Joseph R. Biden Jr. Becomes a Freemason and is Excommunicated from the Catholic Church

SUMMARY:
This essay explores the implications of President Biden’s induction into Prince Hall Freemasonry, highlighting the conflict with his Catholic faith and the historical context of this controversial event. It examines the canonical prohibitions against Freemasonry within the Catholic Church, the questionable nature of Biden’s eligibility for Masonic membership, and the motivations behind the Grand Master’s decision. Finally, it critiques the disregard for Biden’s spiritual well-being and the deceptive message this sends to potential Catholic Freemasons.

On Sunday, January 19, 2025, one day before he was to step down as President of the United States of America, Joseph R. Biden, Jr. was made a Mason-On-Sight by the authority and power of Victor C. Major, the Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of South Carolina, becoming the first President to be an excommunicated Catholic and the first President of the United States to join the Prince Hall sect of Freemasonry.

RESOLUTION OF MEMBERSHIP

To be a Freemason is to be part of a brotherhood dedicated to personal growth, service to others, and the pursuit of knowledge and truth. It is an honor to belong to an organization that promotes these timeless values:

WHEREAS, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. has demonstrated exceptional dedication and service to the United States of America.

WHEREAS, his service reflects the core values of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of South Carolina, including brotherly love, relief, and truth.

WHEREAS, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. contributions have significantly benefited the citizens of the United States of America;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that I, 27th Most Worshipful Grand Master, Victor C. Major, on behalf of the members of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of South Carolina, hereby confer membership upon President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. in recognition of his outstanding service to the United States of America.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this resolution of Membership be recorded in the archives of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of South Carolina.

GIVEN THIS 19th DAY OF January A.D. 2025

Victor C. Major
27th Most Worshipful Grand Master
Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge
of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of South Carolina
https://www.saintdominicsmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/joe-biden-becomes-a-prince-hall-freemason.pdf

Throughout his public life, Biden has tried to maintain the appearance of being a devout member in communion with the Catholic Church. However, his gravely sinful actions (e.g., marrying a same-sex couple) and policy positions (e.g., aggressively advocating for prolicide/child sacrifice/abortion) have consistently kept him outside of the Church. This even led to him being denied communion at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Florence, South Carolina, where Pastor Robert Morey refused to give him Communion due to Biden’s public support for legalized abortion, which contradicts the Church’s teachings.

Nonetheless, Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s admission into Freemasonry has formally and definitively excommunicated him from the Catholic Church, based on the nearly three-century-old teachings of the Church (since 1738), encompassing ten papal proclamations (In Eminenti (1738) – Pope Clement XII, Providas Romanorum (1751) – Pope Benedict XIV, Etsi Multa (1873) – Bl. Pope Pius IX, Humanum Genus (1884), Officio Sanctissimo (1887), Dall’alto dell’Apostolicio Seggio (1890), Custodi Di Quella Fede (1892), Inimica Vis (1892), Praeclara Gratulationis (1894) – Pope Leo XIII, Une Fois Encore (1907) – Pope Pius X), three canon laws (1917 Canon No. 2335, 1983 Canon No. 1374, and 1990 CCEO Canon No 1448), and two declarations from the Office of Doctrine of Faith (Quaesitum Est (1983) – Ratzinger & Dicasterium Pro Doctrina Fidei (2023) – Fernandez), along with numerous local diocesan documents.

Quaesitum Est
(Query)
Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith – 1983

It has been asked whether there has been any change in the Church’s decision in regard to Masonic associations since the new Code of Canon Law does not mention them expressly, unlike the previous Code.

Therefore, 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.

It is not within the competence of local ecclesiastical authorities to give a judgment on the nature of Masonic associations which would imply a derogation from what has been decided above, and this in line with the Declaration of this Sacred Congregation issued on 17 February 1981 (cf. AAS 73 1981 pp. 240-241; English language edition of L’Osservatore Romano, 9 March 1981).

This Sacred Congregation is in a position to reply that this circumstance is due to an editorial criterion which was followed also in the case of other associations likewise unmentioned inasmuch as they are contained in wider categories.

SEE: The Catholic Catechism on Freemasonry: A Theological and Historical Treatment on the Catholic Church’s Prohibition Against Freemasonry and its Appendant Masonic Bodies for a thorough treatment of these documents, or take the 13 Lesson Master Class: The Catholic Catechism on Freemasonry: A Lecture Series on Freemasonry Through the Light of Catholicism

The Importance of Quaesitum Est

Ratzinger’s Quaesitum Est is important because it connects the general qualifier “an association which plots against the Church” with the specific Masonic qualifier “Masonic association remains unchanged since their principles have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church . . .” By the term “principles,” Ratzinger is bringing his Declaration into continuity with the preexisting dogmatic prohibition against Freemasonry, which has consistently defined the Masonic principles as indifferentism, relativism, secularism, and naturalism. Moreover, this declaration firmly states that it can never be under the purview of individual bishops to deviate from Church teaching and issue independent judgments “on the nature of Masonic associations.”

Quaesitum Est is also important because it maintains that excommunication is the penalty reserved for those who join Masonic sects. Ratzinger states that the only reason why the word ‘Masonic’ was not explicitly used in the new Code of Canon Law was due to “an editorial criterion.” Inasmuch as we might speculate about the intentions of those who lobbied for such an editorial criterion, we cannot speculate whether the penalty has changed.

On the contrary, Quaesitum Est clearly states in three different instances that excommunication is still the penalty reserved for those who join Masonic sects. First, Ratzinger states that “the Church’s negative judgment in regard to Masonic association remains unchanged.” Unchanged, meaning that the 1983 Canon No. 1374 persists in continuity with the 1917 Canon No. 2335 and with every previous Papal Bull and encyclical on this issue. Second, he states that enrolling in Masonic associations is a “grave sin.” Grave sin, according to Church teaching, “deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes up incapable of eternal life . . .”[1] Third, he states that those who enroll in Masonic associations “may not receive Holy Communion.” Again, without stating the word ‘excommunication,’ Ratzinger has, in these three instances, pointed to excommunication as still being the penalty reserved for enrolling in Masonic sects. In this way, Quaesitum Est is in line with the Church’s teaching on excommunication:

Catechism of the Catholic Church Para. 1463: “Certain particularly grave sins incur excommunication, the most severe ecclesiastical penalty, which impedes the reception of the sacraments and the exercise of certain ecclesiastical acts, and for which absolution consequently cannot be granted, according to canon law, except by the Pope, the bishop of the place or priests authorized by them.[2] In danger of death, any priest, even if deprived of faculties for hearing confessions, can absolve from every sin and excommunication.[3]“

In the instant case, excommunication for enrolling in Masonic sects is proven by Quaesitum Est, affirming it is a ‘grave sin’ and that it impedes the reception of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist (communion). As I stated in the third paragraph of my commentary on In Eminenti apostolatus specula (Cf. The Catholic Catechism on Freemasonry), per Canon Law (1364 – 1399), the remedy for the penalty incurred for enrolling in Masonic associations is no longer reserved to the Pope alone but can now be resolved by a priest (with the proper faculties) through the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, such as other grave sins can also be (e.g., murder, theft, masturbation, and adultery).

How was Joseph R. Biden Jr. Made a Master Mason-on-Sight?

The practice of making a Mason “at sight” (or “on sight” as it is sometimes expressed) is a right of Grand Masters dating back to at least the 1730s. It was defended by Laurence Dermott when the ‘Antients’ grand lodge was formed in England in the 1770s. The specifics were not clearly defined even then, but it is generally interpreted as a method of conferring the degrees of Freemasonry in an accelerated manner. Typically, this means the candidate observes each of the three degrees performed in full in a temporary or ‘occasional’ lodge without needing to demonstrate proficiency before proceeding to the next degree.

When Albert Mackey created his list of ‘landmarks’—which were not widely adopted within or outside of the U.S.—he included ‘making a Mason at sight’ as his 8th landmark. However, since the practice itself has never been uniformly defined or widely accepted, there is considerable flexibility in what a Grand Master can and cannot do, based on the limitations of the laws within his own jurisdiction. The practice has been a subject of debate in Masonic jurisprudence for nearly three centuries and remains controversial.

Was Biden Even Qualified to be Made a Master Mason?

It is interesting that, given Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s becoming a Freemason, he would not be qualified today to receive the Sacrament of Baptism in the Catholic Church. Was he even qualified to become a Freemason?

It has been the accepted teaching in Freemasonry for centuries, perhaps going back before 1717 and even into its guild days that forbid the initiation of an old man in his dotage, and very properly, because the imbecility of his mind would prevent his comprehension of the truths presented to him.”

DOTAGE refers to the period of life in which a person is old and weak, often characterized by a decline in mental faculties. It can also imply a state of senility or mental decline associated with old age. The etymology of the word “dotage” traces back to Middle English, derived from the verb “doten,” which means to dote or be foolishly affectionate. The term has been in use since the 14th century.

Joe Biden is in dotage and does not have the mental capacity to comprehend or apply the teachings of Freemasonry to his life. This teaching alone forbids from being made a Freemason.

Bidens’s moral character also would have prevented him from becoming a member of most regular Lodges of Freemasons—and may be why he was never admitted until now. Nevertheless, who is here to question that he is not an “old man in this dotage” and is “foolishly affectionate” (e.g., sniffing women’s hair and groping them and taking showers with his daughter)? Sadly, Joe wasn’t even qualified to join what Pius IX called a “synagogue of Satan” in his 1873 Etsi Multa. Only Grand Master Major, a shell for the South Carolina Democrat Party, could even imagine how Joseph R. Biden Jr. was a man of good moral conduct.

Why Did the Grand Master of South Carolina Do This?

Of course, the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge’s ambition here is obvious – they have added to their ranks the sixteenth President of the United States to have been a Freemason. Biden joins his predecessors of the Executive House, George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, Warren G. Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Gerald R. Ford. Moreover, this is quite the feather in the cap of Grand Master Victor C. Major

While Prince Hall Freemasonry has enjoyed the affiliation of many notable Americans, such as Martin R. Delany (author/activist), Booker T. Washington (educator/author), Richard Allen (founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church), W. E. B. Dubois (educator/author), Thurgood Marshall (first Black Supreme Court Justice), Jesse Jackson (activist), Al Green (singer), Sugar Ray Robinson (boxer), Mike Tyson (boxer), Don King (promoter), Scottie Pippen (basketball player), Benjamin L. Hooks (NAACP), Thomas Bradley (Mayor of Los Angeles), Kweisi Mufume (NAACP), Al Sharpton (activist), Louis Stokes (US Congressman), Carol B. Stokes (first Black elected Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio), Wilson Goode (first Black Mayor of Philadelphia), Charles H. Wesley (author), and John H. Johnson (publisher), President Joseph R. Biden immediately becomes the most notable of all.

Not only was securing a president of the United States a significant achievement for Grand Master Victor C. Major, but it also underscored the enduring cultural prejudices that still exist within Freemasonry. South Carolina remains one of the four Prince Hall Grand Lodges (the others being Arkansas, Mississippi, and West Virginia) that has yet to vote in favor of mutual recognition with their in-state mainstream, predominantly White Grand Lodge. This lack of recognition ultimately prevents the Mother Grand Lodge—the United Grand Lodge of England—from extending their acknowledgment to them as well, effectively keeping the UGLE out of state jurisdictional politics and cultural biases. Now, with President Biden as a member, the historical and racist arguments surrounding the ‘regularity’ of Prince Hall Freemasonry come to the forefront.

Freemasonry Does Not For Care Biden’s Soul

Given that it is a well-known fact within Freemasonry that the Catholic Church prohibits its members from being Freemasons, I am troubled (however, not surprised) that Grand Master Victor would show such a lack of concern for Joe Biden’s soul. Freemasonry has nothing to offer for a man’s salvation or his relationship with Christ Jesus, because the Masonic sacraments—its degree system—bind themselves only to the god who accepts blood oaths and the Masonic death penalty.

This action was very selfish; deceiving an elderly man in his dotage to join an organization that opposes the Church he professes to be a devout member of only benefited the vanity of Grand Master Victor, who, once again, put a feather in his cap for making Joe a Mason-on-Sight and gave the Freemasons another lie to tell potential Catholic initiates: that Catholics can actually become Freemasons without harm—just look at President Joe Biden. He is a devout Catholic; if he can become a member, so can you! How Satanic is that?