Vatican affirms ban on Freemason membership for Catholics

THE VATICAN: In a letter published by Vatican media this week, the Catholic Church affirmed a ban on Catholics becoming Freemasons.

"Active membership in Freemasonry by a member of the faithful is prohibited because of the irreconcilability between Catholic doctrine and Freemasonry," the Vatican's Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith said in the letter.

In response to a bishop from the Philippines who