The Vatican has officially declared that Catholics are not allowed to join the Freemasons, a centuries-old, covert organisation with up to six million members worldwide that the Catholic Church has long detested.
The Vatican’s doctrinal office stated in a statement obtained by Vatican media on Wednesday that “active membership in Freemasonry by a member of the faithful is prohibited, because of the irreconcilability between Catholic doctrine and Freemasonry.”
In the letter against Freemasons, it was said that Catholics “in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion” and that the statement was signed in 1983 by the late Pope Benedict XVI, who was the head of Vatican doctrine at the time.
Background
Masonic lodges are typically exclusive to men and are connected to esoteric symbols and practises. They have occasionally been connected to conspiracies that claim they have an excessive influence on international events.
With roots in the customs of mediaeval stonemasons, contemporary Freemasonry, according to the United Grand Lodge of England, “is one of the oldest social and charitable organisations in the world”.
The association claims that there are about six million Freemasons worldwide, of which 180,000 are male and 5,000 are members of two parallel female lodges in England. Some famous freemasons include authors Arthur Conan Doyle and Rudyard Kipling.
