Freemasonry means different things to different places. In Europe, it followed the parable of certain sectors of the bourgeoise, some of whom ended up in very dark places after universal suffrage became commonplace.

For example, until fairly recently, in some Italian cities if you wanted a career in the civil service you had to choose between Catholicism, Communism, and Freemasonry. No conspiracy needed, just regular turf wars: three churches competing to place “their men” where decisions were made.

The vulgata is that Freemasonry is still relatively strong in Italian academia. It’s just a form of networking in a country that officially forbids networking as a concept — like many things in Catholic states, it is officially forbidden but everybody does it anyway.