In a blow to Coeliac catholics, the Vatican has ruled that bread used in mass must not be gluten-free.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40545023

Bread used to celebrate the Eucharist during Roman Catholic Mass must not be gluten-free - although it may be made from genetically modified organisms, the Vatican has ruled.

...

The new rules are needed because the bread is now sold in supermarkets and on the internet, the cardinal said.

It's true! You can buy communion wafers on Amazon. Who knew?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Commun ... 0805470859

A couple of the customer reviews are hilarious.

Low-Gluten wafers are available.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/low-gluten ... d=26020063

I've been having irreverent thoughts about this.

scbriml wrote:

In a blow to Coeliac catholics, the Vatican has ruled that bread used in mass must not be gluten-free..

Meat is always gluten free.They catholic church should be more worried about vegans and vegetarians....

best regards
Thomas

Is this a heaven-or-hell issue? Surely not.

Edit: just read the comments. Hilarious!

I had a great-aunt who was an enclosed nun on the Isle of Wight. I visited her a couple of times as a kid and teen, and she would give us a bag full of broken wafers. The wafers were made in the convent and sold across the globe, she gave us the wafers that were broken during production.

With my brother we would eat them all like crisps, I have eaten enough for a lifetime !

tommy1808 wrote:

scbriml wrote:

In a blow to Coeliac catholics, the Vatican has ruled that bread used in mass must not be gluten-free..

No bread from meat ( beyond one singer "Meatloaf" )

gluten can be a health issue. vegies have a mind issue

Could I pose as vegetarian if I only eat vegans?

So the options if you are a Coeliac catholic are.
1. Don't take communion, you are not ill and god doesn't exist.
2. Take communion, you are ill and god doesn't exist.

At least with number 2 you aren't ill.

Fred

I read the comments section of a Facebook post on the subject. One commenter kept saying, "...but it's the body of Christ!" She denied there was any wheat in the wafers.

Aesma wrote:

I had a great-aunt who was an enclosed nun on the Isle of Wight. I visited her a couple of times as a kid and teen, and she would give us a bag full of broken wafers. The wafers were made in the convent and sold across the globe, she gave us the wafers that were broken during production. With my brother we would eat them all like crisps, I have eaten enough for a lifetime!

That is funny!


From the article:

The new rules are needed because the bread is now sold in supermarkets and on the internet, the cardinal said. The wine used must also be "natural, from the fruit of the grape, pure and incorrupt, not mixed with other substances", said Cardinal Robert Sarah of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The ruling was issued at the request of Pope Francis, the letter said. There are about 1.2 billion Roman Catholics around the world. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40545023 (Source: BBC News).

scbriml wrote:

It's true! You can buy communion wafers on Amazon. Who knew. A couple of the customer reviews are hilarious.

I need to tell some of my extended (elderly) family members about buying wafers on Amazon - who would have thought (and the supermarket as mentioned above too) - just to see their reaction, probably not to read those reviews though..

As a Catholic of many years, I must say I am amazed and confused by all this. Who Knew? Certainly not I.

The commercial products are really aimed at Protestant churches, and the products are usually called communion bread.

My wife's Baptist church tried them 15-20 years ago, the individual serving package that include a wafer and a small cup of wine or grape juice.

I don't know why they discontinued using them, possibly because of the mess from wrappings dropped in the pews.

BobPatterson wrote:

The commercial products are really aimed at Protestant churches, and the products are usually called communion bread.

My wife's Baptist church tried them 15-20 years ago, the individual serving package that include a wafer and a small cup of wine or grape juice.

I don't know why they discontinued using them, possibly because of the mess from wrappings dropped in the pews.

My wife is Baptist also. I just asked her and she said many years ago, and I stress many they passed around a tray with a cup with cubed bread and a small cup of grape juice for communion. A slightly simpler communion than the Catholic Communion.

WarRI1 wrote:

A slightly simpler communion than the Catholic Communion.

Not uncommon to see that in a catholic church either.

mbmbos wrote:

I read the comments section of a Facebook post on the subject. One commenter kept saying, "...but it's the body of Christ!" She denied there was any wheat in the wafers.

Before professional psychologists realized that their definition of delusion declared pretty much every religious person as crazy, and added a special exception into the definition, the working definition of being delusional was an incorrigible believe held with certainty that is obviously or provable wrong according to Jaspers. For someone that crazy, there is probably a page or two in the DSM-5. Heck, even the Catholic Church doesn´t believe it anymore, obviously, and they are the folks that think having Children suffer makes you worthy of being sanctified ....

best regards
Thomas

You're only eating Jesus when the bread has been consecrated, if I remember my religious (but not convinced) days.

Oh religion...you're drunk again

MaverickM11 wrote:

Oh religion...you're drunk again

Drunk with blood, we are talking about the Christian/Jewish/Muslim god here after all.

Best regards
Thomas

Aesma wrote:

You're only eating Jesus when the bread has been consecrated, if I remember my religious (but not convinced) days.

I could just about understand this if it was simply symbolic of being the flesh of Jesus. But to actually believe that a wafer of bread is transformed into the flesh of christ by a magic process unknown to science is, frankly, laughable.

scbriml wrote:

Aesma wrote:

You're only eating Jesus when the bread has been consecrated, if I remember my religious (but not convinced) days.

I could just about understand this if it was simply symbolic of being the flesh of Jesus. But to actually believe that a wafer of bread is transformed into the flesh of christ by a magic process unknown to science is, frankly, laughable.

Well, Christian believe is based on blood magic and the idea of human sacrifice. .... can´t get much more crazy than that. Bread to flesh is only a minor issue.

best regards
Thomas

flipdewaf wrote:

So the options if you are a Coeliac catholic are.
1. Don't take communion, you are not ill and god doesn't exist.
2. Take communion, you are ill and god doesn't exist.

3. Bring Your Own ?

WIederling wrote:

flipdewaf wrote:

So the options if you are a Coeliac catholic are.
1. Don't take communion, you are not ill and god doesn't exist.
2. Take communion, you are ill and god doesn't exist.

3. Bring Your Own ?

3. Bring Your Own, you are not ill and god doesn't exist.

flipdewaf wrote:

3. Bring Your Own, you are not ill and god doesn't exist.

Right.
I've always brought my own god with me. )

As a practicing Catholic I see nothing theological that backs the Vatican's position on this. Supposedly, the explanation always given is that the bread Christ used in the last supper was unleavened wheat bread and because of this, this is the only type of bread that can be used. Same with the Grape wine used that is consecrated. There is nothing Jesus says that indicates that this has to be the case going forward. Certainly nothing 1980 years ago could have forshadowed what we would be dealing with today.

But I do want to make one thing clear. Jesus said "This IS my Body" "This IS my Blood". Most Christian religions actually reject this concept even though these are Christ's own words. This is the reason I remain a Catholic to this day, even with all the other issues in the Church, some of which are inexcusable, Period.

apodino wrote:

Jesus said "This IS my Body" "This IS my Blood". Most Christian religions actually reject this concept even though these are Christ's own words. .

there is in all likelihood no such thing as "Christ´s own word", since he is only a fictional character.

best regards
Thomas

tommy1808 wrote:

apodino wrote:

Jesus said "This IS my Body" "This IS my Blood". Most Christian religions actually reject this concept even though these are Christ's own words. .

there is in all likelihood no such thing as "Christ´s own word", since he is only a fictional character.

Is it comforting to you to be able to support your atheistic views by dismissing as fictional a plausibly historical character?

Many myths are grounded by some measure of factual memories. Those memories might be (probably have been) enhanced by the telling and retelling of stories. There is considerable evidence of this in the synoptic gospels.

It really doesn't matter what the name of the itinerant preacher was (Yeshua, Joshua, etc.)

There are fictions enough about this person (or persons) such a the promotion to "Christ" that add the element of Greek theater.

BobPatterson wrote:

tommy1808 wrote:

apodino wrote:

Jesus said "This IS my Body" "This IS my Blood". Most Christian religions actually reject this concept even though these are Christ's own words. .

there is in all likelihood no such thing as "Christ´s own word", since he is only a fictional character.

Is it comforting to you to be able to support your atheistic views by dismissing as fictional a plausibly historical character?.

you mean to say implausible historical character, right? Because that is what he is. Just like the persecution of Christians under Nero... all myth.

There is considerable evidence of this in the synoptic gospels.

Yes, there is considerable evidence of this story being made up from start to finish in the synoptic gospels, for example that everything we can check is nonsense, heck, even Paul himself, the only author in the NT we are reasonably certain of, calls the gospels lies (implicitly, since he predates those works of fiction).

There are fictions enough about this person (or persons) such

key word being fictions.

best regards
Thomas