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The Catholic Church argues that the philosophy of French Freemasonry (the Grand Orient, not the dominant variety of Freemasonry or the branch that is active in the English-speaking world) is antithetical to Christian doctrine and that it is at many times and places anti-clerical in intent. [4]
Freemasonry is described in its own ritual as a "Beautiful and profound system of morality, veiled in allegories and illustrated by symbols". The symbolism of Freemasonry is found throughout the Masonic lodge, and contains many of the working tools of a medieval or renaissance stonemason. The whole system is transmitted to initiates through the ...
The "irreconcilable principles" that the Church believes Freemasonry possesses include a "deistic God," [r] naturalism, [86] and religious indifferentism. [ s ] Near the time that the 1983 CDF declaration was released, bishops' conferences in Germany and America also released independent reports on the question of Freemasonry.
The Vatican has confirmed a ban on Catholics becoming Freemasons, a centuries-old secretive society that the Catholic Church has long viewed with hostility and has an estimated global membership ...
The majority of the manuscript consists of various rules and ethics that masons should uphold, including: Masons shall labor properly on working days and attend church on holy days; Masons shall be true to God, the king, masters and fellows; Masons shall keep the secrets of their lords and fellows
The Catholic Church has long been an outspoken critic of Freemasonry, and some scholars have often accused the fraternity of anticlericalism. [1] The Catholic Church forbids its members to join any Masonic society under pain of interdiction. Freemasons usually take a diametrically opposite view, stating that there is nothing in Freemasonry that ...
The Letter to U.S. Bishops reiterated the Church's ban on all types of Freemasonry, [5] attaching reports analyzing the religious compatibility of Masonic and Catholic theologies. It is notable that it concentrated on the "naturalistic" beliefs of Freemasons rather than their alleged anti-clerical activities.
The confusion arose from a leaked 1974 private clarification written to some episcopal conferences, which was interpreted by some within the Church and within Freemasonry as permitting Catholics to join Masonic lodges so long as the lodge did not directly plot against the church.