- Pope John Paul II, Inaestimabile Donum (April, 1980) -

(www.RemnantNewspaper.com) The Church teaches that Christ’s Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity are present in the Blessed Sacrament. There are many Martyrs who gave their lives rather than deny this teaching. Any self-respecting Catholic knows this. There really ought to be no question about how Holy Communion should be received, and that is: on the tongue whilst kneeling.

There can be no denying that Holy Communion is now almost universally received in the hand and that this has been the case since shortly after the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council. Note, however, that there is no mention whatever of Communion in the hand in the documents of Vatican II. In fact, Cardinal L Suenens first introduced the practice illicitly in Belgium in the mid 1960s from whence it spread quickly to Holland, Germany and France.

When the abuse came to the notice of Pope Paul VI in 1969, he issued Memoriale Domini ruling out universal change to the Church’s method of administering Holy Communion on the tongue to kneeling communicants. In this document the Pope expressed his sadness that Communion in the hand had been introduced in some places without either his knowledge or the Church’s consent.

Subsequently, Pope John Paul II twice indicated the irregularity of this practice as a universal norm. In Dominicae Cenae (Feb. 1980), he stated: “To touch the sacred species and to distribute them with their own hands is a privilege of the ordained.”

Then, in Inaestimabile Donum (April, 1980), Pope John Paul wrote: "It is not permitted that the faithful should themselves pick up the consecrated bread and the sacred chalice, still less that they should hand them from one to another."

Pope Benedict XVI now shows by his own example how the Apostolic See wishes Holy Communion to be administered. At his Papal Masses the faithful are obliged to kneel and receive on the tongue from HIS hand, not their own.

In fact, no post-conciliar Pope has approved, much less promoted, the novelty of Communion in the hand. Papal toleration is not the same as papal approval! That ought to be sufficient to make priests and the faithful reflect seriously on what they do.

Sadly, though, an attitude has manifested itself since the Second Vatican Council whereby many now see the Church as a democratic rather than a divine autocratic institution, claiming that it is best served by acceding to the wishes of the majority rather than being led by the Pope with the infallible guidance of the Holy Ghost in matters pertaining to universal faith and morals.

There are some in positions of authority within the Vatican itself who are also of this mindset, and who have set about their agenda for change by restricting the extent to which the Catholic Faith is taught.

For example, when religious instruction was on the curriculum in Catholic schools, children were taught about the faith – how and why Christ came to earth, His Revelations, His Passion and Death on the Cross, His Ascension into heaven and the provisions He made for the growth of Christianity.

Given the suffering that Our Lord went through in order to redeem our souls, and the greatness of our debt to Him, it is clear that no Catholic should come into His presence without genuflecting, and no Catholic should receive Him in Holy Communion without kneeling down in reverence. It ought to go without saying that no lay Catholic should ever consider touching the Blessed Sacrament with his hands. Such was the teaching throughout history up to 1960.

Religious Instruction was then suddenly changed to Religious Education and a new programme imposed teaching children to explore the different religions as if they were all equally valid means for attaining eternal life.

Did not Our Lady of Fatima speak of 1960 as the latest date by which the Third Secret was to be revealed, because then, as Sister Lucy said, the world would better understand what it meant? The year is significant.

At any rate, an indicator of the success of the new strategy is reflected in a U.S. gallop poll of a few years ago recording just 30% of U.S. Catholics now believing in Our Lord’s True Presence. The other 70% had either various shades of Protestant belief or no belief at all. This situation can only have come about through ignorance – through simply obscuring the facts.

How has this been allowed to happen? It wasn’t just allowed to happen – it was deliberately brought about. It is down to the drive for ecumenism and the agenda of some to create a global religion under the control of a single leader.

It was indeed Christ’s intention, when He instructed the Apostles to “Go and Teach all nations, and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost”, for there to be one global religion – the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church – but certain power-brokers behind the scenes at the Vatican have a different model in mind.

Amongst the chief obstacles preventing the success of their plans, however, are the Mass of all Ages, and the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. The only way for them to overcome these obstacles is to debase the ancient Catholic Liturgy, from which man gains the grace to resist temptation and evil, and to destroy belief in the Real Presence.

The Novus Ordo Mass was specifically written to be inoffensive to Protestants by removing all mentions of it being a Sacrifice, and replacing that doctrine with one of it being a mere commemoration banquet or “celebration of the Lord’s supper,” as it is now widely known. This part of the undermining is now very well entrenched, and few Catholics realise what has befallen them.

As for belief in the Real Presence, that doctrine is no longer taught in Catholic schools, and respect for Our Lord is being undermined by discouraging genuflections and kneeling in His presence, and by encouraging Catholics to handle His body as if it were no more than “blessed bread.” The longer this deception is allowed to go on, the more likely it is to become accepted as the truth.

Before long, only a very few Catholics will be left who have any true conception of the Catholic Faith as it was handed down unaltered through the centuries up to 1960.

If this tide of indifferentism is to be reversed, three important things have to happen. These are the restoration of the Mass of all Ages, with its emphasis on Sacrifice, restoring respect for Our Lord by fostering belief in the Real Presence, and the daily recitation of the rosary.

Pope Benedict XVI has already made a start by showing us that Holy Communion should only be received kneeling and on the tongue. When will the Catholic world begin following Peter’s lead?