A letter from Cardinal Robert Sarah, who claims that it was written at the behest of the Holy See, clarifies that gluten-free Communion wafers are not allowed in the Catholic Church.
Cardinal Sarah wrote on Saturday: "Until recently only certain religious communities took care of baking the bread and making the wine for the celebration of the Eucharist."
Today, however, these materials can be purchased from companies which are not exacting in the quality of the species necessary for the celebration of Holy Mass.
In 2004, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) published the norms for the celebration of the Eucharist by persons who, for varying and grave reasons, cannot consume bread made in the usual manner: "hosts completely gluten-free are invalid matter for the celebration of the Eucharist".
That norm resulted in the Bishop Of Trenton actually invalidating an 8-year-old girl’s First Communion when it came to light that she had received a gluten-free host from her Pastor!
The clarification is a confirmation of canonical norms defined by the CDF which have been in place for more than a decade.
As one would expect, there will be those who bemoan this latest reiteration of liturgical norms as being insensitive and uncaring to those who suffer from celiac disease and cannot digest even the minutest amount of gluten contained in liturgically approved wheat hosts.
Of course, the solution is quite simple and that is to provide Holy Communion to such persons under the form of the Precious Blood whose consecrated species contains the fullness of the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ.
Cardinal Sarah stated the he re-issued this clarification “at the behest of the Holy See”, implying that Pope Francis in some way directed him to do so.
However, given His Eminence's disposition to issue liturgical edicts on his own , I wonder.
One need only refer to the Cardinal's address in April 2016 at a Liturgical Conference in London at which he all but decreed that Priests were to celebrate Mass facing the East beginning on the First Sunday of Advent of this Liturgical Year.
At the end of that address, His Eminence made a vague reference to Pope Francis' desire that the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) be observed strictly in the celebration of Holy Mass.
Just days later, however, the Holy See saw fit to reject the Cardinal's observations and directive.
Perhaps Cardinal Sarah has failed to take notice of the fact that Cardinal Muller presently is looking for an assignment somewhere. If Cardinal Sarah somehow did not take notice of that development, I suggest that he should.
Christian Europe is in a state of collapse, the sanctity of Holy Matrimony suffers unrelenting assault, the West is becoming more secular with each passing day, Islam threatens to obliterate the advancement of Western Civilization itself, and Cardinal Sarah is concerned with the gluten content of a host.
If this is just another one of Cardinal Sarah's tantrums, that would be one thing. If this truly is the most immediate concern of Pope Francis himself, then the Church and the world are in more desperate straits then we can imagine.
The best writer of fiction couldn't create such a scenario if he or she tried.
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