Pope Francis has decided that bread used to represent the Body of Christ in Eucharist ceremonies must have gluten.
A letter sent from Cardinal Robert Sarah of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on behalf of Pope Francis reminded bishops about the need to have wheat in the ceremonial bread.
“The bread used in the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharistic Sacrifice must be unleavened, purely of wheat, and recently made so that there is no danger of decomposition,” Sarah said. “It follows therefore that bread made from another substance, even if it is grain, or if it is mixed with another substance different from wheat to such an extent that it would not commonly be considered wheat bread, does not constitute valid matter for confecting the Sacrifice and the Eucharistic Sacrament.”
He added: “It is a grave abuse to introduce other substances, such as fruit or sugar or honey, into the bread for confecting the Eucharist. Hosts should obviously be made by those who are not only distinguished by their integrity, but also skilled in making them and furnished with suitable tools.”
Catholics use wine to represent the Blood of Christ in their ceremonies, and the Vatican said it must be “natural, from the fruit of the grape, pure and incorrupt, not mixed with other substances.”
For those people who can’t drink wine, they can drink mustum, a thick, non-fermented grape juice.
Should we suggest soylent green?
The priests are not allowed to spike the altar boys wine anymore.
Adherence to traditon and strict obedience to the rules of the church are obviously very important to him. Especially the ones about the homo orgies taking place at least a minimum of 500 feet away from his redidence and mandatory sharing of any amount of coke above a half of a gram.
Christ also said that He is The Door. He was quite serious when He said it, but it was still a figure of speech to make a larger point. He is indeed The Door…but He is not a literal, physical door.
It’s best he spends his time struggling with momentous decisions like the ingredients of his biscuits than any more meddling in a nations sovereign rights.
5,000 years of bread and a few hundred years of circuses and all of a sudden in the past 10 years everybody’s allergic to Gluten and peanuts. Go figger!
Wow Picky Guy, I wonder how He Fares at Soul Food Parties !
@Plantsman:
Obviously, he takes his good taster along–you know–the one hired strictly for Soul Food ‘get togeth…um, parties (young men only) just across the street around the corner 😉 😋!!!
Guess he needs the gluten free option for snacking by his guests during the weekly skimpily clad alter boy floor show held at the vatican weekly.
Cardinal Sarah is a good and holy man. Read “God or Nothing” or “Power of Silence” and then try taking those cheap shots at him. I applaud him for calling out liturgical abuses, instead of caving to trendiness.
THIS is where he decides to get all dogmatic? Really coming down hard on that ‘Cafeteria Catholicism’ by limiting the bread options in the communion line? Nice way to evangelize.
I am glad the Vatican is confirming and reinforcing this discipline of the church. Wish they would do so with the Doctrine and Dogmas as well. But you know confirming the truth of marriage and the reality of sin is much more “non pastoral”.
Much easier to confirm that a host must contain at least one grain of flour.
Seriously, people. There is no reason to bash Cardinal Sarah. It is not wise to make insinuations about his character. All you’re doing is exposing your bigotry against the Catholic Church. He’s the wrong target. Plenty more out there.
Grits:
I am in agreement with you re Cardinal Sarah. But it irritates the heck out of me that the Vatican will promote and confirm this discipline with such vigor but when it comes to issues where the flock needs guidance like the indissolubly of marriage we get Amoris Laetitia.
What about organic rye? The white bread thing is just too eurocentric
Frank – agreed, but it’s easy to understand if you follow the money within the German church which gets church tax dollars per head. If they relax the doctrine they get to keep all those divorced-remarried members and all those precious euros. Their voice is loud.
Groucho – any relation to Cardinal Marx? Just joking. WHOLE wheat.
@Grool; that’s the case in a nutshell.
“To represent”?…….they actually believe it becomes THE body of Christ. This is why they don’t want it to face decomposition. The priest presiding over the “Eucharist ” sure does have some extraordinary powers, no?…………….
to clarify my previous comment: I believe the doctrine is correct (People w/food allergies should not expect their host –or their Host– to accommodate them.) and the Cardinal is a fine spokesman for the standards of the church. Pope Francis, not so much. I still miss PB16 and wish, like him, I could retire to a life of contemplative prayer when I get tired of my church.
Best go back to Gnostic teachings.
Sleipnir/Grool – The Last Supper was wheat bread and grape juice, and the sensible signs of the Eucharist have remained so for almost 2,000 years. If this were just a figure of speech, it wouldn’t be Canon 924.
What’s their stance on a dollop of cheez-whiz on that gluten bread?
If it’s not actually Jesus in the Eucharist we have done a heck of a job fooling satanist and locomotive breath himself. You don’t see crackers and grape juice stolen from Protestant churches being stolen for satanic desecration.
Our church has a ‘wheat-free’ option, and the pastor said that at least one person had not taken communion for many years because her particular allergy is so bad but now can.
Of course we’re Methodists, so a bit more casual on certain things, like the bread actually transfiguring to body of Christ vs. a ritual representation. Plus grape juice.
Shrimpngrits,
Please read 2 Cor 5:16.
“Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh. Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him NO MORE.”
Can’t have His literal flesh in perpetual wafer form and the above verse be true. One of them has to go.
‘when ever 2 or 3 are gathered…’
That doesn’t say anything about one of them being a baker, and certified at that. The beauty of Christianity is that it is able to be appreciated, and celebrated, by the common man, without intermediaries.
I’m a big fan of Matthew who taught that prayer should be done in a manner, not as a memorized exercise.
Not a bread bigot here.
It’s all a matter of faith. You either believe, or you don’t. No one is being forced. Non Catholics, who have no dog in this fight, are proselytizing in vain. I seriously doubt any conversions will take place.
The scriptures say there can be no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood. There is NO such thing as a bloodless sacrifice. The only time Christ was sacrificed was on the cross…….not in the RC mass.
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, – 1 Peter 3:18. Key word………ONCE.
Also, Frank, you don’t think the satanist aren’t just trolling? They don’t steal crackers from Protestant churches because the leftovers go into the trash…..we don’t worship inanimate objects. We worship a savior Who actually accomplished all He set out to do. Bring a people to himself.
Grool, St. Paul was referencing his own conversion, and defending the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, as he did throughout his letters to all the churches he visited. It is absurd to say this one verse could contradict and lay to waste the entirety of St. Paul’s writing about the Eucharist. I am a convert. I have seen and argued both sides. There is no point giving me a proof text. Peace.
RITUAL BLOOD SACRIFICES:
When the congregation is convinced the priest turns bread/wine into physical and actual flesh and blood, then they consume it in typical Satanic Black Mass-fashion, remember, WE HAVE STANDARDS! –Gluten stays!
Some of you have made me sd that you would joke about the Body and Blood of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament as casually as some joke about magic underwear.
That sd should read “sad.”
SnG,
Neither Paul not Luke give any clue that Paul ever saw Christ according to the flesh (during his earthly ministry to Israel).
Paul [Saul] DID see Christ when He revealed Himself in glory to Him on the road, but that was not in or as bread.
I’m sorry if you have a problem with the verse I posted but it is not a proof text. It says what it says. Paul stated as fact that even if anyone at that time had known Christ according to His flesh – meaning during His time of humiliation ministering to Israel – no one could know Him in that context any longer because of re revelation He gave to Paul. That goes for us too…can’t know Him according to His flesh.
But!
Paul goes on to tell us how we DO know Him today, if we know Him at all…and that is according to the revelation of the mystery [the secret that was previously hidden in God], Rom 16:25, Eph 3:8-9. THAT is the ONLY way we can come to the Lord today. Not in a wafer.
“…because of new revelation He gave to Paul,” it should have read.
These comments are cracking me up.. why does everyone keep calling him Cardinal Sarah though?
Nevermind…
Grool, St. Paul believed in, preached, and wrote about Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist! Whatever you choose to believe is up to you, but it is a serious error to imply St. Paul did not believe this.
I’d like to correct a word I wrote in an early post before I had a cup of coffee. I mistakenly used the word “juice” when I should have written “wine.”
Plain Jane, sounds like you’re trolling the LDS hater-aid drinkers! Get ready!
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. – 1 Corinthians 11:26
“Bread”…….that is what Paul preached. It’s a proclamation. That’s it.
Bible verses were marked by number by the Protesters. See John 6:66, remarkable because 666 is supposed to be the mark of the beast, and that is where many left Jesus. “As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. ”
51I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”a
52The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?”
53Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.
54Whoever eats* my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.
55For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.
57Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.b
58This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
59These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
The Words of Eternal Life.*
60Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”
61Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you?
62What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?*
63It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh* is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
64But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him.c
65And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”
66As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.
67Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”
68Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”
And then we all know about the Last Supper.
Or maybe we all don’t know about the Last Supper. Well, Jesus said: This IS My Body…
Man does not live by bread alone.
All this talk about bread has me hungry, so here’s a riddle, with the answer after 5 or so.
What is:
Greater than God, but less than the devil.
Dead people eat it, but if you eat it, you will die.
What is it?
Metaphor.
I know j in VT, but won’t let the cat out of the bag.
Great job with your post Jane, Shrimp.
JVT you posted nothing.
as in:
the poor have it
The rich need it
if you eat it you die
What did Kermit the Frog say at Jim Henson’s funeral?
hint: Jim Henson was Kermit’s voice
JVT will post the answer to that as well after 5:00
Since the Last Supper was on or before Passover, the bread must be matzo and the wine must be kosher (Mogan David, Manischewitz come to mind).
Read the Gospel account of the Last Supper! You Catholics can now actually read the Word of God, thanks to William Tyndale.
Plane Jane; You sound like Nicodemus when Jesus said “you must be born again.” How can an old man enter his mother’s womb and be born again?
When Jesus talked about the Good Samaritan or the sower sowing seed on rocky ground, etc., was he recounting actual events?
Geeknerd,
All people were allowed to read the bible before Tyndale. Those who couldn’t/didn’t read, were taught scripture through religious are – one pic is worth a thousand words.
—–
Jesus used stories that people had practical experience with and could relate to in order to teach lessons.
Will explain the yolk that Jesus talks about if you want.
Publishing a Bible in a people’s common tongue could and did get men murdered by Rome. Why? Because if someone can read the Word of God for himself, he doesn’t need a priest to read it to him in Latin.
jpm- you got it right- the answer is ‘nothing’
Maybe, Kermit didn’t say anything, he just croaked?
Really grool – in the in the late 1300s? Who did they copy it from?