The confusion arose from a private letter written in 1974 to the U.S. bishops which was interpreted by some within the Church and within Freemasonry as permitting Catholics to join Masonic lodges so long as the lodge did not directly plot against the church.
Freemasons | Status Quo (band) | Status Quo | Chase & Status | Combatant Status Review Tribunal | NatureServe conservation status | Copyright status of work by the U.S. government | Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada | Goan Catholics | freemasons | Expulsion of Catholics from Denmark–Norway | U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement | TN status | status quo | Social status | Political status of Taiwan | Disputed status of Gibraltar | Borough status in the United Kingdom | Status quo (Israel) | status quo ante bellum | Status quo | Status of forces agreement | Reformed Catholics | political status of Taiwan | Guamanian status referendum, September 1982 | Guamanian status referendum, January 1982 | Grand Landlodge of the Freemasons of Germany | Freemasons' Lodges | Freemasons (band) | Federated Colored Catholics |
In 1983, he issued the Declaration on Masonic Associations which drew on Clarification concerning status of Catholics becoming Freemasons (itself issued by the Congregation 9 months before his becoming its prefect).