text: The success in integrating the Jews into areas of society where Frederick encouraged them can be seen by Gerson von Bleichröder's role during the 19th century in financing Otto von Bismarck's efforts to unite Germany. Frederick was less tolerant of Catholicism in his occupied territories. In Silesia, he disregarded canon law to install clergy who were loyal to him. In Polish Prussia, he confiscated the Roman Catholic Church's goods and property, making clergy dependent on the government for their pay and defining how they were to perform their duties.
  Like many leading Enlightenment figures, Frederick was a Freemason, having joined during a trip to Brunswick in 1738. His membership legitimised the group's presence in Prussia and protected it against charges of subversion. In 1786, he became the First Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree; his double-headed eagle emblem was used for 32nd and 33rd degree Masons following the adoption of seven additional degrees to the Masonic Rite.
  Frederick's religious views resulted in his condemnation by the anti-revolutionary French Jesuit, Augustin Barruel. In his 1797 book,  (Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism), Barruel described an influential conspiracy theory that accused King Frederick of taking part in a plot which led to the outbreak of the French Revolution and having been the secret "protector and adviser" of fellow-conspirators Voltaire, Jean le Rond d'Alembert, and Denis Diderot, who all sought "to destroy Christianity" and foment "rebellion against Kings and Monarchs".