Regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary: Impossible for Catholic to be a Freemason
Freemasonry's pagan symbolism and rituals are incompatible with Catholicism.
A communiqué from CIPA Agency on March 2, related the statements made by Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, the regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary, during a conference held in Rome on the theme: The Catholic Church and Freemasonry.
“The Catholic Church has always criticized the mystical conception proper to Freemasonry and declared it incompatible with the Catholic faith.” He recalled that “the Magisterium of the Church officially expressed itself and declared that membership in Freemasonry is incompatible with membership in the Church.”
According to Bishop Girotti, “the negative judgment passed by the Church on Freemasonry was always inspired by doctrinal and practical reasons. The Church always denounced in Freemasonry “philosophical and moral conceptions opposed to Catholic doctrine,” as for instance the “rationalist naturalism which inspires its projects and its activities against the Church.”
For some “Freemasonry might be an element of cohesion” which “would not take a person away from his (her) religion but on the contrary would invite him (her) to adhere to it even more,” said Bishop Girotti ironically, warning against the “climate of secrecy which characterizes Freemasonry”, and which constitutes for those who belong to it “a risk of becoming instruments in strategies they are not aware of.”
Lastly, Bishop Gianfranco Girotti recalled that the Declaration on Masonic Associations (available here from Vatican website) from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, approved in 1983 by John Paul II stated
...enrollment in Masonic Associations ‘remained forbidden by the Church’ and that the faithful who enroll ‘are in a state of grave sin and may not receive holy Communion’.
For the Roman Prelate, the Declaration from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had “become necessary” in order to put an end to the erroneous opinion circulating among the faithful according to which adhesion to a Masonic lodge was licit.
