Centre de Liaison et d'Information des Puissances maçonniques Signataires de l'Appel de Strasbourg
organization
CLIPSAS (Centre de Liaison et d'Information des Puissances maçonniques Signataires de l'Appel de Strasbourg) (English: "Liaison and Information Center of Masonic Powers Signatories of the Strasbourg Appeal") is an international Masonic organization that serves as the primary coordinating body for liberal Masonic activities. CLIPSAS was established in 1961 through the Strasbourg Appeal as a more inclusive alternative to the United Grand Lodge of England. The organization maintains Special Consultative Status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and comprises over 101 member obediences across four continents.
History
The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) maintained strict requirements regarding belief in a Supreme Being and prohibition of political and religious discussions.
On January 22, 1961, several sovereign Masonic obediences convened in Strasbourg to address these challenges. The original signatories include:
Grand Orient of Switzerland
Grand Orient of Austria
Grand Orient of Luxembourg
Serenísima Gran Logia de Lengua Española
Grand Orient of France
Grand Orient of Italy
Grand Orient of Belgium
Presidents
Current Member Obediences
CLIPSAS includes over 101 member obediences as of 2024 but shrunk to 91 denominations after the 2024 General Assembly in Albania.
Controversies and Criticism
Governance issues
During the 2022 General Assembly in Lisbon, Portugal, President Ivan Herrera Michel and the Grand Symbolic Lodge of Portugal reportedly had a lack of communication between members as many COVID-19 cases within the group were reported after the event. The organizers also used internet voting instead of using the usual voting system with terminals which led to confusion, notably when the voting for the inclusion of the Grand Orient of Andorra was reversed from their actual choice.
The assembly also had a reinstatement vote for the previously suspended Grand Orient of Mexico, in which the president reportedly left the room during vote to take a Covid PCR test for a flight.
Electoral Controversy of 2024
During the 2024 General Assembly in Durrës, Albania, Louis Daly won the election with only 32.06% of votes.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Centre de Liaison et d'Information des Puissances maçonniques Signataires de l'Appel de Strasbourg” is organization. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Centre, Liaison and d'Information, not as a finished interpretation.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1054230. VIAF identifies the subject as 298577468. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1961, 2024 and 2022.
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This entry incorporates text from “Centre de Liaison et d'Information des Puissances maçonniques Signataires de l'Appel de Strasbourg” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.