Catholics kneel for Eucharist from Pope
By Cindy Wooden
30 May 2008

A girl kneels to receive Communion CNS

Four dozen people received Communion from Pope Benedict XVI while kneeling at a Corpus Christi Mass last week.

Vatican officials said the gesture at the Mass outside the Basilica of St John Lateran, Rome, does not mark a permanent change in papal liturgies but emphasises the solemnity of the feast and highlights a connection with Masses in the past.

As the Pope prepared to distribute Communion two ushers placed a kneeler in front of the altar on the basilica steps. The chosen communicants - lay people, nuns, seminarians, priests and children who had received their first Communion in their parishes in May - all knelt and received on the tongue.

Generally at papal Masses people stand to receive Communion from the Pope. The majority choose to receive on the tongue, but some reverently extend their hands to receive the Eucharist. Mgr Guido Marini, master of papal liturgical ceremonies, told the Catholic News Service that the decision "was a solution adopted for [the feast of] Corpus Domini". As for the future, he added: "We'll see".

Archbishop Albert Malcolm_Ranjith Patabendige Don, secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, said "there is no discussion" in the Vatican about insisting that those who receive Communion from the Pope do so kneeling or that they receive it on the tongue rather than in their hands.

In addition, he said, "there are no new norms coming" that would change the Vatican's 1969 decision to let bishops allow their faithful to receive the Eucharist in their hands while standing.

"But the gesture of the Holy Father... is to be appreciated. It brings out in a better way the fact that we adore the Lord whom we receive," Archbishop Ranjith said.

He explained that the feast was "a special occasion" because it focuses on Jesus as truly present in the Eucharist. "I hope this practice spreads," he added.

In a preface to a January book about the beauty of receiving the Eucharist on the tongue while kneeling, Archbishop Ranjith had said he thought it was time for the Church to reconsider its decision to allow the faithful to receive Communion in the hand.

Passionist Fr Ciro Benedettini, assistant director of the Vatican press office, said he did not think that the Mass last Thursday marked a permanent change.

He explained that it was an example of what Mgr Marini had said would be the practice at papal Masses - "alternating the old and new to indicate continuity with the past". In his homily, Pope Benedict spoke about the importance of "kneeling before the Lord, adoration that begins at the Mass itself and accompanies the entire [Corpus Christi] procession".