Praeclara gratulationis publicae (Splendid testimonies of public [rejoicing]) is an apostolic letter of Pope Leo XIII promulgated on 20 June 1894. Content It called for the reunion of Eastern and Western churches into the "Unity of the Faith". It also condemned Freemasonry. A previous letter on the same subject, entitled the epistle to the Easterners, had been written by Pope Pius IX in 1848. Reactions and legacy In 1895, it was criticized by Ecumenical Patriarch Anthimus VII. The call for unity was re-asserted by the Second Vatican Council's Unitatis redintegratio, although the latter statement articulates a different kind of ecclesiology that is more in line with the Council's spirit of cooperation with fellow Christians. Praeclara was cited in the encyclical Orientales omnes Ecclesias of Pope Pius XII on the topic of Eastern Catholic Churches. Leo XIII has also been criticized by Protestant fundamentalists for having declared in the encyclical that "We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty", which was seen as a sign of the coming apocalypse. See also In Suprema Petri Apostoli Sede Papal ban of Freemasonry East–West Schism List of encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII Papal documents relating to Freemasonry References External links Text of Praeclara gratulationis publicae Catholicism and Freemasonry Catholic Church and ecumenism 1894 documents 1894 in Christianity June 1894 events Apostolic letters of Pope Leo XIII