Quote:
Originally Posted by lulutnl3
Yeah, I think I read somewhere that Catholics were not allowed to be a Mason because of what an old Pope said, but there are a lot of things the Popes and I don't agree on. I just didn't know if it had been done before.
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It's a little more than something an old pope said. Canon law of the Catholic Church prohibits Catholics from becoming masons under penalty of excommunication, and has since 1738. Per the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1983, "the Church’s negative judgment in regard to Masonic association remains unchanged since their principles have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church and therefore membership in them remains forbidden. The faithful who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion." FWIW, this statement from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was written by the current pope, with the approval of JPII.
A 1985 letter of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which determined that "that the principles of Masonry are incompatible with Christian faith and practice whether or not a specific Masonic organization happens to be engaging in activity against the church," can be found
here. That document gives a good summary of the various reasons that the Catholic Church prohibits membership in masonic groups.
That said, there have certainly been Catholics who have joined masonic lodges, and there have been those who believe that the ban doesn't apply unless a masonic organization is actively opposing the Catholic Church.