Joe Biden Potentially Faces Excommunication After Quiet Induction Into Historically Black Masonic Lodge

Former President Joe Biden, who is Catholic, joined a historically black Freemason lodge just one day before he left the presidency, an offense punishable by excommunication in the Church.

Biden was conferred with “Master Mason membership” and “full honors” on Jan. 19 at the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of South Carolina, according to the Conference of Grand Masters announcement. Joining the Freemasons as a Catholic forbids an individual from receiving communion, with the potential for excommunication, according to canon law of the Catholic Church.

“Herefore, 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,” the statement reads.

Parish Hall Freemasonry, which takes the name of its founder, is a historically black sect of Freemasonry founded in 1775 by freed African slaves, according to the lodge’s page. Biden is now the 16th president in American history to become a Freemason, according to MasonicFind.