The Catholic Church first prohibited Catholics from membership in Masonic organizations and other secret societies in 1738. Since then, at least eleven popes have made pronouncements about the incompatibility of Catholic doctrines and Freemasonry.
From 1738 until 1983, Catholics who associated with, or publicly supported, Masonic organizations were censured with automatic excommunication. Since 1983, excommunication is no longer automatic but optional. Reprint of From Pope John Paul II's 1983 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's (CDF) Declaration on Masonic Associations states that "faithful who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion" and membership in Masonic associations is prohibited.
The most recent official Holy See documents about the "incompatibility of Freemasonry with the Catholic faith" were issued in 1985, and in November 2023 by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
History
In 1736, the Inquisition investigated a Masonic lodge in Florence, Italy, which it condemned in June 1737. The lodge had originally been founded in 1733 by the English Freemason Charles Sackville, 2nd Duke of Dorset,Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, cited in but accepted Italian members, such as the lodge's secretary Tommaso Crudeli. From Also in 1736, on 26 December, Andrew Michael Ramsay delivered an oration to a Masonic meeting in Paris on the eve of the election of Charles Radclyffe as Grand Master of the French Freemasons. In March 1737 he sent an edited copy to the chief minister, Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury, seeking his approval for its delivery to an assembly of Freemasons, and his approval of the craft in general. Fleury's response was to brand the Freemasons as traitors, and ban their assemblies. This ban, and the Italian investigation led,Carr's, The Freemason at Work, cited in in 1738, to Pope Clement XII promulgating In eminenti apostolatus, the first canonical prohibition of Masonic associations.
Clement XII wrote that the reasons for prohibiting Masonic associations are that members, "content with form of natural virtue, are associated with one another" by oaths with "grave penalties ... to conceal in inviolable silence whatever they secretly do together." These associations have aroused suspicions that "to join these associations is precisely synonymous with incurring the taint of evil and infamy, for if they were not involved in evil doing, they would never be so very averse to the light [of publicity] ... The rumor [of these doings] has so grown that" several governments have suppressed them "as being opposed to the welfare of the kingdom." Clement XII wrote that these kinds of associations are "not consistent with the provisions of either civil or canon law" since they harm both "the peace of the civil state" and "the spiritual salvation of souls."
Pope Leo XII attempted to assess the extent and influence of anti-social organizations. He inserted and confirmed the texts of , , and in his 1825 apostolic constitution, Quo graviora, "to condemn them in such a way that it would be impossible to claim exemption from the condemnation".
Reiteration of ban on membership by subsequent popes
The ban in was reiterated and expanded upon by Benedict XIV in 1751 with , Pius VII in 1821 with , Leo XII in 1825 with , Pius VIII in 1829 with , Gregory XVI in 1832 with , and Pius IX's writings of 1846, 1849, 1864, 1865, 1869, and 1873.
"The decisive impetus for the Catholic anti-Masonic movement" was Humanum genus, promulgated by Pope Leo XIII in 1884. Leo XIII wrote that his primary objection to Masonry was naturalism; his accusations were about pantheism, rationalism, and naturalism, but not about Satanism. Leo XIII analysed continental Grand Orient type philosophical "principles and practices." While naturalism was present everywhere in other types of lodges, "the subversive, revolutionary activity characteristic of the Grand Orient lodges of the continent" was not. Leo XIII "emphasises that 'the ultimate and principal aim' of Masonry 'was to destroy to its very foundations any civil or religious order established throughout Christendom, and bring about in its place a new order founded on laws drawn out of the entrails of naturalism'."
Praeclara gratulationis publicae In Praeclara gratulationis publicae, Leo XIII namely stated about Freemasonry: "Although We have spoken on this subject in the strongest terms before, yet We are led by Our Apostolic watchfulness to urge it once more, and We repeat Our warning again and again, that in face of such an eminent peril, no precaution, howsoever great, can be looked upon as sufficient. May God in His Mercy bring to naught their impious designs; nevertheless, let all Christians know and understand that the shameful yoke of Freemasonry must be shaken off once and for all; and let them be the first to shake it off who are most galled by its oppression–the men of Italy and of France. With what weapons and by what method this may best be done We Ourselves have already pointed out: the victory cannot be doubtful to those who trust in that Leader Whose Divine Words still remain in all their force: I have overcome the world."
1917 code of canon law Under the 1917 Code of Canon Law (), which was in effect from May 1918 to November 1983, Catholics associated with Masonry were: automatically, i.e. latae sententia, excommunicated (per canon 2335), deprived of marriage in the Catholic Church, excluded from Catholic associations, deprived of Catholic funeral rites, invalidated from novitiate, invalidated reception of personal jus patronatus, with additional penalties against clergy, religious, and members of secular institutes.
Under , books which argue that "Masonic sects" and similar groups are "useful and not harmful to the Church and civil society" were prohibited.
Uncertainty following the Second Vatican Council The Catholic Church began an evaluation of its understanding of Masonry during (but not at) Vatican II. Throughout the jubilee of 1966, Pope Paul VI granted every confessor the faculty to absolve censures and penalties of 1917 Code of Canon Law'''s canon 2335 incurred by penitents who completely separated themselves from Masonic association and promised to repair and prevent, as far as possible, any scandal and damage they caused.
After a four-year investigation in five Scandinavian Bishops' Conference (CES) countries, the decided in 1967 to apply the 1966 post-conciliar norms in , "which empowers bishops in special cases to dispense from certain injunctions of Canon Law." The permitted, within its jurisdiction, converts to Catholicism to retain their Swedish Rite membership, "but only with the specific permission of that person's bishop."
In early 1968, The Tablet reported that Vatican sources had "been quoted as saying that Catholics are now free to join the Masons in the United States, Britain and most other countries of the world. However, the European Grand Orient Lodge of Masons, established primarily in Italy and France, is still considered anti-Catholic or, at least, atheistic," and that "the 'let it be known that Catholics joining the Freemasons are no longer automatically excommunicated. The Church's new attitude has been in effect for more than a year.' The Church's Code of Canon Law drawn up in 1918 and shortly to be reformed, provided for automatic excommunication of Catholics 'who enroll in the Masonic sect or in secret societies conspiring against the Church or the legitimate authorities.' Vatican sources added that this wording would be changed to modify the Church's position when the new Code of Canon Law was completed." These reports apparently caused consternation in the Vatican, and were quickly corrected. The Holy See publicly said that canon 2335 was not abrogated, and denied it planned to "change profoundly" its historic prohibition against Catholics joining Masonic groups, although confidential sources said "a change in attitude in the future was considered possible."
Informal dialogues between Catholic Church and Masonic representatives took place after Vatican II in Austria, Italy and Germany. In Austria, Freemason Karl Baresch, representative of the Grand Lodge of Austria, informally met Cardinal Franz König, president of the Secretariat for Non-Believers, at Vienna in 1968. Later, a commission of Catholic Church and Masonic representatives conducted a dialogue and produced the 1970 , an interpretative statement directed at Paul VI; Cardinal Franjo Šeper, prefect of the ; and other Catholic authorities. It "contained serious faults in philosophical-theological and, above all, historical terms," according to Professor Zbigniew Suchecki, and "was never officially recognized by" the Catholic Church.
In 1971, Bishop Daniel Pézeril, auxiliary bishop of Paris, accepted an invitation from the Grande Loge de France to lecture. This was the first official reception of a Catholic bishop after 1738.
While some speculated about post-conciliar revision of canon law and how norms would be legislated and enforced, the canonical prohibition against Catholics joining Masonic groups remained in force in 1974.
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales (CBCEW) stated in 1974 that consultations with the world's bishops failed to produce consensus about the Catholic Church's relationship with Masonry. The wrote that many bishops had asked it about how to weight and interpret canon 2335. The divergent replies it gave reflected different situations in various countries. The reiterated that canons which establish a penalty are subject to strict interpretation, so canon 2335 applied only to Catholics who were members of Masonic associations that machinate against the Church. The interpreted as instructing bishops that canon 2335 "no longer automatically bars a Catholic from membership of Masonic groups" since it is subject to strict interpretation, and that "a Catholic who joins the Freemasons is excommunicated only if the policy and actions of the Freemasons in his area are known to be hostile to the Church." So, the defined norms within its jurisdiction, that Catholics, who believed that membership in Masonic associations "does not conflict" with their "deeper loyalty" to their incorporation in the Catholic Church, should "discuss the implications of such membership" with their parish priest. Likewise, Catholics in Masonic associations were "urged to seek reconciliation."
German Bishops' Conference In 1980, after six years of dialogue with representatives of the United Grand Lodges of Germany and investigation of Masonic rituals, the produced a report on Freemasonry listing twelve conclusions.
Among the 's conclusions were that Freemasonry denies revelation, and objective truth. They also alleged that religious indifference is fundamental to Freemasonry, and that Freemasonry is Deist, and that it denies the possibility of divine revelation, so threatening the respect due to the Church's teaching office. The sacramental character of Masonic rituals was seen as signifying an individual transformation, offering an alternative path to perfection and having a total claim on the life of a member. It concludes by stating that all lodges are forbidden to Catholics, including Catholic-friendly lodges.
Šeper's clarification The 1981 Declaration Concerning Status of Catholics Becoming Freemasons said that the 1974 reply had "given rise to erroneous and tendentious interpretations." The 1981 declaration also affirmed that the prohibition against Catholics joining Masonic groups had not changed and remained in effect.
1983 code of canon law The Catholic Church abrogated and replaced the with the 1983 Code of Canon Law () which took effect in November 1983. canon 2335 developed into the 's canon 1374. Unlike the abrogated canon 2335, however, canon 1374 does not name any groups it condemns; it states: