Why aren't catholics allowed to be masons?

Question

What is the real reason? What are they so afraid of?

50 of 51 Constitution signers were known masons.

Answer 1

Because of the Freemason's beliefs and practices.



Freemasonry promotes indifferentism, the heretical (to Christians) belief that all religions are equally legitimate attempts to explain the truth about God but that this truth will never be explained. This is incompatible with Christian faith because Christians believe that God has definitively revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, and desires that all men come to the knowledge of this truth.



Freemasonry's teachings and practices also result in syncretism which is the blending of different religious beliefs into a unified whole. This shown in Masonry's religious rituals, which gather men of all faiths around a common altar, and place all religious writings along side the Bible on the Masonic altar.



The Lodge's practice of requiring its members to swear immoral oaths is also incompatible with Christianity. These oaths require a Christian to swear on the Holy Bible that he will uphold a code of moral conduct that prefers Masons to non-Masons, and to preserve secret passwords and handshakes. Such oaths are immoral because they are trivial and not necessary. These oaths are sworn under penalties of physical torture and death (e.g., having my throat cut across, and my tongue torn out by its roots). These penalties show a lack of respect for God.



For more information, see: http://www.scripturecatholic.com/freemasonfaq.html



Add: http://www.archdiocese.la/about/faq/index.html



With love in Christ.

Answer 2

The Catholic Canon does not forbid it.

There are non-Canon "declarations" that have been made against Freemasonry, including the most recent from 1983 written by the current Pope.

Canon Law allows such declarations only limited authority, and that authority only applies to the Roman Church... Not all Catholics are Roman Catholics, and other Catholic branches do not share the hostility towards Masonry that the Roman sect holds.



The reasons are purely political, and in 1974 Cardinal Seper issued a statement that the "problem" the Roman Church has with Masonry were not justified.



Only 13 of the signers of the Constitution were Masons, and 9 signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Answer 3

Who says they're not allowed to be Masons?



Virtually every answer here has been completely incorrect, and it shows a lack of understanding of Canon law.



It is NOT forbidden for a Catholic to be a Freemason. At one point it someone could be excommunicated for being a Freemason (Canon 2335). However, this was changed a loooong time ago with Canon 1937, which reads: "One who joins an association which plots against the Church is to be punished with a just penalty; one who promotes or moderates such an association, however, is to be punished with an interdict." As Freemasonry doesn't plot against the Church, it's no longer an issue. Hasn't been an issue for decades.



You are WAY incorrect in the belief that 50 of the 51 Constitution signers were Masons. There were only 39 signers of the Constitution, and of that number, only 13 were Freemasons.

Answer 4

First of all it was 13 signers of the Constitution, and 9 of the 55 signers of the Declaration of Independence. Second Catholics are absolutely allowed to be masons. It is not masonry that has a problem with the Catholic church, it's the Catholic church that banned masonry. The truth is as follows, and one Pope, and I can't remember his name, was interested in masonry, as it practiced and still does, equality. He wanted masons to make him (the Pope) the Operative Grand Master over all masons. He wanted masons to reveal their secrets, As masonry is not a religion, nor is it a religious group, the masons refused. In retaliation, the Pope made an edict banning Catholics from joining masonry. He did allow the creation of a masonic group, that is still in existence today, the Knights of Columbus.



The secrets of masonry are not secrets at all. Grips, words, signs. They are means of identification.



The truth is boring, but is still the truth

Answer 5

your stats on Constitutional signers is wrong, as is your belief that catholics cannot be freemasons



there are many catholic freemasons, including priests, bishops and cardinals and in the past 2 Popes!!! so much for a "ban", one of those popes was AFTER the initial papal ball talking about membership in "secret societies"...



people who think otherwise are ignorant of the facts (such as JP... ugh...)



Daver -- -where did you get the definition of freemasonry??? it is not any masonic defition i have ever seen.... the "universal league of mankind" is pretty much a dead giveaway it is rubbish... freemasons anti-supernatural???? you know nothing about freemasonry, ugh times two....

Answer 6

Because Masonry has teachings and ideologies which are contrary to Christianity as a whole, not just Catholicism.



Further, the Masons were caught in earlier centuries involved in numerous plots against the Roman Catholic Church. While the current incarnation of the Freemason Rite cannot and must not be held liable for the actions of the distant past (any more than the Roman Catholics of today should be held liable for the Crusades or Inquisition), this set up one heck of a rivalry between the two.

Answer 7

Freemasonry does not prohibit catholics from becoming members.



The catholic church has objections to Freemasonry- so they are the ones causing the trouble.

Answer 8

FREEMASONRY - The teachings and practices of a secret international organization whose modern origins date from the first quarter of the eighteenth century. It defines itself as "the activity of closely united men who, employing symbolical forms borrowed principally from the mason's trade and from architecture, work for the welfare of mankind, striving morally to ennoble themselves and others and thereby to bring about a universal league of mankind." Freemasonry began as a fraternity of Deists in Europe, and its basic orientation has bee naturalistic, i.e., anti-supernatural, ever since. The hostility of Masonic lodges to the Catholic Church has evoked numerous declarations of the Holy See, notably of Popes Clement XII (1738), Benedict XIV (1751), Pius IX in several documents, especially the Syllabus of Errors (1864), and Leo XIII in the encyclical Humanum Genus (1884). The Code of Canon Law (1918) decreed that no Catholic may join "Masonic sects or any other similar associations which plot against the Church" (Canon 2335). Since not all Masonic lodges are professedly anti-Catholic, a decision of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith mitigated the severity of the existing law, stating: "In considering particular cases, it must be remembered that the penal law is always subject to strict interpretation. Therefore one may safely teach and apply the opinion of those authors who hold that Canon 2335 refers only to those Catholics who join associations which plot against the Church" (September 18, 1974). In special cases, then, a lay Catholic may belong to a Masonic lodge, but the clergy, religious, and members of secular institutes may not belong.

Answer 9

Catholics are welcome in the Masonic lodge. However, the Roman Catholic Church forbids joining a secret society. Masons must swear to not disclose their secret rituals. The secrets are well-known and in the public domain, but nevertheless they must so swear, and, of course, not disclose them to a Priest, at least not to one who is not a fellow Mason.

Answer 10

You'd have to ask a Catholic, sorry