"A Little Bread and Wine Does No Harm..."

If a Pope didn't believe the doctrine of the Real Presence, would he lose the authority to teach?

If Pope Francis really said that, please God Pope Francis did not say that, then as to whether the Church is governed by a manifest heretic, all bets would be well and truly off.

Would Fr Lombardi please clarify at least that the Pope definitely didn't say that?

Someone left a comment on my blog saying it is 'impossible that he said that'.

No longer bread, no longer wine

It's not impossible. Before he became Pope, remember that Francis was a Cardinal, before that a Bishop, so, in fact, anything's possible. You know what most Bishops are like.

A Norbertine brother once said to me that every major crisis in the Church has been about the Real Presence. And the crisis of the Church is a crisis of Bishops. The modern crisis is therefore twofold. A crisis of faith and a crisis of leadership in faith.

Indeed, the first crisis among Christ and the Apostles (though it was not a crisis for Jesus) was in the immediate wake of the Eucharistic discourse.

Many disciples left Jesus after that and it was left to St Peter (first 'Il Papa') to speak up on the Apostles behalf, saying, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the message of eternal life.' That's kind of like what giving religious assent to the incredible is and it is noteworthy that St Peter spoke for the Apostles in giving it. "This is incomprehensible, but I believe You."

If this Pope doesn't believe that the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul, Humanity and Divinity of Our Lord, then that wouldn't just explain things a little. That would explain everything. One does not need to go over a year of confusing statements and actions again.

If he didn't believe that doctrine, which all Catholics must uphold, or if he openly opposed it, that would pose serious problems for Catholics across the World, because that would make the Pope outside of Communion with the Divine Head of the Church, Jesus Christ and, of course, St Peter. The implications are terrifying. Absolutely nothing - including the Eucharistic Lord Himself - would be safe in such hands.

The Vatican must, at the very least, confirm that the Pope did not say that because if Pope Francis did say that, Catholics have not just a right but a duty to resist his teaching. Not only that, but His Holiness, shouldn't be receiving Holy Communion.

As well as little teaching on the family, and barely any concrete teaching on doctrine, other than platitudes on the poor, Confession and 'mercy' we have received as yet very little teaching on the Holy Eucharist from His Holiness. With 75% of Catholics completely unbelieving of the Real Presence, now would be a good time. It is well within the Pope's power to put this lady - currently discussing Pope Francis's reported words on divorce, remarriage and 'bread and wine' in various media outlets - right. In so doing, it would confirm that His Holiness does indeed believe that which the Church has believed and taught 'always and everywhere'.

This is a perfect opportunity for His Holiness to give us some clear, concise and much needed teaching on the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, because 'bread and wine' it no longer is, once consecrated, even if the Holy Eucharist appears to the senses to be just that. There is no point in fasting even an hour before Communion if it is 'just bread and wine'.

The Lord did not die on the Cross in order to give us bread and wine. We had that already. He died upon the Cross - and was raised again on the third day - and left us Himself, His Body and Blood, under the guise of bread and wine as a remedy for our souls and the pledge of immortality for those who persevere to the end in the One True Faith. The Eucharist is God Himself. It is Jesus! If a Pope did not believe that, not only would faithful priests refusing Communion to those in a state of mortal sin be 100% correct, but every Catholic who held onto that teaching would, yes, be more Catholic than the Pope, because that Pope would have ceased to be a Catholic.