As many restrictions put in place at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic have been lifted, some Catholic dioceses around the country are returning, or already have returned, to offering consecrated wine in the chalice for Communion while others are waiting to do so.
U.S. President Joe Biden should consult with his bishop or parish priest about his stance on abortion, Pope Francis said, adding that the primary concern of bishops should be pastoral care.
In a wide-ranging interview with Reuters, Pope Francis addressed several hot-button topics, including his health and resignation rumors, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and the recent overturning of Roe v Wade in the United States.
In itself, Friday’s announcement that Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone formally has barred House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from receiving Communion over her support for abortion rights probably shouldn’t be surprising, and it also may not be very consequential, at least in the short term.
Two days after Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone announced that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was barred from receiving Communion in San Francisco over her support for abortion rights, Pope Francis offered support to a pro-life demonstration, saying life is a gift from God.
Holy Communion is a sacred part of the Mass, and pastors in the Diocese of Brooklyn carefully plan how the Eucharist will be distributed to the faithful to make sure the procedure goes smoothly, with no logjams in the church aisles.
The nation’s bishops voted last week to approve a proposal from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ doctrinal committee to draft a document on the Eucharist, after two days of spirited discussion on the topic that dominated this year’s spring meeting.
The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has asked the nation’s Catholics to pray for him and his brother bishops “as we continue our dialogues and reflections” in the process of drafting a document on the “meaning of the Eucharist in the life of the church.”
The U.S. bishops approved by a wide margin a plan to draft a document to examine the “meaning of the Eucharist in the life of the church” following a lengthy debate during their spring general assembly.
In a spirited two-hour debate Thursday, both critics and champions of a U.S. bishops’ doctrinal committee proposal to draft a document on the Eucharist cited timing and potential disunity as reasons why they were for, or against, the project.
