Why does the Catholic church forbid the practice of Freemasonry and not the Protestants.?

Answer 1

If you are a Christian and have read about Freemasonry you would certainly recognize that it is not a Christian based organization.

Answer 2

In the early 1700's (when Freemasonry started to expand), Pope Clement XII published his bull (a pope communication) titled "In Eminenti". He accused us Masons of becoming popular (we were), of binding thier members to secrecy (true), and of threatening their members with penalties for breaking their oaths (true again). No pope as of yet has changed his mind.
What is even more funny is that in the 1950's, Pope Pius XII issued statements denouncing other organizations like the Rotary Club.
Todays stance by the Catholic church isn't so harsh. As far as I know, they recognize we aren't out to take over the world or out to do other nasty stuff. However the oaths that are taken by Freemasons are against Catholic doctrine.
The current Pope still supports the Churches stand against Freemasonry.

I'm not too worried. I am both a Catholic and a Freemason. I remember Pope John Paul stating that condoms were not to be worn by husband and wife even if one had AIDS. Sad, so sad.

As for the Protestants, well there hasn't been an official statements from any heads of ministries (as far as I know), except from Billy Graham in the U.S. He doesn't like us either.

As a note, Freemasonry does not forbid Catholics from joining. Nor do they forbid any man of any faith.

Answer 3

Hey Stagebrat, How ya doing. Basically, Freemasons were considered to be heretics by the Catholic Church. However, it is much more complicated than that. It all goes back to the time of the first crusade and the Knights Templar. This all ties in with the sion secret society, the search for the Holy Grail and the belief that Christ survived the crucifixion and produced offspring who descendants are living to this day. An excellent book to read on this subject is "Hold Blood, Hold Grail". The novel "The Da Vinci Code" is a fictional suspense base loosely on this premise.

Answer 4

Here are three reasons, I am sure there are more.

Freemasonry promotes indifferentism, the heretical (to Christians) belief that all religions are equally legitimate attempts to explain the truth about God but that this truth will never be explained. This is incompatible with Christian faith because Christians believe that God has definitively revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, and desires that all men come to the knowledge of this truth.

Freemasonry's teachings and practices also result in syncretism which is the blending of different religious beliefs into a unified whole. This shown in Masonry's religious rituals, which gather men of all faiths around a common altar, and place all religious writings along side the Bible on the Masonic altar.

The Lodge's practice of requiring its members to swear immoral oaths is also incompatible with Christianity. These oaths require a Christian to swear on the Holy Bible that he will uphold a code of moral conduct that prefers Masons to non-Masons, and to preserve secret passwords and handshakes. Such oaths are immoral because they are trivial and not necessary. These oaths are sworn under penalties of physical torture and death (e.g., having my throat cut across, and my tongue torn out by its roots). These penalties show a lack of respect for God.

With love in Christ.

Answer 5

If you look into history you will see Freemasonry was from the knights templar and they took place in rituals and meditations for the goal of a freemason in the begining was to reach what was called "33rd degree master mason" which was the goal of freemasonry in that time period and the "33rd degree master mason" is in blatant terms to reach god head..to become immortal and have power as the gods themselves it also has ties to satanism in the aspect of rituals but modern day freemasonry has become more christian aspect since the begining of it. so as far as forbidding it it could be the original freemasonry they are forbidding most.

Answer 6

I don't really know much about Freemasonry, except most Christians think of it as almost like a satanic cult.

I think because Catholics are a large monolithic institution, with a defined head, the pope, and very rigid organization, they can take a position.

Protestants almost universally fear Freemasons as well, but they are a diverse group of splinter groups, with no one spokesperson.

Answer 7

Traditionally Freemasonry was seen (fairly or not - depending on your point of view) as being anti-catholic. Now there are catholic Freemason so that is no longer true. Certainly in the old days (even our grandparents time!) freemasonry was seen as very much a protestant thing. It also had anti Semitic overtones applied to it - which is ironic if you think they are sometimes lumped in the same conspiracy theories!

Answer 8

Many Protestant Churches forbid the Mason's to take Communion. This is true and I have often wondered WHY ?

Answer 9

The Church prohibits the taking of secret vows or extant rites outside of the Church because of the Covenant with Christ and the sacramental nature of the gifts of this Covenant. To go against the Creed by a willful act is to endanger the soul, and forms of temptations exist in taking rites or degrees from a source outside of the Church,due to the danger of breaking the seal with which the Church seals you in your Baptismal Promises for eternal life.

Answer 10

The way I found from my thorough reseach on the subject. Freemasonry is a threat to Catholicism as their rival interms of sovereign powers, including justice systems, government and private institution influence.

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Answer 11

A large portion of the Protestant religions forbid freemasonry