ROME – The Vatican’s doctrinal office has reaffirmed the incompatibility of Masonry and Catholicism.
The response from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) came in response to a question posed by Bishop Julito Cortes of Dumaguete in the Philippines about what was described as “the continuous rise in the number of the faithful enrolled in Freemasonry” among Filipino Catholics.
Bishop Cortes asked the DDF, led by Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, for suggestions on how to engage the issue pastorally while also taking into account “the doctrinal implications related to this phenomenon”.
Cardinal Fernández (pictured) said: “It should be remembered that active membership in Freemasonry by a member of the faithful is forbidden because of the irreconcilability between Catholic doctrine and Freemasonry.”
He cited a 1983 Declaration on Masonic Associations published by the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, as well as a set of guidelines on handling the issue of Masonry published by the CBCP in 2003.
“Those who are formally and knowingly enrolled in Masonic Lodges and have embraced Masonic principles fall under the provisions in the above-mentioned Declaration,” said Cardinal Fernández.
“These measures also apply to any clerics enrolled in Freemasonry.”
In part, Vatican objections to Masonry are theological, grounded in concerns that Masonic doctrines foster pantheism, rationalism and a naturalist view of the world.
The Vatican has also long objected to the practice of secrecy with Masonry, seeing it as a potential cover for subversive and anti-social activity, including attacks on traditional political and spiritual authority.
Catholic faithful who enrol in Masonic associations, the 1983 declaration said, “are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion”.
Furthermore “it is not within the competence of local ecclesiastical authorities to give a judgment on the nature of Masonic associations which would imply a derogation” from those penalties, it said.
At the pastoral level today, Cardinal Fernández suggested that the Filipino bishops conduct catechesis that is “accessible to the people and in all parishes regarding the reasons for the irreconcilability between the Catholic faith and Freemasonry”.
He also invited the bishops to consider making a public statement on the matter.
The Filipino bishops in a lengthy note in 2020 addressing the interest in Freemasonry among local Catholics said the issue despite years of discussion and debate “remains problematic and ticklish for the Catholic Church in the Philippines”.
They lamented that “there is just no consistent way of dealing with them when they or their family members approach the Church for pastoral attention.”
The bishops reiterated the rules barring Catholics from involvement with Masonry, stating that not only are faithful forbidden from joining Masonic associations, but the penalty for a Catholic who does so is automatic excommunication.
They are also considered to be in a state of “grave sin” and are thus barred from receiving communion.
Not only are Catholics who join Masonic associations excommunicated and banned from receiving communion and the other sacraments, but they are also prohibited from acting as sponsors for Baptism or Confirmation and they are not allowed to be admitted as a member of parish or diocesan structures.
These Catholics are also to be denied funeral rights, “unless some signs of repentance before death have been shown,” they said.
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