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It’s pretty clear that the claim that Joe Biden has joined the Freemasons is fake news.

This is a non-story that has thrown a lot of fuel on the preconceptions of Catholics, conspiracy theorists, and (most especially) Catholic conspiracy theorists.

This story began when the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of South Carolina announced that, on January 19, 2025, they had conferred Master Mason membership upon President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., in recognition of his “exceptional dedication and service to the United States of America.”

The announcement said:

It is with great pleasure that I, Victor C. Major 27th The Most Worshipful Grand Master, welcome our newest member to the Prince Hall Family.  On Sunday, January 19, 2025 at a private event, Master Mason membership with full honors were conferred upon President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. in recognition of his outstanding service to the United States of America.

The letter was accompanied by three photographs greeting and shaking hands with two men dressed in Masonic regalia.

Even I fell for it briefly. I certainly didn’t think he went through the rituals and ceremonies that are typically required to become a Freemason, but I thought that perhaps he’d attended an event at a lodge and they’d given him some kind of honorary membership — similar to the way a commencement speaker receives an honorary doctorate from a university.

But it wasn’t even that. It may even have been done without his knowledge. According to several sources, the “ceremony” took place in a receiving line during the former president’s visit to South Carolina that day. The report came from the lodge, and does not in any way suggest Biden actually accepted the membership. It’s fake news. When I met Pope Francis in a receiving line with my family in April 2022, I am pretty certain he didn’t understand 80 percent of what I said, let alone remember it. People in receiving lines receive gifts all the time, such as when Taylor Marshall gave Pope Francis a copy of his book. This does not make Pope Francis a Taylor Marshall fan.

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Unfortunately, the announcement was met with significant controversy, particularly within reactionary Catholic circles, due to the longstanding prohibition against Catholics joining Masonic organizations. The Catholic Church has maintained a firm stance against Freemasonry since 1738, viewing its principles as incompatible with Church doctrine. Catholics who enroll in Masonic associations are considered to be in a state of grave sin and are prohibited from receiving Holy Communion.

Moreover, for Biden to be considered a Freemason, he would have had to accept the conferred membership. There is no clear evidence that he did so. Without his explicit consent, the conferral of membership holds no canonical or practical significance.

The Pillar’s Ed Condon (in an otherwise decent analysis) suggested that Biden might be a member “passively by not rejecting the designation,” but that seems to suggest that anyone could be made a member of any organization against their will. Some things are not worth dignifying with a response. And in some cases a public renunciation — such as a white former president publicly repudiating an honor given to him by a Black organization based in the Deep South — could create bigger problems than the one he’s seeking to fix.

Not to mention, if all it takes to make someone a Freemason is for the Freemasons to claim someone as a member, then it seems Pope Pius IX was our first masonic pope, because they claim him too. This goes back to his time as pope.


Image: Adobe Stock. By Man888.


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Mike Lewis is the founding managing editor of Where Peter Is. He and Jeannie Gaffigan co-host Field Hospital, a U.S. Catholic podcast.

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