Julito Cortes, Bishop of Dumaguete, contacted the DDF to obtain a Roman response on this subject which sometimes meets opposition from certain members of the clergy itself in the Philippines.
The Background of this Consultation
Last April the Philippine Conference of Bishops published a statement on the issue which came in the context of the local phase of the Synod on Synodality. There was then a lively debate on the participation of “Catholic Freemasons” in the synodal consultations. Some faithful believed that the Church had relaxed its rules on membership in masonry.
The bishops’ warning recalled that “The Philippine Hierarchy, as early as 1954 up until the present, has always maintained and defended the official Catholic (magisterial) position on the unacceptability of Masonry, given it serious errors both in doctrine (philosophical tenets) and practices.” And it refers to the November 26, 1983 Declaration from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).
The DDF’s Response
It seems that the intervention of the Philippine episcopate was not sufficient in view of the request made to Rome. It is possible that certain “Catholic Masons,” if it is permissible to use such an oxymoron, have relativized the bishops’ declaration.
In his request, Bishop Cortes expresses his concern about the continued increase in the number of members of Freemasonry, and asks for suggestions to address this reality.
The response notes that “membership in Freemasonry is very significant in the Philippines; it involves not only those who are formally enrolled in Masonic Lodges but, more generally a large number of sympathizers and associates who are personally convinced that there is no opposition between membership in the Catholic Church and in Masonic lodges.”
The response suggests a coordinated strategy among the individual bishops: first recalling that “active membership in Freemasonry by a member of the faithful is forbidden because of the irreconcilability between Catholic doctrine and Freemasonry” (cf . 1983 CDF Statement). “Those who are formally and knowingly enrolled in Mason Lodges and have embraced Masonic principles fall under the provisions (prohibition of receiving communion) in the Declaration.”
“The Dicastery proposes that the Philippine Bishops conduct catechesis accessible to the people and in all parishes regarding the reasons for the irreconcilability between the Catholic Faith and Freemasonry.” And the DDF invites the Bishops “to consider whether they should make a public pronouncement on the matter.” It seems that the DDF does not know that the last declaration from the episcopate dates from less than a year ago.
There may be local reasons for confusion, but the fact that the ban on joining masonry under penalty of excommunication – included in the Code of 1917 (c. 2335) – was not taken up by the new code may explain the contention and confusion.
In a response to a Filipino bishop, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) reaffirmed that a Catholic may not join Freemasonry.