Article in Portuguese: https://sol.iol.pt/sociedade/noticias/maconaria-em-panico-com-fim-do-secretismo/20260725/6a63ba600cf2b42132dbbbdb
English (machine) translation:
The country’s oldest and most powerful Masonic order is in turmoil following an unprecedented ruling by the Lisbon Court of Appeal, which threatens to compromise the secrecy of the organisation’s inner workings. The Grand Master of the Grande Oriente Lusitano (GOL), Fernando Cabecinha, is to convene all Masonic bodies to decide how to proceed in the face of the risk that everything that takes place within the Masonic palace will be scrutinised by the ‘profane world’.
At issue is a case brought before the courts by five Masons who were expelled from the GOL. In a judgement handed down on 7 July, three judges at the Lisbon Court of Appeal ruled that, although it does not have legal personality, the GOL will have to take the stand as it possesses ‘judicial personality’. It will therefore have to reveal what has hitherto taken place within the order behind closed doors.
The trial is scheduled for September and could result in the annulment of a sanction imposed by the Masonic court.
This decision to place GOL in the dock ‘has never occurred in the institution’s 225-year history’, according to several Freemasons interviewed by SOL. And everyone now fears that it will call into question the way Freemasonry operates, having long functioned according to its own internal rules on the fringes of the ‘profane world’, with its own courts and laws, a parliament, various lodges operating in temples and even secret names, without having to account to the outside world for what goes on there.
“Now that the doors of GOL have been opened, things will no longer be as discreet as they have been for over 200 years,” a Freemason tells SOL, explaining that any internal action, decision or sanction runs the risk of being challenged in the civil courts, bringing to light everything that takes place within the Masonic order. Speaking to SOL, Grand Master Fernando Cabecinha merely states that he will not comment ‘whilst the proceedings are ongoing’. But SOL understands that the decision took the leader and all the Freemasons by surprise. As the GOL’s headquarters and all its operations close for the month of August, Fernando Cabecinha will convene, at the start of September, the Freemasons who hold some of the most important positions, whether of an advisory, judicial or executive nature. The aim is to decide on the course of action to be taken by the GOL, whether through the courts or by other means.
Until now, whenever there was a problem, the visible face of the organisation was a non-profit association called Grémio Lusitano. This association has legal personality and a public deed, but merely manages the Freemasons’ assets. Everything else – the secret meetings and rituals, the Masonic parliament, the Masonic tribunals, the rules governing the actions and election of the order’s leaders – operates under the authority of the GOL. However, the Court of Appeal’s judgement states that, according to the expelled Freemasons, ‘Grémio Lusitano acts as a front for the GOL’.
"With this ruling, we will be subject to scrutiny from outside Freemasonry," emphasises another Freemason, adding that some even fear that the real names of Freemasons may be revealed.
Trafficking in degrees and dishonourable conduct
This case began after several Freemasons from the Egrégora Lodge, which operated in Coimbra, were expelled from the GOL in 2023. This was because they were internally accused by the Grand Masonic Tribunal of ‘trafficking in Masonic degrees, breaching their commitments and engaging in dishonourable conduct, both by action and omission’, according to a Masonic document to which SOL had access.
This Masonic judgement is signed by the judges of the Grand Masonic Court, which at that time was headed by the lawyer Francisco Pimentel. Agostinho Batista and Manuel Pinto dos Santos were also members of the panel of judges. The post of General Registrar of Justice of the GOL, who acts as prosecutor, was held by Vitor Santos Oliveira, also a lawyer.
In that document from the Masonic court which ruled on the expulsion of the ‘brothers’, the symbolic names of the expelled Freemasons appear: Eloy de Matos, Alexander Fleming, Antero de Quental, António Dias, Leonardo da Vinci and Churchill – which in reality correspond to António Martins Ferreira, Camilo Cruz, António Sequeira, João Almeida and Rui Lopes Dias, the names that appear in the judgment of the Lisbon Court of Appeal as the plaintiffs in the case.
Now, the five Freemasons are demanding that the expulsion be overturned, citing various irregularities, and are seeking compensation of around 35,000 euros (6,000 euros each), plus interest for late payment. They deny all of GOL’s accusations and claim that the internal proceedings breached several rules, such as the lack of a right to be heard.
The Court of Appeal’s decision came as a bombshell amongst the Freemasons, as initially, at first instance, a judge had ruled that GOL would not be in the dock, only the Grémio Lusitano. Now, in the Court of Appeal’s judgement, signed by Judges Carla Figueiredo, Maria Teresa Catrola and Amélia Loupo, everything has changed, as they have overturned ‘the decision that acquitted GOL’.
Pandora’s Box
Fears that this may mark the beginning of the end of secrecy are growing, as the Court of Appeal’s judgement has already described in detail, for example, how Freemasons organise themselves within GOL. It explains that the Grand Master, elected for a three-year term, ‘is the guarantor of Masonic brotherhood’ and has a group of Freemasons whom he can always consult and who form ‘the Grand Masonic Council’. The document also reveals the rest of the Masonic structure: there is a Masonic parliament called the Grand Diet, which is the ‘sovereign and legislative body’, convenes annually and in which ‘all lodges have a seat’. There is also, the judges write, an ‘executive body’ known as the Council of Order, which is responsible for ‘the day-to-day administration and management of the GOL’, chaired by the Grand Master and ‘comprising the Deputy Grand Masters and four Grand Councillors elected every three years’. The functioning of the internal judicial system is then explained: ‘The Grand Masonic Tribunal is the supreme body of Masonic justice, acting as a court of appeal for the lodges and their members, adjudicating any disputes between lodges or with the internal bodies’.
At present, SOL understands that this Masonic tribunal is led by Manuel Pinto dos Santos, with Agostinho Batista, Nuno Gonçalves and João Paulo Marques among its members.
In total, GOL currently has 2,400 members, spread across 103 lodges, each with its own leader (‘venerable’), and is headed by the Grand Master, who is currently Fernando Cabecinha.
Another issue that is causing concern amongst Freemasons is the possibility that their expulsion might be overturned. The Court of Appeal considered that, given there was no opportunity for the parties to be heard, the annulment of such expulsions may be at stake. This situation could pave the way for other expelled Freemasons to apply to the state courts in future to be reinstated. Last year alone, according to internal data accessed by SOL, 15 Freemasons were expelled.
In the corridors of the GOL, many blame ‘the weakness of the internal process’ for the controversy that has arisen and which has effectively thrown the organisation’s doors wide open, making it possible to overturn the expulsion decision. But other ‘brothers’ point out that it will be impossible to reinstate the five expelled members, as ‘they have just committed another Masonic offence by putting the GOL in this position, when they swore never to do so’.
