Should Biden be excommunicated for joining the Masons?

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Feb 05, 2025

On January 19, the final day of his presidency, Joe Biden was presented with a “resolution of membership” in the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of South Carolina. News of the presentation came from the Lodge, not the White House, and to date Biden himself has offered no comment on the event. But when the story emerged, it prompted a flurry of questions among Catholic commentators. Had Biden violated the Church’s strict rule that Catholics may not become Freemasons? If so, could he be excommunicated for the offense?

Since the 18th century, when Masonic lodges emerged as a significant social force in Europe, the Catholic Church has condemned the movement, with several Roman Pontiffs explaining that the teachings of Freemasonry are incompatible with the Catholic faith and destructive of objective morality. Pope Leo XIII, writing in Humanum Genus (1884), pointed to the liberal campaigns to make marriage a simple civil union, and to eliminate parental authority over their children’s religious training; he concluded; “If these be taken away, as the naturalists and Freemasons desire, there will immediately be no knowledge as to what constitutes justice and injustice, or upon what principle morality is founded.”

For that reason, the Code of Canon Law (#2335) promulgated in 1917 provided:

Those giving their name to Masonic sects or other associations of this sort that machinate against the Church or legitimate civil powers contract by that fact excommunication simply reserved to the Apostolic See.

So at first glance it seems clear that Biden has incurred excommunication. But in fact the situation is not at all clear, for two reasons.

• First, it is not clear that Biden formally joined the Masons. Did he go through the process of initiation, or was the “resolution of membership” an honorary gesture—an occasion for a photo op? Did Biden go to South Carolina seeking membership? Did he realize that the Prince Hall Grand Lodge was counting him as a member, or was he caught by surprise? The announcement of his “membership” came in the form of a photo caption, with no details provided.
• Second, the revised Code of Canon Law, issued in 1983, no longer includes the explicit statement that Catholics who become Masons are excommunicated. Instead the new Code (#1374) states: “A person who joins an association which plots against the Church is to be punished with a just penalty…” So to make the case for Biden’s excommunication one would need to prove that the Masons—specifically, the Prince Hall Grand Lodge—was engaged in a conspiracy against the Church, and then demonstrate that the excommunication would be the “just penalty.” Perhaps a trained canon lawyer could make those arguments successfully, but amateur canonists (and I count myself in that category) should not leap to judgment.

However, the Vatican has made a clear judgment on the topic—although it does not mention that magic word “excommunication.” Responding in 1983 to queries about whether the old ban was still in place, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith replied that while the Code of Canon Law was not altogether clear,…

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

So where does that leave Joe Biden, who has continued to profess his Catholic faith, attend Mass, and receive Communion regularly? He is forbidden to receive Communion. But then he was already forbidden to receive Communion, because of his persistent disregard for Catholic teachings on such topics as abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, and gender ideology.

Under the 1917 Code, a Catholic who joined the Freemasons was excommunicated late sententiae. That is, he incurred the canonical penalty by his own act rather than by a bishop’s pronouncement. He chose to separate himself from the communion of the faithful: to excommunicate himself. Therefore, even if his membership in the Lodge was secret, he was forbidden to receive Communion. Whether or not he observed that ban would be a matter for his own conscience.

For the past several decades, most American bishops have waffled on the question of whether prominent Catholics who support legal abortion should be denied the Eucharist. But the bishops’ conference has stated repeatedly that these Catholics are not in good standing and should not present themselves for Communion. In that respect their status is not unlike that of Catholics who become Freemasons.

The reason for the Church’s ban on Masonry—and for the “just penalty” attached to that ban—is the fact that Masonic ideology is “irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church.” Couldn’t the same be said today for the Democratic Party?