During most of the twentieth century, the prohibition on Catholics being Freemasons was well known, as it was explicitly mentioned in the the 1917 Code of Canon Law. Canon 2335 conferred the penalty of excommunication on any Catholic who was the member of a sect which conspired against the Church or the State, including Freemasonry.

However, as time progressed, various clerics began to engage in an appeasement approach which caused confusion among the faithful – and indeed, among the clergy themselves. This came to a head in the 1970’s when Cardinal John Krol of Philadelphia requested clarification on the matter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Prefect of the CDF at that time was Cardinal Franjo Seper, who wrote to Cardinal Krol assuring him that the penalty of automatic excommunication only applied to members of those organisations which actively plotted against the Church.

Coming as it did, with the apparent authority of the CDF, this statement was seen by many as a blanket lifting of the penalty for Masonic membership.

The Revised Code of Canon Law

Pope John Paul II established the Plenary Congregation of the Pontifical Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law in 1981 to make the changes which were eventually promulgated two years later. The majority of the members of the Plenary Congregation were not in favour of renewing canon 2335, the Canon referring to Freemasonry, and so it was dropped from the 1983 Code.

Instead, a new canon was created, canon 1374, which omits any explicit mention of Freemasonry. Canon 1374 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 ¹.”

Those in favour of the Change

The arguments in favour of not renewing the Code included the belief that in most countries, Freemasonry no longer posed a threat to the Church; that if a threat did in fact exist, many Masons were unaware of a anti-Catholic agenda within their sect; and that Communism posed more of a threat than Freemasonry. There was also a desire to conform to guidelines set down by Paul VI which sought to reduce the number of latae sententiae penalties in the Code.

Included among those who held this position were Esteban Gomez, OP, an instructor at the Angelicum in Rome; Cardinal Rosalio José Castillo Lara, SDB, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law; Bishop José Vicente Andueza Henriquez of Venezuela; Bishop Roman Arrieta Villalobos, President of the Bishops’ Conference of Costa Rica; and Cardinal Franz König, Archbishop of Vienna.

The inclusion of Cardinal König’s name is somewhat unsurprising as he was well-known to the Italian Freemasons who even claimed to have given him money on several occasions:

First, he started a confidential dialogue with the most important Masons. Once it was accepted, he waited for the right moment to propose a different image of Masonry to Catholics. His influence in the Code was decisive. Koenig is well aware of what the Institution is. He has a good understanding of Masonic “solidarity,” because every time he asked help from us, he received it, without having to explain the purpose for that money.

Italian Grand Master Armando Corona, from a 1990 interview

Those Against the Change

Those who were in favour of retaining Canon 2335 included the German Bishops’ Conference, who had been engaged in extensive dialogue with Freemasons, yet concluded that in its essence, Freemasonry remained hostile to the Church. Cardinal Siri was also against any change, saying that nothing in Freemasonry had changed. Cardinal Ratzinger, then Prefect of the CDF, declared that Freemasonry posed an ‘extraordinary danger’ and that if it was thought in some countries to have changed, then that only indicated that its danger was not understood by the bishops there.

Further, Cardinal Pietro Palazzini, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, stated that retaining the penalty of excommunication for Freemasons did not violate Paul VI’s guidelines. He said that:

….. their “creed” is “apostasy, at least implicitly”; that is, it eliminates truth and revealed religion while welcoming Catholics as “useful idiots”. In pastoral practice there is a need to avoid equivocating and to clearly show the sure way to salvation. Freemasonry is more dangerous than Communism, because while Communism is the explicit enemy of the Church, Freemasonry is more subtle.

Fr. Paolo M. Siano, referring to Cardinal Palazzini’s statement.

Ratzinger Fights Back

Cardinal Ratzinger, obviously unhappy with the outcome, released his “Declaration on Catholic Membership in Masonic Associations” in 1983. Ratzinger explains that the omission of specific mention of Freemasonry in the 1983 Code was due to “editorial criteria” and goes on to reiterate the Church’s long-held view:

Therefore 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 enrol in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.

The Subsequent “Commentary”

A Commentary on the Code of Canon Law was released in 1985 then republished in 2001. Both editions were edited by Monsignor Pio Vito Pinto, whose name curiously appeared on the famous Pecorilli’s List of Ecclesiastical Freemasons. Msgr Pinto went on to become Dean of the Roman Rota and is known to have expressed great outrage at the Dubia of the Four Cardinals against the heretical actions of Pope Francis.

Notably absent from the Commentary is any mention of the long-standing prohibition on Catholics being members of Freemasonry. Rather the Commentary mentions only Canon 1374, the Canon requiring a “just punishment” for members of any association which conspires against the Church. According to the Commentary, “it is not easy to apply canon 1374 unless the competent universal and local ecclesiastical authority clearly indicate which organizations fall under the authority of that canon…”

One can only wonder at the blindness of those clerics who failed to see that Freemasonry never lost its anti-Catholic agenda.

SOURCES

Declaration on Masonic Associations, 1983. Vatican website.

How the Prohibition on Freemasonry Disappeared from the Code of Canon Law. One Peter Five.

The Catholic Church & Masonry. Tradition in Action.

Cardinal Franz König Receives Money from the Masonry. Tradition in Action.

Msgr Pinto reiterates His Opinion NC Register

1. A prohibition which excludes the faithful from certain activities such as participating in the Mass and Sacraments or from having a Christian burial. ↩︎