedison]]. After the {{Ill|Italian oil scandal (1974)|lt=oil scandal|it|Scandalo dei petroli (1974)}}, he was replaced by the duo Licio Gelli and [[Umberto Ortolani]].<ref>Gianni D'Elia, [https://pasolinipuntonet.blogspot.it/2012/10/petrolio-la-bomba-di-pasolini-di-gianni.html "'Petrolio', la bomba di Pasolini"], in ''il Fatto Quotidiano'' (April 2, 2010).</ref><ref name="fiorentino, pp. 56-57" /> According to other sources, the secret head of the P2 Lodge was former Christian Democrat [[Giulio Andreotti]].<ref name="fiorentino, pp. 56-57">Dario Fiorentino, ''La Loggia P2'', collana Storia dei grandi segreti d'Italia, n.5, La Gazzetta dello Sport, Rcs MediaGroup, 2021, pp. 56–57.</ref><ref>Antonio Ingroia, ''Dalla parte della Costituzione'', Imprimatur Editore, {{ISBN|978-88-6830-504-8}}.</ref><ref>Antonella Beccaria, ''I segreti della massoneria in Italia'', Newton Compton, Roma 2013, {{ISBN|978-88-541-5976-1}}.</ref>

Gelli was initiated into Freemasonry on 6 November 1963, at the "Gian Domenico Romagnosi" lodge in Rome.<ref name="Arrigo 1994 p46" /> The Parliamentary Commission believes that Gelli had also gained influence in the "court" of Argentine General [[Juan Domingo Perón]]<ref>Fiorentini (2021), p. 84.</ref> (a photograph shows him at the [[Casa Rosada]] with the President and Giulio Andreotti):<ref name="fiorentino, pp. 56-57" /> he was subsequently affiliated with the Hod Lodge by Venerable Master Alberto Ascarelli and promoted to the rank of Master.<ref>Dario Fiorentino, ''La Loggia P2, collana Storia dei grandi segreti d'Italia'', n.5, La Gazzetta dello Sport, Rcs MediaGroup, 2021, pp. 64 and 66–67.</ref>

Subsequently, in the "Garibaldi – Pisacane di Ponza – Hod" lodge, Gelli began to introduce numerous prominent figures, earning the appreciation of his venerable Master, who introduced him to {{Ill|Giordano Gamberini|it}}, Grand Master of the Order. Gelli convinced Gamberini to initiate new members "on the sword" (i.e. outside the specific Masonic ritual) and to include them in the list of "covered brothers" of the P2 lodge.<ref>Fiorentino (2021), pp. 64–65.</ref><ref>Arrigo (1994), pp. 46–47.</ref>

Gelli took a list of "dormant members", or members no longer invited to participate in [[Masonic rituals]], as [[Italian Freemasonry]] was under close scrutiny by [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|Christian Democracy]] (DC) in power through the [[Pentapartito]]. Through these initial connections, Gelli was able to extend his network throughout the echelons of the Italian establishment.<ref>{{cite news |title=How Licio Gelli took over Italy's secret power centre |work=The Times |date=30 May 1981}}</ref> In 1967, P2 initiated former [[SISMI|SIFAR]] Brigadier-General Giovanni Allavena, who handed Gelli approximately 157,000 confidential files (see ''{{Ill|fascicoli riservati del SIFAR|it}}'') on many public persons, including intercepted telephone calls, photographs, correspondence, and private information.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

==Discovery==
The activities of P2 were discovered by prosecutors while investigating banker [[Michele Sindona]], the collapse of his bank and his ties to the [[Sicilian Mafia]].<ref name="Stille p39">Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', pp. 39–40.</ref> In March 1981, police found a list of alleged members in Gelli's house in [[Arezzo]]. It contained 962 names, among which were important state officials, important politicians and a number of military officers, including the heads of the three Italian secret services.<ref name="Ginsborg p144" /> Future Italian prime minister [[Silvio Berlusconi]] was on the list, although he had not yet entered politics at the time. Another famous member was [[Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples|Victor Emmanuel]], the son of the last [[Umberto II|Italian king]].

Prime Minister [[Arnaldo Forlani]] (whose {{lang|fr|chef de cabinet}} was a P2 member as well)<ref name="Ginsborg p144" /> appointed a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, headed by the independent DC [[Tina Anselmi]]. In May 1981, Forlani was forced to resign due to the P2 scandal, causing the fall of the Italian government.<ref name="BBC 260581" /><ref name="Time 1981-06-08">[https://archive.today/20130104231755/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,922552,00.html "A Grand Master's Conspiracy"], ''Time'', 8 June 1981.</ref>

In January 1982, the P2 lodge was definitively disbanded by the Law 25 January 1982, no. 17. In July 1982, new documents were found hidden in the false bottom of a suitcase belonging to Gelli's daughter at Fiumicino airport in Rome. The documents were entitled {{lang|it|Memorandum sulla situazione italiana}} ("Memorandum on the Italian Situation") and {{lang|it|Piano di rinascita democratica}} ("Plan of Democratic Rebirth"), and are seen as the political programme of P2. According to these documents, the main enemies of Italy were the [[Italian Communist Party]] (PCI) and the [[Trade unions in Italy|trade unions]], particularly the Communist [[Italian General Confederation of Labour]] (CGIL). These had to be isolated and cooperation with the PCI, the second biggest party in Italy and one of the largest in Europe, which was proposed in the [[Historic Compromise]] by [[Aldo Moro]], needed to be disrupted.<ref name="Ginsborg p144" />

Gelli's goal was to form a new political and economic elite to lead Italy away from the danger of Communist rule. More controversially, it sought to do this by means of an authoritarian form of democracy.<ref name="gelli">{{lang|it|italic=no|2=[http://www.stragi.it/index.php?pagina=vicenda&par=p2 "La loggia massonica P2 (Loggia Propaganda Due)"]}}, {{lang|it|Associazione tra i familiari delle vittime della strage alla stazione di Bologna del 2 agosto 1980}} {{in lang|it}}. The list of P2 members is in the final report of the Italian Parliamentary commission of inquiry: {{lang|it|italic=no|[http://www.strano.net/stragi/tstragi/relmp2/index.html Relazione di Maggioranza (Anselmi)]}}, {{lang|it|italic=no|Commissione parlamentare d'inchiesta sulla Loggia massonica P2}}, July 12, 1984.</ref> P2 advocated a programme of extensive political corruption: "political parties, newspapers and trade unions can be the objects of possible solicitations which could take the form of economic-financial manoeuvres. The availability of sums not exceeding 30 to 40 billion lire{{refn|40 billion lire in 1982 was equivalent to €{{Format price|{{#expr:({{Inflation|IT|40000000000|1982|r=2}} / 1936.27<!--Official conversion factor for lira to euro on adoption-->) round 2}}}} in {{Inflation/year|IT}}.{{Inflation/fn|IT}}}} would seem sufficient to allow carefully chosen men, acting in good faith, to conquer key positions necessary for overall control."<ref name="Ginsborg p144" />

==P2's influence==
P2 was implicated in numerous Italian scandals and mysteries. Opinions about the importance and reach of the P2 differ. Some see P2 as a reactionary, shadow government ready to preempt a takeover of power in case of an electoral victory of the [[Italian Communist Party]] (PCI). Among them, there were [[Massimo D'Alema]],<ref>Being a member of the P2 meant having participated in an organisation, a secret sect, plotting against the State, and this was ratified by Parliament. And I share this opinion that was formed after the investigation by the [[w:Tina Anselmi|Anselmi]] [[w:it:Commissione P2|Commission]].
**Essere stato piduista vuol dire aver partecipato a un'organizzazione, a una setta segreta, che tramava contro lo Stato, e questo è sancito dal Parlamento. E condivido quest'opinione che si è formata dopo l'inchiesta della Commissione Anselmi. 
***[[Massimo D'Alema]], from the interview to ''Radio anch'io'' (March 7, 2000); as quoted in Mario Guarino e Fedora Raugei, ''Gli anni del disonore: dal 1965 il potere occulto di Licio Gelli e della Loggia P2 tra affari, scandali e stragi'', Edizioni Dedalo, 2006, [https://books.google.it/books?id=-drX79JnUwAC&pg=PA227 p. 227]. {{ISBN|8822053605}}.</ref> President of the Bicameral Commission that aimed to reform the Italian constitution,<ref>*[About the Plan of "Democratic" Rebirth, as in the picture] My Plan of rebirth? I see that twenty years later this Bicamerale [the Massimo D'Alema Bicamerale] is copying it piece by piece, with the Boato draft. Better late than never. They should at least give me the copyright...
**Il mio [[w:it:Piano di rinascita democratica|Piano di rinascita]]? Vedo che vent'anni dopo [[w:it:Commissione parlamentare per le riforme costituzionali|questa Bicamerale]] [la Bicamerale D'Alema] lo sta copiando pezzo per pezzo, con la bozza Boato. Meglio tardi che mai. Mi dovrebbero almeno dare il copyright...
***From ''Il Borghese'', April 1997; as quoted in [[Marco Travaglio]], ''Ad personam'', Chiarelettere, Milano, 2010, pp. 119–120. {{ISBN|978-88-6190-104-9}}.</ref> and the former Italian President [[Sandro Pertini]].<ref>*No one can deny that P2 is a criminal organisation.
**Nessuno può negare che la P2 sia un'associazione a delinquere.
***[[Sandro Pertini]], former President of the Italian Republic. As quoted in M. Guarino e F. Raugei, ''Gli anni del disonore'', Dedalo, 2006, p. 7.</ref> Others think it was nothing more than a sordid association of people eager to improve their careers by making powerful and important connections<ref name="Stille p40">Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', p. 40.</ref> (e.g. the master [[Indro Montanelli]]).<ref>The list of P2 affiliates includes, they say, 953 names, corresponding to the highest ranks of politics, the judiciary, the armed forces, bureaucracy, industry and finance. All "brothers". It's proof that, in this country, woe betide only children.
**L'elenco degli affiliati alla P2 comprende, dicono, 953 nomi, cui corrispondono i più alti gradi della politica, della magistratura, delle forze armate, della burocrazia, dell'industria, della finanza. Tutti «fratelli». È la riprova che, in questo Paese, guai ai figli unici.
***[[w:it:Indro Montanelli|Indro Montanelli]], ''Controcorrente – rubrica'' (May 11, 1981).</ref>

===Kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro===
According to the Italian magistrate [[Gherardo Colombo]], Propaganda Due had a role in the [[kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro]] because he opened the door to the PCI and [[Francesco Cossiga]] was powerless.<ref>[https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2024/03/05/news/gherardo_colombo_aldo_moro_p2-422258935/ "Gherardo Colombo: "Anche la P2 voleva la morte di Moro perché apriva al Pci. E Cossiga fu impotente'"], ''La Repubblica'' (March 6, 2024).</ref>

===''Italicus Express'' bombing===
P2 was also heavily involved in the [[Italicus Express bombing|''Italicus Express'' bombing]] (1974). One of the magistrates of the Arezzo Public Prosecutor's Office investigating the massacre, Mario Marsili, was Licio Gelli's son-in-law<ref>{{cite web|author=Gabriele Baldanzi|url=https://www.iltirreno.it/grosseto/cronaca/2015/12/17/news/la-maremma-licio-gelli-e-la-cena-a-villa-marsili-1.12636980|language=it|website=[[Il Tirreno]]|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250417125838/https://web.archive.org/web/20221013192750/https://www.iltirreno.it/grosseto/cronaca/2015/12/17/news/la-maremma-licio-gelli-e-la-cena-a-villa-marsili-1.12636980|archive-date=17 April 2025|access-date=April 17, 2025|date=December 17, 2015|location=[[Grosseto]]|title=La Maremma, Licio Gelli e la cena a Villa Marsili|trans-title=The Maremma, Licio Gelli and dinner at Villa Marsili}} Quote: "Magistrate Mario Marsili, who held prominent positions at the CSM (High Council of the Judiciary) and the Court of Cassation, whose mother was from Roccastrada and father from [[Civitella]], was a judge at the Court of Appeal in [[Perugia]] in the 1980s after practising in [[Arezzo]]. He married the Maestro's eldest daughter, and it is said that the latter, on several occasions, whenever the opportunity arose, would stop in the hills at his son-in-law's villa for a snack."</ref> and, at the time the lists were found (1980), he was found to be a "dormant" member of the P2 lodge (card n°. 506).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.parlament.mt/media/52357/2592.pdf|title=''1980'' List of the P2 members|access-date=April 17, 2025|website=[[Parliament of Malta]]|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250417125446/https://www.parlament.mt/media/52357/2592.pdf|archive-date=April 17, 2025|url-status=live}}</ref> The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry declared:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.misteriditalia.it/lestragi/italicus/ITALICUS%20_Pellegrino_.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517130222/http://www.misteriditalia.it/lestragi/italicus/ITALICUS%20_Pellegrino_.pdf|archive-date=May 17, 2021|url-status=live|title=Italicus: una strage un treno, tanti binari. L'analisi della Commissione Stragi (relazione Pellegrino)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.editorialedomani.it/la-strage-dimenticata-dellitalicus-e-le-trame-piduiste-iu58yn5u|title=La strage dimenticata dell'Italicus e le trame piduiste|date=October 17, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250206134333/https://www.editorialedomani.it/la-strage-dimenticata-dellitalicus-e-le-trame-piduiste-iu58yn5u|archive-date=February 6, 2025|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{blockquote|[...] the Italicus massacre can be attributed to a neo-Fascist or neo-Nazi terrorist organisation operating in [[Tuscany]]; that the P2 Masonic lodge instigated the attacks and financed extra-parliamentary right-wing groups in Tuscany; that the P2 Masonic lodge is therefore seriously involved in the Italicus massacre and can even be held responsible in historical and political terms, if not in legal terms, as an essential economic, organisational and moral backdrop.}}

==={{lang|it|Corriere della Sera}} takeover===
In 1977, P2 took control of the {{lang|it|[[Corriere della Sera]]}} newspaper, a leading paper in Italy. At the time, the paper had encountered financial trouble and was unable to raise bank loans because its then editor, Piero Ottone, was considered hostile to the ruling Christian Democrats. ''Corriere''<nowiki/>'s owners, the publishing house [[Rizzoli Libri|Rizzoli]], struck a deal with Gelli, who provided the money with funds from the [[Vatican Bank]] directed by archbishop [[Paul Marcinkus]]. Ottone was fired and the paper's editorial line shifted to the right.<ref name="Ginsborg p144" /><ref name="Independent 1997-12-23" />

The paper published a long interview with Gelli in 1980. The interview was carried out by the television talk show host [[Maurizio Costanzo]], who would also be exposed as a member of P2.<ref name="Independent 1998-07-23" /> Gelli said he was in favour of rewriting the Italian constitution towards a [[Gaullism|Gaullist]] presidential system. When asked what he always wanted to be, he replied: "A puppet master".<ref name="Ginsborg p144" /><ref name="Willan p229">Willan, ''Puppetmasters'', pp. 229–230.</ref>

===Bologna massacre===
{{main|August 1980 Bologna bombing}}
P2 members Gelli and the head of the secret service [[Pietro Musumeci]] were condemned for attempting to mislead the police investigation of the [[August 1980 Bologna bombing|Bologna massacre]] on 2 August 1980, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 200.<ref name="Willan p161">Willan, ''Puppetmasters'', p. 161.</ref> 2020s investigations, and following prosecutions from the Bologna ''[[Corte d'Assise]]'', declared Licio Gelli, along with other P2 members, as the mastermind behind the massacre (the deadliest terroristic attack in Italy after the Second World War).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

===Banco Ambrosiano scandal===
{{main|Banco Ambrosiano}}

P2 became the target of considerable attention in the wake of the collapse of {{lang|it|italic=no|[[Banco Ambrosiano]]}} (one of [[Milan]]'s principal banks, owned in part by the [[Vatican Bank]]), and the suspicious 1982 death of its president [[Roberto Calvi]] in London, initially ruled a suicide but later prosecuted as a murder. It was suspected by investigative journalists that some of the plundered funds went to P2 or to its members.{{Citation needed|date=February 2009}}

===IRI slush funds===
P2 was also involved in the [[Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale|Institute for the Industrial Reconstruction]]'s slush funds,<ref>*[On the judicial investigations that led to his removal] I was more upset about the end of another investigation, the one into [[w:Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale|IRI]]'s slush funds. In the P2 case it was the first time, and I thought it was an accident that could happen. But the next time I was on the verge of resigning.
**[Sulle inchieste giudiziarie da cui fu allontanato] Mi ha turbato di più la fine di un'altra inchiesta, quella sui fondi neri dell'Iri. Nel caso della P2 era la prima volta, e ho creduto fosse un infortunio che potesse succedere. Ma la volta successiva ero sul punto di dimettermi.
***From an interview of Piero Colaprico to [[Gherardo Colombo]], ''[http://www.repubblica.it/cultura/2015/03/20/news/colombo_cari_ragazzi_vi_racconto_mani_pulite_-110052704/ Colombo: "Cari ragazzi vi racconto Mani pulite"]'', ''[[w:La Repubblica|Repubblica.it]]'' (March 20, 2015).</ref> about which, during the 9th legislature, it was instituted a parliamentary commission of inquiry.<ref>{{cite web|language=it|url=https://inchieste.camera.it/|title=List of the Italian parliamentary commissions|access-date=16 April 2025|archive-date=12 March 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250312074208/https://inchieste.camera.it/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.radioradicale.it/scheda/16615/fondi-neri-iri-istituita-la-commissione-monocamerale-dinchiesta?qt-blocco_interventi=0|language=it |title=Fondi neri Iri: istituita la commissione monocamerale d'inchiesta|date=February 11, 1987}}</ref>

==={{lang|it|italic=no|Protezione}} account===
One of the documents found in 1981 was about a numbered bank account, the so-called "{{lang|it|italic=no|Protezione}} account", at the [[Union Bank of Switzerland]] in [[Lugano]] (Switzerland). It detailed the payment of US$7 million by the president of [[Eni|ENI]], Florio Fiorini, through Roberto Calvi to the [[Italian Socialist Party]] (PSI) leader [[Claudio Martelli]] on behalf of [[Bettino Craxi]], the socialist Prime Minister from 1983 to 1987.

The full extent of the payment became clear only twelve years later, in 1993, during the {{lang|it|[[mani pulite]]}} (Italian for "clean hands") investigations into political corruption. The money was allegedly a kickback on a loan which the Socialist leaders had organised to help bail out the ailing . Rumours that the Minister of Justice, Martelli, was connected with the account had been circulating since investigations began into the P2 plot. He always flatly denied them. Learning that formal investigations were opened, he resigned as minister.<ref name="Independent 2018-02-11">[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/italian-minister-falls-victim-to-corruption-1472280.html "Italian minister falls victim to corruption"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180419000919/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/italian-minister-falls-victim-to-corruption-1472280.html |date=April 19, 2018}}. ''The Independent''. 11 February 1993.</ref>

==Criminal organization==

=== Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry ===
After the discovery of the lists, [[Arnaldo Forlani]] appointed a committee of three wise men ({{Ill|Vezio Crisafulli|it}}, [[Lionello Levi Sandri]] and {{Ill|Aldo Mazzini Sandulli|it}}) to provide cognitive and critical elements on the activities of P2.<ref>[[Sergio Zavoli]], ''La notte della Repubblica'', Roma, Nuova Eri, 1992.</ref> At the end of 1981, at the behest of the President of the Chamber of Deputies [[Nilde Iotti]], a parliamentary commission of inquiry was set up, led by the Christian Democrat deputy [[Tina Anselmi]]. The commission carried out a long analysis to shed light on the Loggia, considered a point of reference in Italy for American secret service circles intending to keep Italian political life under control to the point, if necessary, of promoting specific constitutional reforms or organising a ''coup d'état''. The commission – which concluded its work in 1984 – produced six reports.<ref name="Zavoli, 1992" /> 

The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, headed by Anselmi, concluded that the P2 lodge was a secret criminal organization. Allegations of surreptitious international relationships, mainly with Argentina (Gelli repeatedly suggested that he was a close friend of [[Juan Perón]]) and with some people suspected of affiliation with the US [[Central Intelligence Agency]], were also partly confirmed. Soon a political debate overtook the legal level of the analysis.<ref name="Willan p502">Willan, ''Puppetmasters'', p. 50.</ref> The majority report said that P2 action resulted in "the pollution of the public life of a nation. It aimed to alter, often in decisive fashion, the correct functioning of the institutions of the country, according to a project which ... intended to undermine our democracy." A minority report by [[Massimo Teodori]] concluded that P2 was not just an abnormal outgrowth from an essentially healthy system, as upheld by the majority report, but an inherent part of the system itself.<ref name="Ginsborg p1442">Ginsborg, ''Italy and Its Discontents'', pp. 144–148.</ref>

The P2 was also investigated by the Commission for Mass Murders for alleged involvement in some massacres, but this led to nothing relevant. The members of P2 and Gelli were fully acquitted of the charges of "conspiracy against the State" by the Court of Assizes and the Court of Assizes of Appeal in Rome between 1994 and 1996.<ref>''[http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1996/03/28/la-p2-non-cospiro-contro-lo.html La P2 non cospirò contro lo Stato]'', in ''la Repubblica'' (March 28, 1996).</ref>

===New Italian law prohibiting "secret lodges"===
Even though outlawed by Fascist dictator [[Benito Mussolini]] in 1925, Masonic institutions have been tolerated in Italy since the end of World War II and have been quite open about their activities and membership. A special law was issued that prohibited [[secret lodge]]s, i.e. those whose locations and dates of meeting are secret, like Gelli's pseudo-Masonic association. The {{lang|it|Grande Oriente d'Italia}}, after taking disciplinary action against members with P2 connections, distanced itself from Gelli's lodge. Other laws introduced a prohibition on membership in allegedly secret organizations for some categories of state officials (especially military officers). These laws were questioned by a case from the [[European Court of Human Rights]] in 2013. Following an action brought by a serving British naval officer, the European Court has established as precedent the illegality of any member nation attempting to ban Masonic membership for military officers, as a breach of their human rights.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.grandlodgescotland.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=308&Itemid=115 |title=Human Rights Court Judgment |date=<!--n.d.--> |publisher=Grand Lodge of Scotland |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130406193910/http://www.grandlodgescotland.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=308&Itemid=115 |archive-date=2013-04-06 |access-date=8 April 2023}}</ref><ref name="European Court of Human Rights (26740/02)">{{cite web |title=European Court of Human Rights (26740/02) |url=https://www.stradalex.eu/en/se_src_publ_jur_eur_cedh/document/echr_26740-02 |website=Strada Lex Europe |publisher=Hudoc |access-date=11 March 2025}}</ref>

==Licio Gelli's 1981 list==
On 17 March 1981, a {{Interlanguage link|list composed by Licio Gelli |it|Appartenenti alla P2}} was found in his country house (Villa Wanda). The list should be is a combination of P2 members and the contents of Gelli's [[Rolodex]]. Many on the list were apparently never asked if they wanted to join P2, and it is unknown to what extent the list includes members who were formally initiated into the lodge. Since 1981, some of those on the list have demonstrated their distance from P2 to the satisfaction of the Italian legal system.<ref name="nb">{{cite web |url=http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nb04/dE |title=Italian Parliament. Licio Gelli's List of P2 Members. 1981 |work=[[NameBase]] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120910202037/http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nb04/dE |archive-date=September 10, 2012 |url-status=dead |access-date=November 7, 2011}}</ref>

On 21 May 1981, the Italian government released the list.<ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130516131901/http://archivio900.globalist.it/it/documenti/doc.aspx?id=42 |archive-date=16 May 2013 |url=http://archivio900.globalist.it/it/documenti/doc.aspx?id=42 |title=Elenco degli iscritti alla Loggia P2 |trans-title=List of members of the P2 Lodge |language=it |url-status=dead}}</ref> The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry headed by Tina Anselmi considered the list reliable and genuine. It decided to publish the list in its concluding report, {{lang|it|Relazione della Commissione parlamentare d'inchiesta sulla Loggia massonica P2}}.<ref name="p2 list">{{lang|it|italic=no|2=[http://www.archivio900.it/it/documenti/finestre-900.aspx?c=1163 "Relazione di Maggioranza (Anselmi)"]}}, Commissione parlamentare d'inchiesta sulla Loggia massonica P2, 12 July 1984 {{in lang|it}}. The list is in book 1, volume 1, pp. 803–874 and 885–942, and in book 1, volume 2, p. 213 and 1126.</ref>

The list contains 962 names (including Gelli's). It has been claimed that at least 1,000 names may still be secret, as the membership numbers begin with number 1,600, which suggests that the complete list has not yet been found.<ref name="Ginsborg p144" /> The list included all of the heads of the secret services, 195 officers of the different military and security forces (12 generals of the [[Carabinieri]], five of the financial police [[Guardia di Finanza]], 22 of the army, four of the air force, and eight admirals), as well as 44 members of parliament, three ministers and a secretary of a political party, leading magistrates, a few prefects and heads of police, bankers and businessmen, civil servants, journalists and broadcasters.<ref name="Ginsborg p144" /> Included were a top official of the [[Banco di Roma]], Italy's third-largest bank at the time, and a former director-general of the [[Banca Nazionale del Lavoro]] (BNL), the country's largest bank.<ref name="Time 1981-06-08" /> The political deputies on the list spanned most of the political spectrum, including the socialist [[Italian Socialist Party|PSI]] and [[Italian Democratic Socialist Party|PSDI]], the centrist [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|DC]], [[Italian Republican Party|PRI]] and [[Italian Liberal Party|PLI]] as well as the far-right [[Italian Social Movement|MSI]]; the communist [[Italian Communist Party|PCI]] was the only major political force not represented on the list.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Guarino |first1=Mario |last2=Raugei |first2=Fedora |date=2016 |title=Licio Gelli: Vita, misteri, scandali del capo della Loggia P2 |location=Bari |publisher=Edizioni Dedalo |pages=358–392 |isbn=9788822063304}}</ref>

After the list was discovered, the Prime Minister [[Arnaldo Forlani]] waited until 21 May 1981, before making public the list of P2 members, which included the names of two ministers then in office (the socialist [[Enrico Manca]], and the Christian Democrat [[Franco Foschi]]) and five undersecretaries ({{Ill|Costantino Belluscio|it}} of the PSDI, Pasquale Bandiera of the PRI, {{Ill|Francesco Fossa|it}} of the PSI, [[Rolando Picchioni]] of the DC and {{Ill|Anselmo Martoni|it}} of the PSDI, the latter however mentioned as "asleep", i.e. resigned).

Among the 962 people listed as members of the Masonic lodge were politicians, businessmen, lawyers, company directors and, above all, members of the Italian armed forces and the Italian secret services. Michele Sindona himself appeared on the list of P2 members, confirming the suspicions of the investigating judges. Colonel Bianchi resisted various attempts at intimidation, as most of the people mentioned were still in power, and forwarded the list to the competent authorities. Among the generals, the press repeatedly mentioned [[Carlo Alberto dalla Chiesa]], although there was only a registration form signed by him and no evidence of active membership.<ref>{{Ill|Aldo Alessandro Mola|it}}, ''Storia della Massoneria italiana dalle origini ai nostri giorni'', Bompiani, Milano 1982, p.&nbsp;770.</ref>

Regarding the secret services, it was noted that not only the chiefs were registered (among them [[Vito Miceli]],<ref name="Montanelli, Cervi" /> head of the [[SIOS]] and later director of the [[Servizio Informazioni Difesa|SID]], {{Ill|Giuseppe Santovito|it}} of the [[SISMI]], Walter Pelosi of the [[Executive Committee for Information and Security Services|CESIS]] and Giulio Grassini of the [[SISDE]]) who were politically appointed, but also the most important officials with a consolidated internal career. Among these, the following stood out: General Giovanni Allavena (responsible for the SIFAR files), Colonel Giovanni Minerva (manager of the intricate case of the military aeroplane [[Argo 16]] and considered one of the most important men in the entire post-war military service) and General {{Ill|Gianadelio Maletti|it}},<ref name="Montanelli, Cervi">Indro Montanelli and Mario Cervi, ''L'Italia degli anni di fango (1978-1993)'', Milano, Rizzoli, 1993.</ref> who along with Captain {{Ill|Antonio Labruna|it}} (also a member) was suspected of colluding with the subversive cells of [[Franco Freda]] and for this reason tried and convicted of aiding and abetting.

The hypothesis was put forward that the list found in Gelli's villa was not the complete list, and that many other names managed to avoid being implicated. In the parliamentary commission's reconstruction, to the 962 on the list found, one would have to add the alleged members of that occult circle of which Gelli was supposedly the link with the lodge. Gelli himself, as also highlighted by the Anselmi Commission, in an interview in 1976, had spoken of more than two thousand four hundred members.

According to the prosecutor of Rome at the time, there were a total of 2000 members on the two lists, while on 29 May 1977 the weekly magazine ''[[L'Espresso]]'' wrote: «P2 Lodge... It is the most compact and powerful nucleus of the Freemasons of Palazzo Giustiniani: it has 2400 members, the cream of finance, bureaucracy, the Armed Forces, the state's boyars, listed in a coded archive... Gelli, a regular interlocutor of the highest offices of the State (he often sees Andreotti and is received at the Quirinale), is listened to as an advisor to the top brass of the Armed Forces, with trusted and devoted friends in the judiciary».<ref>Dario Fiorentino, ''La Loggia P2'', collana Storia dei grandi segreti d'Italia, n.5, La Gazzetta dello Sport, Rcs MediaGroup, 2021, p. 84.</ref><ref>[[Massimo Teodori]], ''P2: la controstoria'', Milano, SugarCo, 1986.</ref>

Gelli himself, commenting on the presence of numerous P2 members in the committees of experts that dealt with the kidnapping of Aldo Moro (March–May 1978), stated that the presence of a large number of lodge members in these committees was due to the fact that at the time many prominent personalities were members, so it was natural that several of them would be found in these committees. Gelli claimed that the members were not normally aware of the identity of the other members, but that the existence of the P2 Lodge was well known, having also been discussed in several interviews well before the list was discovered.<ref>{{Ill|Marco Dolcetta|it}}, [https://web.archive.org/web/20090902113621/http://iltempo.ilsole24ore.com/2008/10/20/941372-licio_gelli.shtml Licio Gelli: "La P2 non c'entra con la morte di Moro"], ''[[Il Tempo]]'' (October 20, 2008).</ref>

Hypotheses were made about who the occult head of the organisation could be, Roberto Calvi's widow declared that Giulio Andreotti was the real head of the lodge, while the role of vice-president was supposedly held by {{Ill|Francesco Cosentino|it}} (who was registered on the P2 list with membership card number 1618): however, no reliable evidence has ever been found to confirm this statement.<ref>''[http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1989/02/03/la-vedova-calvi.html La vedova Calvi]'', in ''La Repubblica'' (February 3, 1989).</ref><ref>''[http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1989/02/04/una-loggia-soltanto-non-mi-basterebbe.html Una loggia soltanto non mi basterebbe]'', in ''La Repubblica'' (February 4, 1989).</ref><ref>''[http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1989/02/07/il-pm-infondate-le-accuse-della-vedova.html Il pm: 'Inforndate le accuse della vedova Calvi]'', in ''La Repubblica'' (February 7, 1989).</ref> Nara Lazzerini, for many years Licio Gelli's secretary and lover, also stated in 1981 and 1995 before magistrates that it was said in the lodge that the real boss was Giulio Andreotti:<ref>Mario Guarino and Fedora Raugei, ''[https://books.google.it/books?id=P4hcCwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=it#v=onepage&q&f=false Licio Gelli: Vita, misteri, scandali del capo della Loggia P2]'', Edizioni Dedalo srl, 2016, {{ISBN|978-88-220-6330-4}}. URL retrieved 10 October 2016.</ref>
{{blockquote|Gelli told me that among the members of his Masonic Lodge P2 was the Honourable Mr Andreotti [...]. I remember that in the P2 environment it was said that the real boss was Andreotti and not Gelli. I remember, in particular, that during a lunch in Florence, William Rosati and Ezio Giunchiglia told me that the real manoeuvring force was Andreotti and that they did everything with Andreotti [...].|Nara Lazzerini to Palermo magistrates Gioacchino Natoli and Roberto Scarpinato on 4 September 1995}}

Rosati and Giunchiglia were two regional leaders of Lodge P2: the first was the manager of a private clinic and head of the P2 group for Liguria with sympathies for the extreme right (membership card no. 1906, died in 1984);<ref name="Guarino, 2016">Mario Guarino and Fedora Raugei, ''[https://books.google.it/books?id=P4hcCwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=it#v=onepage&q&f=false Licio Gelli: Vita, misteri, scandali del capo della Loggia P2]'', Edizioni Dedalo srl, 2016, {{ISBN|978-88-220-6330-4}}. URL consultato il 10 ottobre 2016.</ref><ref>Solande Manfredi (edito), ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20180302164712/https://books.google.it/books?id=2J_ICQAAQBAJ&pg=PT146&dq=William+Rosati&hl=it&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj6oNaCvs3ZAhWMzaQKHQ3xBasQ6AEIOzAD#v=onepage&q=William%20Rosati&f=false Il Sistema. Licio Gelli, Giulio Andreotti e i rapporti tra Mafia Politica e Massoneria]'' (June 4, 2015), {{ISBN|978-605-03-8540-3}}.</ref><ref>Paolo Sidoni and Paolo Zanetov, ''[https://books.google.it/books?id=JyTZy9XC7MUC&pg=PT492&dq=William+Rosati&hl=it&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj6oNaCvs3ZAhWMzaQKHQ3xBasQ6AEIQDAE#v=onepage&q&f=false Cuori rossi contro cuori neri. Storia segreta della criminalità politica di destra e di sinistra]'', Newton Compton Editori, 2013, {{ISBN|978-88-541-5194-9}}.</ref> the second official of the Ministry of Defence (card no. 1508) for the provinces of Pisa and Livorno.<ref name="Guarino, 2016" /> Daffodil during the trial Gelli più 622 was defined by PM Elisabetta Cesqui as a character who was "in the area of greatest shadow of P2, between the side of contacts with the US military and intelligence environments and the one that leads back to the arms trade."<ref>{{Ill|Rita Di Giovacchino|it}}, ''Il libro nero della Prima Repubblica'', Roma, Fazi, 2005 [2003].</ref> During the trial for the massacre in Bologna, Lia Bronzi Donati, Grand Master of the traditional female Masonic lodge (and the most important, and perhaps the only, female figure in the Masonic world at the time), told the magistrates who were questioning her as a witness that the list of P2 members consisted of at least 6,000 names and that Andreotti was the presence above the P2 Lodge": this information was confided to him by William Rosati "who became the moral reference of P2 after the seizure of the lists".<ref>{{Ill|Antonio Ingroia}}, ''[https://books.google.it/books?id=QTkSDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT17&dq=con+la+p2+avevamo+l%27italia+in+mano&hl=it&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwipm_nA0snZAhXBQ8AKHbz1CmgQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=con%20la%20p2%20avevamo%20l'italia&f=false Dalla parte della Costituzione]'', Imprimatur Editore, {{ISBN|978-88-6830-504-8}}.</ref><ref>{{Ill|Antonella Beccaria|it}}, ''I segreti della massoneria in Italia'', Roma, Newton Compton, 2013, {{ISBN|978-88-541-5976-1}}.</ref>

Andreotti, for his part, had always denied knowing Gelli, until the publication of the aforementioned photo of Buenos Aires. Licio Gelli, for whom the judiciary issued an arrest warrant on 22 May 1981 for violation of art. 257 of the penal code (political or military espionage), temporarily took refuge in Uruguay.

=== Notable people on Gelli's list ===
[[Image:Ricevuta di pagamento per l'iscrizione del dott. Silvio Berlusconi alla loggia massonica P2.gif|thumb|right|Receipt for membership of [[Silvio Berlusconi]] in the P2 masonic lodge]]
Notable individuals include:

* General Aldo Alasia (Argentina).<ref>{{lang|es|italic=no|[http://www.lanacion.com.ar/39991-un-marino-con-muy-buenos-contactos-politicos-y-comerciales "Un marino con muy buenos contactos políticos y comerciales"]}}, {{lang|es|La Nación}}, 7 November 2000 {{in lang|es}}.</ref>
* Federico Carlos Barttfeld (Argentina), ambassador of Argentina to Yugoslavia (1991–1995) and China (1998–2001),<ref name="p12 barco">{{lang|es|italic=no|[http://www.pagina12.com.ar/1998/98-12/98-12-14/pag03.htm "En el mismo barco"]}}, {{lang|es|Pagina 12}}, 15 December 1998 {{in lang|es}}.</ref> and later under-secretary of state in [[Néstor Kirchner]]'s government, relieved of his functions in 2003 following allegations of involvement in the [[Dirty War]].<ref>{{lang|es|italic=no|[http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-35106-2004-05-09.html "Un dinosaurio camino a casa"]}}, {{lang|es|Pagina 12}}, 9 May 2004 {{in lang|es}}.</ref>
* [[Silvio Berlusconi]], businessman, future founder of the {{lang|it|italic=no|[[Forza Italia (1994)|Forza Italia]]}} political party and [[Prime Minister of Italy]],<ref name="Economist 2001-04-26">[http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=587107 "An Italian story"], ''The Economist'', 26 April 2001.</ref><ref name="Ginsborg p31">Ginsborg, ''Silvio Berlusconi'', p. 31.</ref> who explicitly confirmed his membership.<ref>Quote: "Being a piduist is not a title of demerit. [...] When I received my membership card it said I was an apprentice bricklayer and I, who was a great home builder at the time, couldn't help but have a good laugh." Cf. Silvio Berlusconi interviewed at ''Telelombardia''. As quoted in ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20121014021742/http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2000/marzo/07/Pietro_orrore_Berlusconi_non_demerito_co_0_0003075958.shtml «Di Pietro? Mi fa orrore» Berlusconi: non è demerito essere piduista]'', ''Corriere della Sera'', p. 8 (March 7, 2000).</ref><ref>Quote: "P2 gathered the best men in the country, and signing up was not a mistake but an accident through no fault of our own." 
From the interview at ''Mixer'' (February 21, 1994); as quoted in Luciano Canfora ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20151101021245/http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/1994/marzo/10/capo_dell_impresa_co_0_94031010278.shtml Il capo dell'impresa]'', ''[[w:Corriere della Sera|Corriere della Sera]]'' (March 10, 1994), p. 41.</ref> According to Gelli, Berlusconi was "the only charismatic figure who can truly lead" Italy.<ref>* '''[[Licio Gelli]]''': In this country there is the only charismatic figure who can truly lead it: [[Silvio Berlusconi]].

: '''Gomez''': Are you really sure about that, Commendatore? Do you really not see anyone else?.
: '''Gelli''':Well, there would be one:[[Marcello Dell'Utri|Dell'Utri]], but he has the problem of the Palermo trial...

* '''Gomez''': But in the meantime we know how these things go: he will end up being acquitted.

: '''Gelli''':No, they will give him seven years…

** as quoted in [[Peter Gomez (writer)|Peter Gomez]], [https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2015/12/16/licio-gelli-quando-il-capo-della-p2-mi-disse-condanneranno-dellutri-a-sette-anni/2309959/ "Licio Gelli, quando il capo della P2 mi disse: 'Condanneranno Dell'Utri a sette anni'"] (December 23, 2015).
</ref>
* General Luis Betti (Argentina), [[Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Argentina)|Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff]] (1973–1974).<ref name="p12 barco" />
* Admiral [[Gino Birindelli]], [[Commander in Chief Naval Fleet]] in the [[Italian Navy]] from 1969, and a member of the [[Chamber of Deputies (Italy)|Chamber of Deputies]] for the neo-Fascist [[Italian Social Movement]] (MSI) in 1972–1976.<ref name="La Repubblica 2015-12-16" >{{cite news |title=P2, da Silvio Berlusconi a Maurizio Costanzo, alcuni dei nomi più noti della lista Gelli |url=https://www.repubblica.it/politica/2015/12/16/news/p2_i_nomi_piu_importanti_della_lista_gelli-129591682/ |access-date=11 March 2023 |work=La Repubblica |date=16 December 2015 |language=it}}</ref>
* [[Brunetto Bucciarelli-Ducci]], former [[president of the Chamber of Deputies]] (1963–1968) and judge.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rold |first=Alessandro Da |date=2015-02-13 |title=Dalla P2 alla famiglia Boschi, storia di Banca Etruria |url=https://www.linkiesta.it/2015/02/dalla-p2-alla-famiglia-boschi-storia-di-banca-etruria/ |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=Linkiesta.it |language=it-IT}}</ref>
* [[Roberto Calvi]], known as "God's banker", chairman of [[Banco Ambrosiano]] from 1975, was allegedly killed by the Mafia in London in 1982.<ref name="Stille p41" /><ref name="Independent 2007-06-07">[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/calvi-murder-the-mystery-of-gods-banker-452056.html "Calvi murder: The mystery of God's banker"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110910014711/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/calvi-murder-the-mystery-of-gods-banker-452056.html |date=September 10, 2011}}. ''The Independent''. 7 June 2007.</ref>
* [[Vincenzo Carollo]], politician of the [[Christian Democratic Party (Italy)|Christian Democratic Party]] (DC), [[List of presidents of Sicily|President of Sicily]] 1967–1969 and member of the [[Senate of the Republic (Italy)|Senate of the Republic]] 1972–1987.<ref name="La Repubblica 2015-12-16" />
* [[Fabrizio Cicchitto]], member of the [[Italian Socialist Party]], who later joined Berlusconi's centre-right party {{lang|it|italic=no|Forza Italia}}.<ref name="Time 1981-06-08" />
* [[Maurizio Costanzo]], popular television talk show host of [[Mediaset]] programmes in Berlusconi's commercial television network.<ref name="Independent 1998-07-23" />
* [[Federico Umberto D'Amato]], leader of the Office for Reserved Affairs ({{lang|it|Ufficio affari riservati}}), an intelligence cell in the Italian [[Ministry of the Interior (Italy)|Ministry of the Interior]].<ref name="anselmi19">{{lang|it|italic=no|2=[http://www.archivio900.it/it/documenti/doc.aspx?id=485 "La Loggia la P.A. e la magistratura – I rapporti con la Pubblica Amministrazione"]}}, {{lang|it|in Relazione di Maggioranza (Anselmi)}}, {{lang|it|italic=no|Commissione parlamentare d'inchiesta sulla Loggia massonica P2}}, 12 July 1984.</ref><ref name="Willan p73">Willan, ''Puppetmasters'', p. 73.</ref>
* {{Ill|César Augusto de la Vega|es}} (Argentina), Secretary of State for Minors and the Family in the [[Ministry of Health (Argentina)|Ministry of Social Welfare]] (1973–1974), while it was headed by his friend [[José López Rega]] (see below); ambassador of Argentina to [[UNESCO]] (1974), France (1974–1975) and Denmark (1975–1976).<ref name="p12 barco" />
* [[Stefano Delle Chiaie]], Italian neo-fascist terrorist who had ties with [[Operation Condor]] and the regime of [[Luis García Meza Tejada]] in Bolivia.<ref>{{cite book |last=Vázquez Montalbán |first=Manuel |author-link=Manuel Vázquez Montalbán |title=Mis almuerzos con gente inquietante |year=1984 |publisher=Planeta |isbn=978-84-9793-459-6}}</ref>
* {{Ill|Franco Di Bella|it}}, director of {{lang|it|[[Corriere della Sera]]}}.<ref name="Independent 1997-12-23">[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-franco-di-bella-1290357.html "Obituary: Franco Di Bella"], ''The Independent'', 23 December 1997.</ref><ref name="Ginsborg p31" /> Di Bella had commissioned a long interview with Gelli, who openly talked of his plans for a "democratic renaissance" in Italy—including control over the media. The interview was carried out by the television talk show host Maurizio Costanzo, who would also be exposed as a member of P2 (see above).<ref name="Independent 1998-07-23">[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19980723/ai_n14162383 "Obituary: Alberto Cavallari"].{{dead link|date=May 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}} ''The Independent''. 23 July 1998.</ref>
* [[Franco Foschi]], politician of the [[Christian Democratic Party (Italy)|Christian Democratic Party]] (DC), [[Minister of Labour and Social Policies|Minister of Labour and Social Security]] (1980).<ref name="La Repubblica 2015-12-16" />
* [[Artemio Franchi]], president of the [[Italian Football Federation]] (FIGC) (1967–1976, 1978–1980), president of [[UEFA]] (1973–1983) and member of the executive committee of [[FIFA]] (1974–1983).<ref name="La Repubblica 2015-12-16" />
* General Orazio Giannini, commander of the {{lang|it|italic=no|[[Guardia di Finanza]]}} (1980–1981).<ref name="anselmi15" /> On the day the list was discovered, Giannini phoned the official in charge of the operation, and told him (according to the official's testimony to the parliamentary commission): "You better know that you've found some lists. I'm in those lists – be careful, because so too are all the highest echelons [Breda understood 'of the state'].<ref name="Ginsborg p144" /><ref>Marzio Breda (2011). {{lang|it|italic=no|[https://www.corriere.it/cronache/11_marzo_25/p2-p3-anselmi-breda_a9659c88-56b1-11e0-847d-b307f7e234b2.shtml "«La P2? Presto P3 e P4» La profezia della Anselmi"]}}, {{lang|it|Corriere della Sera}}, 25 March 2011. {{lang|it|"So che hai trovato gli elenchi e so che ci sono anch'io. Personalmente non me ne frega niente, ma fai attenzione perché lì dentro ci sono tutti i massimi vertici"}}.</ref> ... Watch out, the Force will be overwhelmed by this."<ref>{{lang|it|2=[http://www.senato.it/static/bgt/listadocumenti/9/1/2165/0/index.html?static=true Commissione Parlamentare D'Inchiesta Sulla Loggia Massonica P2, Allegati Alla Relazione]}} (1984), series II, vol. I, tomo IV,{{clarify|How to cite this in English? "Tomo" seems to mean the same as English "volume", yet both words are used in Italian|date=April 2023}} {{lang|it|italic=no|Esame testimoniale Bianchi Vincenzo}}, pp.148–150. {{lang|it|"«Aggiungeva di fare attenzione dato che il Corpo rischiava  di  inabissarsi.» anche se lui «personalmente se ne fregava»"}}.</ref>
* General {{Ill|Raffaele Giudice|it}}, commander of the [[Guardia di Finanza]] (1974–1978).<ref name="anselmi15" /> Appointed by [[Giulio Andreotti]], Giudice conspired with oil magnate Bruno Musselli and others in a lucrative tax fraud of as much as $2.2 billion.<ref name="Time 1981-06-08" /><ref>[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/7178 "Italy: Terror on the Right"], ''The New York Review of Books'', 22 January 1981.</ref>
* General {{Ill|Giulio Grassini|it}}, head of Italy's civilian secret service [[SISDE]] (1977–1981).<ref name="Time 1981-06-08" /><ref name="anselmi15" />
* [[Raúl Alberto Lastiri]] (Argentina), interim [[president of Argentina]] from 13 July 1973 until 12 October 1973.<ref name="list" />
* [[Pietro Longo]], secretary of the [[Italian Democratic Socialist Party (historical)|Italian Democratic Socialist Party]] (PSDI) (1978–1985) and [[Minister of Budget (Italy)|Minister of Budget]] in [[Bettino Craxi]]'s [[Craxi I Cabinet|first cabinet]] (1983–1984).<ref name="ginsborg p30">Ginsborg, ''Silvio Berlusconi'', p. 30.</ref>
* [[José López Rega]], Argentine [[Ministry of Health (Argentina)|Minister of Social Welfare]] under [[Juan Perón]] and [[Isabel Perón]] (1973–1975) and ambassador of Argentina to [[Spain]] (1975–1976), founder of the [[Argentine Anticommunist Alliance]] ("Triple A").<ref name="p12 barco" />
* [[Enrico Manca]], editor of {{lang|it|Giornale Radio Rai}} and Minister of Foreign Trade (1980–1981).<ref name="La Repubblica 2015-12-16" />
* [[Luigi Mariotti]], a politician of the [[Christian Democratic Party (Italy)|Christian Democratic Party]] (DC), [[Minister of Health (Italy)|Minister of Health]] (1964–1968, 1970–1972) and [[Minister of Transport (Italy)|Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation]] (1968–1969).<ref name="La Repubblica 2015-12-16" />
* [[Emilio Massera]], admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the [[Argentine Navy]], and a member of the [[National Reorganization Process]], the military junta ruling Argentina led by General [[Jorge Rafael Videla]], in 1976–1978.<ref name="p12 barco" /><ref name="list">{{lang|it|italic=no|2=[http://archivio900.globalist.it/it/documenti/doc.aspx?id=42 "Elenco degli iscritti alla Loggia P2"]}}. {{Cite web |url=http://archivio900.globalist.it/it/documenti/doc.aspx?id=42 |title=1. Elenco degli iscritti alla Loggia P2 − archivio900.it |access-date=August 3, 2012 |archive-date=May 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130516131901/http://archivio900.globalist.it/it/documenti/doc.aspx?id=42 |url-status=dead}}. {{lang|it|italic=no|Presidenza del Consiglio}}. 21 May 1981 {{in lang|it}}</ref>
* General [[Vito Miceli]], chief of the [[SIOS|Operative Informations and Situation Service]] ({{lang|it|Servizio Informazioni Operative e Situazione}}, SIOS), the Italian Army's intelligence service from 1969 and head of the military intelligence service [[SISMI|SISMI/SID]] from 18 October 1970 to 1974. Arrested in 1975 on charges of "conspiracy against the state" concerning investigations about {{lang|it|Rosa dei venti}}, a state-infiltrated group involved in the [[strategy of tension]], he later became a member of the [[Italian Social Movement]] (MSI).<ref name="anselmi15">{{lang|it|italic=no|2=[http://www.archivio900.it/it/documenti/doc.aspx?id=481 "Gli apparati militari. Conclusioni"]}}, in {{lang|it|Relazione di Maggioranza (Anselmi)}}, {{lang|it|italic=no|Commissione parlamentare d'inchiesta sulla Loggia massonica P2}}, 13 July 1984 {{in lang|it}}.</ref><ref name="Willan p59">Willan, ''Puppetmasters'', p. 59.</ref>
* General [[Pietro Musumeci]], deputy director of SISMI.<ref name="anselmi15" />
* [[Umberto Ortolani]], banker and businessman, closely involved with Gelli's business interests in South America and with the [[Vatican Bank]].<ref name="Independent 2005-07-20">[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/mason-indicted-over-murder-of-gods-banker-499461.html "Mason indicted over murder of 'God's banker{{'"}}]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110925040915/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/mason-indicted-over-murder-of-gods-banker-499461.html |date=September 25, 2011}}. ''The Independent''. 20 July 2005.</ref>
* General Giovambattista Palumbo, commander of the 1st Carabinieri Division "Pastrengo".<ref name="anselmi15" />
* [[Carmine Pecorelli]], a controversial journalist assassinated on 20 March 1979. In a May 1978 article, he had drawn connections between the [[kidnapping of Aldo Moro]] and [[Operation Gladio]].<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/print/0,,4665179-105806,00.html "Moro's ghost haunts political life"], ''[[The Guardian]]'', 9 May 2003.</ref>
* [[Mario Pedini]], politician of the [[Christian Democratic Party (Italy)|Christian Democratic Party]] (DC), Minister of Scientific Research (1975–1978), [[Minister of Culture (Italy)|Minister of Culture and 
 Environmental Heritage]] (1976–1978) and [[Minister of Education, University and Research|Minister of Public Education and Universities]] (1978–1979).<ref name="La Repubblica 2015-12-16" />
* General Franco Picchiotti, commander of the [[11th Carabinieri Mechanized Brigade]].<ref name="anselmi15" />
* [[Angelo Rizzoli Jr.]], owner of {{lang|it|Corriere della Sera}}, later a cinema producer.<ref name="Ginsborg p31" />
* {{Ill|Celestino Rodrigo|es}}, Argentine [[Ministry of Economy (Argentina)|Minister of Economy]] (1975) and friend of José López Rega (see above).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Agustín Lucietto |first1=Franco |title=La Cuestión Malvinas: de la negociación al conflicto. Una aproximación al vínculo entre la política exterior y la política de defensa de Argentina |journal=Ciclos |date=2022 |volume=XXIX |issue=58 |page=119 |url=https://ojs.econ.uba.ar/index.php/revistaCICLOS/article/download/2357/3143/ |access-date=11 March 2023 |language=es |archive-date=11 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311173411/https://ojs.econ.uba.ar/index.php/revistaCICLOS/article/download/2357/3143/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* General {{Ill|Giuseppe Santovito|it}}, head of Italy's military intelligence service [[SISMI]] (1978–1981).<ref name="Time 1981-06-08" /><ref name="anselmi15" />
* [[Gustavo Selva]], director of the [[Rai Radio 2]] news programs, at the time of the publication of Gelli's list a [[Member of the European Parliament]] for the [[Christian Democratic Party (Italy)|Christian Democratic Party]] (DC), later a member of the [[Chamber of Deputies (Italy)|Chamber of Deputies]] and the [[Senate of the Republic (Italy)|Senate of the Republic]] for the [[National Alliance (Italy)|National Alliance]].<ref name="La Repubblica 2015-12-16" />
* [[Michele Sindona]], banker linked to the [[Sicilian Mafia]], ex-president of {{Ill|Banca Privata Finanziaria|it}}.<ref name="Stille p41">Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', p. 41.</ref>
* [[Gaetano Stammati]], President of the [[Banca Commerciale Italiana|Italian Commercial Bank]] (COMIT), [[Minister of Finance (Italy)|Minister of Finance]] (1976) in [[Aldo Moro]]'s government, Minister of Treasury (1976–1978), Minister of Public Works (1978–1979) and [[Minister of International Trade]] (1979) in [[Giulio Andreotti]]'s third, fourth and fifth governments.<ref name="La Repubblica 2015-12-16" />
* General [[Guillermo Suárez Mason]], Argentine military officer in charge of the {{lang|es|italic=no|[[Batallón de Inteligencia 601]]}} during the [[Dirty War]] and [[Operation Condor]].<ref name="p12 barco" />
* {{Ill|Bruno Tassan Din|it}}, general director of {{lang|it|Corriere della Sera}}<ref name="Ginsborg p31" />
* Admiral {{Ill|Giovanni Torrisi|it}}, [[Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy]] (1977–1980) and [[Chief of the Defence Staff (Italy)|Chief of the Defence Staff]] (1980–1981).<ref name="Time 1981-06-08" /><ref name="anselmi15" />
* {{Ill|Alberto Vignes|es}}, Argentine [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship|Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship]] (1973–1975).<ref name="list" />
* [[Claudio Villa]], famous singer and actor who represented Italy in the [[Eurovision Song Contest]] in 1962 and 1967.<ref name="La Repubblica 2015-12-16" />
* [[Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples]], son of [[Umberto II of Italy|Umberto II]] and disputed head of the [[House of Savoy]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hooper |first1=John |title=The fall of the house of Savoy |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jun/23/italy.johnhooper |access-date=11 March 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=23 June 2006}}</ref>

==Relationships with the regular Freemasonry==
According to [[:it:Giuliano Di Bernardo|Giuliano Di Bernardo]], former [[Venerable Master]] of the [[Grand Orient of Italy]], "until its dissolution in 1982 due to the Anselmi-Spadolini law, [P2] was a regular lodge of the Grand Orient of Italy, as attested by extensive documentation that passed between the grand masters Gamberini, Salvini and Battelli on the one hand and Licio Gelli on the other."<ref>{{cite web|author=[[Peter Gomez (writer)|Peter Gomez]]|url=https://www.antimafiaduemila.com/home/primo-piano/94919-giuliano-di-bernardo-so-che-esiste-un-elenco-completo-di-nomi-della-loggia-p2.html|title=Giuliano Di Bernardo: ''So che esiste un elenco completo di nomi della loggia P2''|date=April 17, 2023|archive-url=https://archive.today/20231203161431/https://www.antimafiaduemila.com/home/primo-piano/94919-giuliano-di-bernardo-so-che-esiste-un-elenco-completo-di-nomi-della-loggia-p2.html|archive-date=December 3, 2023|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Expulsion ===
The Grand Orient of Italy officially expelled Gelli and the P2 lodge in 1976.<ref>Decree No. 444 L.S. of June 1976 quoted by [http://www.masonicinfo.com/p2_lodge.htm masonicinfo.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203135205/http://www.masonicinfo.com/p2_lodge.htm |date=February 3, 2021}}</ref> In 1974, it was proposed that P2 be erased from the list of lodges by the Grand Orient of Italy, and the motion carried overwhelmingly. The following year a warrant was issued by the Grand Master for a new P2 lodge. It seems the Grand Orient in 1976 had only suspended the lodge, and not actually expelled it, on Gelli's request. Gelli was found to be active in the Grand Orient's national affairs two years later, financing the election of a new Grand Master. In 1981, a Masonic tribunal decided that the 1974 vote did mean the lodge had factually ceased to exist and that Gelli's lodge had therefore been masonically and politically illegal since that time.<ref name="lodge" />

==Consequences and judicial investigations==
{{blockquote|P2 was dissolved by law, but its system of political, financial and criminal relations may have survived [...] As for Dr Berlusconi, his current interventionism is symptomatic of the reaction of a part of the old regime which, having accumulated wealth and power in the eighties, intends to continue to influence political life in the nineties as well.|[[Luciano Violante]], President of the Anti-Mafia Commission<ref>Marco Marsili, ''[https://books.google.it/books?isbn=8897486002 Dalla P2 alla P4. Trent'anni di politica e affari all'ombra di Berlusconi]'', Termidoro, {{ISBN|978-88-97486-00-8}}.</ref>}}

The Court of Cassation decided that the Gelli case was the responsibility of the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office, from which he was accused only of fraudulent activity and false pretences. In May 1983, the case against the P2 leaders was closed. Later, Judge Gherardo Colombo declared that if the investigation had remained in Milan, "Bribesville" would have erupted a decade earlier, given the amount of information in Gelli's papers.<ref>{{cite video|language=it|url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V1W1H4m2qhI&feature=youtu.be|title=La P2 di Licio Gelli: la Loggia Massonica che manovrava l'Italia|publisher=Nova Lectio|year=2022}} (at minute 15:30).</ref>

The Public Prosecutor's Office of Rome began proceedings against Licio Gelli and about twenty other people, accused of political conspiracy, criminal association and other crimes. After an investigation that lasted almost ten years, in October 1991, the investigating judge at the Criminal Court of Rome requested that they be sent for trial. The trial lasted a year and a half and with the sentence on 16 April 1994, filed the following 26 July, the Court pronounced a sentence of acquittal of all the accused of the crime of attacking the Constitution through political conspiracy because the fact did not exist. The appeal was rejected, and on 27 March 1996, the Court of Appeal confirmed the sentence.<ref>Massimo Della Campa, ''[https://archive.org/details/lucesulgrandeori0000dell Luce sul Grande Oriente]'', Sperling & Kupfer, Milano 2005, {{ISBN|88-200-3924-9}}.</ref> Although subsequent judicial inquiries have (not without receiving criticism from many quarters) partly denied the conclusions of the commission of inquiry, tending to reduce the influence of the lodge,<ref>''[http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1996/03/28/la-p2-non-cospiro-contro-lo.html La P2 non cospirò contro lo Stato],''.</ref><ref>Vittorio Feltri, ''[https://www.ilgiornale.it/news/quei-150-miliardi-presi-ad-angelo-rizzoli-imbarazzano.html I 150 miliardi che imbarazzano il "Corriere"]'', il Giornale (31 May 2010).</ref> the discovery of the P2 case made people in Italy aware of the existence, in other systems and in other countries, of lobbying, i.e. the exertion of political pressure on those in positions of power to influence the choices made in the running of the nation in a direction favourable to the lobbyists.

In 1987, Licio Gelli was sentenced to 8 years in prison by the Court of Assizes of Florence for having financed members of the Tuscan extreme right, involved in the attacks on the Florence-Bologna railway line.<ref name="Zavoli, 1992" /> Two years later, on appeal, the judges declared that they did not have to proceed against the accused because, at the time of his extradition from Switzerland, political offences had been excluded.<ref name="Zavoli, 1992" /> The Supreme Court ordered a new trial, stating that Gelli should have been fully acquitted.<ref name="Zavoli, 1992" /> On 9 October 1991, the Court of Assizes of Appeal of Florence acquitted him with a broad formulation.<ref name="Zavoli, 1992">Sergio Zavoli, ''La notte della Repubblica'', Roma, Nuova Eri, 1992.</ref>

On 23 November 1995, Gelli was definitively convicted of misleading the court in the trial for the massacre in Bologna that took place on 2 August 1980, in which 85 people were killed and 200 were injured.<ref name="Bianconi, 1995">Giovanni Bianconi, ''[http://www.archiviolastampa.it/component/option,com_lastampa/task,search/mod,libera/action,viewer/Itemid,3/page,14/articleid,0685_01_1995_0317_0014_9266168/ Due colpevoli per la strage di Bologna]'', in ''[[La Stampa]]'' (24 November 1995). Retrieved 4 August 2016.</ref> The misdirection was carried out, in collaboration with the SISMI general Pietro Musumeci (a member of P2), the Carabinieri colonel {{Ill|Giuseppe Belmonte|it}} and the wheeler-dealer [[Francesco Pazienza]],<ref name="Bianconi, 1995" /> by placing a suitcase loaded with weapons, explosives, ammunition, flight tickets and false documents on the Taranto-Milan train on 13 January 1981.<ref>{{Ill|Carlo Lucarelli}}, ''[https://archive.org/details/nuovimisteridita0000luca Nuovi misteri d'Italia. I casi di Blu notte]'', Einaudi, 2004, {{ISBN|978-8806167400}}.</ref> Gelli was also found guilty of fraud regarding the bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosiano, which was connected to the Vatican bank, the Istituto per le Opere di Religione (IOR) (there was a $1.3 billion hole in the bank).

Over time, equal attention has been paid to the fate of the ''piduisti'', some of whom have been publicly successful in politics or entertainment, while others have returned to anonymity. Some have been freed from the social stigma (Silvio Berlusconi successfully entered politics, becoming Prime Minister four times in 15 years; [[Fabrizio Cicchitto]] returned to politics; Maurizio Costanzo made a self-defence speech and maintained his career as a journalist). Berlusconi himself declared to Iceberg (a political programme broadcast on Telelombardia): "I have never been part of P2. And in any case, according to the sentences of the Republic's courts, being a P2 member is not a demerit. [...] I read about these projects later. A set-up: P2 was a scoop that made the fortune of ''[[La Repubblica]]'' and ''[[L'Espresso]]'', it was an exploitation that unfortunately destroyed many protagonists of the political, cultural and journalistic life of our country."<ref>Vittorio Testa, ''[http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2000/03/07/berlusconi-essere-piduisti-non-un-titolo-di.html Berlusconi: Essere piduisti non è un titolo di demerito]'', in ''la Repubblica'' (7 March 2000).</ref> Massimo D'Alema, ther then Prime Minister, replied: "Being a member of the Pide means having participated in an organisation, a secret sect that plotted against the State, and this has been ratified by Parliament. An opinion that I share."<ref>Paola Di Caro, ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20151212001447/http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2000/marzo/08/Berlusconi_sconcerta_gli_alleati_co_0_00030810231.shtml P2,Berlusconi sconcerta gli alleati]'', in ''Corriere della Sera'' (March 8, 2000).</ref>

From 2007 onwards, Licio Gelli was placed under house arrest in his villa Wanda in Arezzo, to serve a 12-year sentence for the Banco Ambrosiano's bankruptcy. In an interview with la Repubblica on September 28, 2003, during the Berlusconi II government, he said:<ref>[[Concita De Gregorio]], ''[http://www.repubblica.it/2003/i/sezioni/politica/gelli/gelli/gelli.html Giustizia, tv, ordine pubblico è finita proprio come dicevo io]'', in ''Repubblica.it'' (28 September 2003).</ref>
{{blockquote|I am enjoying a peaceful old age. Every morning I talk to the voices of my conscience, and it is a dialogue that calms me. I look at the country, I read the newspapers and I think: here it is, everything is being realised little by little, piece by piece. Maybe yes, I should have the copyright. Justice, TV, public order. I wrote it all thirty years ago in 53 points.}}

==Subversive programme "Plan of Democratic Rebirth"==
It was immediately realised that the seized documents testified to the existence of an organisation that aimed to take possession of the organs of state power in Italy: the ''Plan for Democratic Rebirth'' ({{lang|it|Piano di Rinascita Democratica}}), a document halfway between a manifesto and a feasibility study that was seized a few months later from Gelli's daughter, contained a sort of roadmap for the penetration of the lodge's members into key sectors of the State, indications for the start of selected proselytising and, appropriately, also a budget estimate of the costs for the acquisition of the vital functions of power: "The availability of funds not exceeding 30 or 40 billion seems sufficient to allow well-selected men of good faith to conquer the key positions necessary for their control."

The primary objectives were the reorganisation of the State under the banner of anti-communist and anti-socialist authoritarianism, accompanied by a selective and class-based approach to social structures. Among the main points of the plan was the simplification of the political panorama with the presence of two large macro-parties, bringing the magistracy under the control of the executive power, separating the careers of magistrates, overcoming the bicameral system and reducing the number of parliamentarians, abolishing the [[provinces of Italy|provinces]], breaking the unity of the trade unions and reforming the labour market, control over the mass media, transforming the universities in Italy into [[Foundation (nonprofit)|foundations]] under private law, abolishing the {{Ill|Valore legale del titolo di studio|lt=legal validity of academic qualifications|it}} and adopting a repressive policy against petty crime and political opponents.

The people to be "recruited" into the parties would in exchange have to obtain "predominance" (textual) over their own organisations (in the plan it states "for the PSI, for example, Mancini, Mariani and Craxi; for the PRI: Visentini and Bandiera; for the PSDI: Orlandi and Amidei; for the DC: Andreotti, Piccoli, Forlani, Gullotti and Bisaglia; for the PLI: Cottone and Quilleri; for the Destra Nazionale (possibly): Covelli"), while the "recruited" journalists were supposed to "sympathise" with the men recommended by the Masonic lodge. Some of the politicians mentioned went on to play leading roles in their parties and in the government, but these personalities were considered "to be recruited". However, it has never been clearly established whether Gelli contacted them to pursue the aims of P2.

From the content of the Plan of Democratic Rebirth (according to the texts available on the web) there can be summarized some points of subversive reformas:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://stragi-it.translate.goog/pianorinascita?_x_tr_sl=it&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=it&_x_tr_pto=wapp|title=Piano di rinascita democratica|language=it|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250416154949/https://stragi.it/pianorinascita|archive-date=April 16, 2025|url-status=live}} (To be compared with the one produced by the Italian Parliament and [[s:it:Pagina:Piano di rinascita democratica della Loggia P2.djvu/1|linked in the picture]] of the current WP article).</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archivioantimafia.org/p2/piano_rinascita_democratica.pdf|title=Piano di rinascita democratica|language=it}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.radioradicale.it/scheda/62229/il-piano-di-rinascita-democratico|language=it|author=Claudio Landi|title=Il Piano di rinascita democratico|date=May 2, 1994|access-date=April 16, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://biblio.toscana.it/argomento/Piano%20di%20rinascita%20democratica|title=Resources about the Piano di Rinascita Democratica|language=it|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250416160729/https://biblio.toscana.it/argomento/Piano%20di%20rinascita%20democratica|archive-date=April 16, 2025|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fondazionecipriani.it/Scritti/sintesi.html|title=Summary of the Plan of Democratic Rebirth|language=it}}</ref>

===Urgent changes===
* the [[public liability]] (for [[negligence]]) of magistrates of civil and penal law;<ref>Implemented under provisions of [https://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:legge:1988-04-13;117 Law n. 117/1988] and [https://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:legge:2015-02-27;18 Law 18/2015]. Cf. {{cite web|url=https://www.altalex.com/guide/responsabilita-magistrato-guida|title=La responsabilità civile dei magistrati}}</ref>
* the regulations for career access (preliminary psycho-aptitude tests).<ref>Proposed [https://www.senato.it/leg/15/BGT/Schede/Ddliter/28002.htm in 2007] by [[Roberto Castelli]], declared technically impossible by the [https://www.questionegiustizia.it/articolo/test-psicoattitudinali-per-i-magistrati Italian Psychoanalytical Society], and implemented [https://tg24.sky.it/politica/2024/03/27/test-psicoattitudinali-magistrati-come-funzionano in 2024] by [[Carlo Nordio]] (starting from 2026).</ref>

===About the government===
* the "law on the Presidency of the Council and on Ministries" (Italian Constitution, art. 95) to determine responsibilities and the (reduced) number of ministers, with the elimination, or almost, of undersecretaries;
* administrative reform (in relation to articles 28, 97 and 98 of the Constitution) based on the theory of the non-administrative public act, on the clear separation of political responsibility from administrative responsibility (which becomes personal, through the institution of the Ministry's Secretary General) and on the substitution of the principle of refusal by silence with that of consent by silence;

===Economic and social measures===
* elimination of midweek public holidays and related long weekends (except for 2 June, Christmas, New Year and 15 August) to be awarded in the form of a lump sum of 7 additional days to the annual holiday entitlement;
* reduction of [[tax rate]]s on company funds allocated to reserves, amortisation, investments and guarantees, to encourage self-financing and reward the reinvestment of profit;
* granting of heavy tax relief to foreign capital investment to facilitate the repatriation of capital from abroad;
Reform of the labour market;
* transforming universities in Italy into foundations under [[private law]].

===TV and press===
* immediate establishment of an agency to coordinate the local press (to be acquired with subsequent operations over time) and [[cable TV]] to be set up in a chain so as to control the media and public opinion in the country.
* the multiplication of radio and TV networks in the name of antenna freedom (art. 21 of the Constitution), and the suppression of [[RAI]]. These broadcasters and newspapers were to be coordinated by [[Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata|ANSA]].

===Trade unions===
* bring the union back to its "natural function" of "interlocutor of the productive phenomenon instead of the illegitimately assumed interlocutor in view of company and government policy decisions" the union must not get involved in politics. With this in mind, it is necessary to "limit the right to strike to economic causes and in any case ensure freedom of work";
* provide for the "restoration of individual freedom in factories and companies in general to allow the election of factory councils with effective guarantees of voting secrecy".

The first objective is linked to the issue of the insufficient definition of clear boundaries and the overlapping of powers, which weaken the State. For example:
{{blockquote|The shift of the centres of real power from Parliament to the unions and from the Government to multinational employers, with the corresponding instruments of financial action.}}

The two objectives are achieved with two hypotheses:
* urging the break-up of [[Italian Confederation of Trades Unions|CISL]] and [[Unione Italiana del Lavoro|UIL]] and subsequent union with the autonomous unions;
* control of internal currents: "acquire with financial instruments of equal entity the most available among the current confederals in order to overturn the balance of power within the current trimurti." Article 17 of the Workers' Statute prohibited the financing of fake unions. The last resort was "a sensational phenomenon such as the creation of a real union that would wave the flag of freedom of labour and economic protection of workers".

===Medium and long-term measures===
* Judicial system:
** unity of the Public Prosecutor with the other magistrates (in the current legal system, however, the Public Prosecutor is distinct from the Judges, in accordance with the Constitution – articles 107 and 112);
** reform of the High Council of the Judiciary, which must be accountable to the Italian Parliament (constitutional amendment);
** reform of the judicial system to re-establish selection criteria based on merit for the promotion of magistrates, impose age limits for prosecuting functions, separate the careers of prosecutors and judges, and reduce the {{Ill|praetorian function|it|Pretore (ordinamenti moderni)}} to an ordinary judge (in the current legal system, however, the Public Prosecutor is distinct from the Judges, in accordance with the Constitution – articles 107 and 112);
** reform of the High Council of the Judiciary, which must be accountable to the Italian Parliament (constitutional amendment);
** reform of the judicial system to re-establish selection criteria based on merit for the promotion of magistrates, impose age limits for prosecuting functions, separate the careers of prosecutors and judges, and reduce the praetorian function to that of judge to that of judge.
* Government body:
** amendment of the Constitution to establish that the prime minister is elected by the Chamber at the beginning of each legislature and can only be overthrown through the election of his successor;
* Parliament body:
** new electoral laws, for the Chamber of Deputies, of a mixed type (both single-member and proportional) reducing the number of deputies to 450 and, for the Senate, of 2nd degree representation, regional, of economic, social and cultural interests, reducing the number of senators to 250 and increasing from 5 to 25 the number of senators for life appointed by the president, with an increase in the relative categories (former parliamentarians, former magistrates, former public officials and entrepreneurs, former military personnel, etc.);
** pre-eminence of the Chamber of Deputies in the approval of laws; the Senate of the Regions focused on the budget law.
* other constitutional organisms:
** [[Constitutional Court of Italy|Constitutional Court]]: sanction the subsequent incompatibility of judges with elective offices and in public bodies; sanction the prohibition of so-called active sentences (which transform the Court into a de facto legislative body);
** Abolish the Provinces.<ref>Implemented under provisions of [https://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:legge:2014-04-07;56!vig Law nº 56 of 7 April 2014].</ref>
** Abolish all subsidies aimed at balancing deficit budgets at the expense of the public treasury and abolish the [[RAI]] [[monopoly]].

About the role of the press:
{{blockquote|which should be solicited at the level of journalists through a selection that mainly touches: ''[[Corriere della Sera]]'', ''[[Il Giorno (newspaper)|Il Giorno]]'', ''[[Il Giornale]]'', ''[[La Stampa]]'', ''[[Il Resto del Carlino]]'', ''[[Il Messaggero]]'', ''[[Il Tempo]]'', ''{{Ill|Roma (newspaper)|lt=Roma|it|Roma (quotidiano)}}'', ''[[Il Mattino]]'', ''[[La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno]]'', il ''[[Giornale di Sicilia]]'' for newspapers; and for magazines: ''[[L'Europeo]]'', ''[[L'Espresso]]'', ''[[Panorama (magazine)|Panorama]]'', ''[[Epoca (magazine)|Epoca]]'', ''[[Oggi (magazine)|Oggi]]'', ''[[Gente (magazine)|Gente]]'', ''[[Famiglia Cristiana]]''. And don't forget RAI-TV.}}

===Implementation===
Although the P2 lodge was formally dissolved, many of its former members (some of whose names were not included in the published lists) continued for decades to operate and hold prominent roles in politics, the judiciary, the economy, banking systems, among others, and in cooperation with Roman Catholic bishops and high [[prelate|prelates]] who were operating in Italy in the same years.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.giovannipetta.eu/sessano%20del%20molise/pecorelli_op/op_780912-signed.pdf|author=[[Mino Pecorelli]] |language=it|publisher=[[Osservatore Politico]] |title=La Gran Loggia Massonica Vaticana|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210908192607/http://www.giovannipetta.eu/sessano%20del%20molise/pecorelli_op/op_780912-signed.pdf |archive-date=8 September 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www-unavox-it.translate.goog/ArtDiversi/DIV255a_Agnoli_Massoneria_conquista_Chiesa.html?_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=it&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=it&_x_tr_pto=wapp|author=Carlo Alberto Agnoli|language=it|title=La massoneria alla conquista della Chiesa|website=[[Una Voce]]}} </ref> Mgr. [[Marcel Lefebvre]] suggested the existence of a Masonic Lodge in the Vatican<ref>Quote: "It is becoming increasingly clear that there is indeed a Masonic lodge in the Vatican. And now, when we go to meet a secretary of a Vatican congregation, or a cardinal sitting on a seat where there used to be holy cardinals who had the Faith and defended the Christian faith, who were men of the Church... now we find ourselves in front of a Freemason." (see [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X_7Q_NFfz0 Interview of 8 June 1978])</ref> with close relationships to other regular Masonic obediences.<ref>Quote:" But all the American newspapers wrote that, before the Council, Cardinal Bea, founder of the Vatican Secretariat for Ecumenism, had met with the leaders of the most influential Jewish-Masonic lodge at the Astoria Hotel in New York and asked them what they expected from the Council." (see Guillermo R. Zorraquin Vivot, ''Siete Dias Ilustrados'' (Argentinian journal), n°. 528,  29 July – 4 August 1977, pp. 4-9 (in Spanish). Quoted in [http://fsspx.org/fr/si-cest-mon-devoir-je-sacrerai-des-%C3%A9v%C3%AAques/ FPPX South America]''. URL archived on [https://archive.today/yavji/ 18 May 2019]) </ref>

The progressive implementation of the Plan of Democratic Rebirth has been detailed by some Italian media.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Il-Piano-di-rinascita-democratica-della-P2-commentato-da-Marco-Travaglio.pdf|title=Piano di rinascita democratica|language=it|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240813020113/https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Il-Piano-di-rinascita-democratica-della-P2-commentato-da-Marco-Travaglio.pdf|archive-date=August 13, 2024|url-status=live|website=[[Il Fatto Quotidiano]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ilfoglio.it/giustizia/2024/03/15/news/-la-p2-ha-vinto-le-incredibili-parole-del-giudice-morello-membro-del-csm-6330522/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250416160906/https://www.ilfoglio.it/giustizia/2024/03/15/news/-la-p2-ha-vinto-le-incredibili-parole-del-giudice-morello-membro-del-csm-6330522/|archive-date=April 16, 2025|url-status=live|title='La P2 ha vinto': le incredibili parole del giudice Morello, membro del Csm|author=Ermes Antonucci|date=March 15, 2024|website=[[Il Foglio]]}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Anti-communist mass killings]]
* [[Operation Gladio]]
* [[Strategy of tension]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==

* Cento Bull, Anna. ''Italian Neofascism: The Strategy of Tension and the Politics of Nonreconciliation''. Bergahn Books. 2011.
* DeHoyos, Art & S. Brent Morris (1997). ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20060828164625/http://indianafreemasons.com/imoanti/isittrue/chap1.htm The methods of anti-Masons]'', Masonic Information Center.
* Dickie, John. ''Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia'', Palgrave Macmillan, 2004 {{ISBN|1403966966}}
* Ginsborg, Paul (2003). ''Italy and Its Discontents'', London: Palgrave Macmillan {{ISBN|1-4039-6152-2}} 
* Ginsborg, Paul (2005). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=fi6I0dxdheoC Silvio Berlusconi: television, power and patrimony]'', London: Verso, 2005 {{ISBN|1-84467-541-6}}
* Herman, Edward and Frank Brodhead (1986) ''The Rise and Fall of the Bulgarian Connection'', New York: Sheridan Square 
* Jones, Tobias (2003). ''The Dark Heart of Italy.'' New York: North Point Press.
* {{cite book |author=Lorenzo Magnolfi |title=Networks di potere e mercati illeciti: il caso della loggia massonica P2 |language=it |location=Messina |publisher=Rubbettino |year=1996 |pages=184 |isbn=978-8872844175 |oclc=36047466 |series=Problemi aperti (n. 26)}}<ref>{{cite book |author=Lucia Vosca |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8QfhBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT235 |title=Propaganda: L'origine della più potente loggia massonica |date=2011 |publisher=Lit Edizioni|isbn=978-8868266387 |page=235 |oclc=1105713591 |access-date=August 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190822235227/https://books.google.it/books?id=8QfhBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT235&lpg=PT235&dq=%22Networks+di+potere+e+mercati+illeciti+:+il+caso+della+loggia+massonica+P2%22&source=bl&ots=PLlSabL3rN&sig=ACfU3U1GJps2B8uPkoc6PuelEMq6UlEEuQ&hl=it&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiGwsiT1ZfkAhXMb5oKHXijCFYQ6AEwB3oECA8QAQ%23v=onepage&q=%22Networks%20di%20potere%20e%20mercati%20illeciti%20:%20il%20caso%20della%20loggia%20massonica%20P2%22&f=false |archive-date=August 22, 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Gabriella Mastellarini |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ON3raAF621AC&pg=PA76 |title=Assalto alla stampa: controllare i media per governare l'opinione pubblica |publisher=Edizioni Dedalo |year=2004 |isbn=978-8822053435 |series=Strumenti, scenari (n. 43) |location=Bari |page=76 |oclc=237881440 |access-date=August 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190822234854/https://books.google.it/books?id=ON3raAF621AC&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=%22Networks+di+potere+e+mercati+illeciti+:+il+caso+della+loggia+massonica+P2%22&source=bl&ots=MLsnALQe3s&sig=ACfU3U21ERyBZcxXiAWIIobJyYx7Afu-gA&hl=it&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiGwsiT1ZfkAhXMb5oKHXijCFYQ6AEwCHoECAkQAQ%23v=onepage&q=%22Networks%20di%20potere%20e%20mercati%20illeciti%20:%20il%20caso%20della%20loggia%20massonica%20P2%22&f=false |archive-date=August 22, 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Edoardo Narduzzi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MhoyBMkTsTUC&pg=PT4 |title=Sesto potere: chi governa la società nell'era della tecnologia di massa e dell'innovazione permanente |publisher=Rubettino |year=2004 |isbn=978-8849809244 |access-date=August 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190823000058/https://books.google.it/books?id=MhoyBMkTsTUC&pg=PT4&lpg=PT4&dq=%22Networks+di+potere+e+mercati+illeciti+:+il+caso+della+loggia+massonica+P2%22&source=bl&ots=95pB1qK1VY&sig=ACfU3U0Yr5ZlBKI4aQiZyb2EqnyTxASBog&hl=it&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi2koPK15fkAhWBPFAKHQ3UCMkQ6AEwCHoECAcQAQ%23v=onepage&q=%22Networks%20di%20potere%20e%20mercati%20illeciti%20:%20il%20caso%20della%20loggia%20massonica%20P2%22&f=false |archive-date=August 23, 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Normand, P.G. "The Italian Dilemma". ''American Masonic Review'', Vol. 3, No. 2. Publ. by St. Alban's Research Society, College Station, Texas; Spring 1994.
* {{cite book |author=Pietro Ingrao |author2=Giuseppe D'Alema |title=La resistibile ascesa della P2: poteri occulti e Stato democratico |location=Bari, Reinheim |publisher=De Donato, X.I. |series=Dissensi (n. 124) |language=it |year=1983 |oclc=489638013 |isbn=978-8832601244 |author-link=Pietro Ingrao |author2-link=Massimo D'Alema}} (''Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg der Loge P2'', in the 1984 German edition)
* {{cite book |first1=Enrico |last1=Simoni |first2=Gustavo |last2=Raffi |language=it |title=Bibliografia della massoneria in Italia |volume=III |location=Foggia |publisher=Bastogi |year=2006 |oclc=1091228865 |isbn=978-8881858439 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au:Simoni,+Enrico.&qt=hot_author |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190627191214/https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au:Simoni,+Enrico.&qt=hot_author |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 27, 2019 |access-date=Jun 27, 2019}}
* Sterling, Claire, ''The Mafia: The Long Reach of the International Sicilian Mafia'' {{ISBN|0586212345}}
* [[Alexander Stille|Stille, Alexander]] (1995). ''Excellent Cadavers. The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic'', New York: Vintage {{ISBN|0-09-959491-9}}
* Unger, Craig. ''[http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/07/yellowcake200607?currentPage=1 The war they wanted, the lies they needed]'', Vanity Fair, July 2006.
* Willan, Philip.  ''The Last Supper: the Mafia, the Masons and the Killing of Roberto Calvi'', Constable & Robinson, 2007 {{ISBN|978-1-84529-296-6}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051104025557/http://www.societacivile.it/focus/articoli_focus/massoni/p2.html Article by Gianni Barbacetto]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190423214536/http://www.philipwillan.com/ Philip Willan, personal website of journalist and author with information on Roberto Calvi, Banco Ambrosiano, Licio Gelli, Propaganda Due.]

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