THE Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna, Dr Christoph Schonborn, has said that anyone, including Protestants, who can in good conscience say "amen" to the eucharistic prayer at Mass, may receive communion in a Catholic church.
Responding to a query from a Protestant reader in Theme Kirche, the magazine of the Catholic archdiocese in Vienna, he explained that this "simple little rule" can be applied.
In their joint One Bread, One Body document on communion published last year the Catholic bishops of Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales, said that non-(Roman) Catholics could only receive communion at Mass where "there is danger of death, or if there is some other grave and pressing need". The latter would include cases of inter-church parents at their child's first communion or when an inter-church couple got married.
The British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair, whose wife Cherie is Roman Catholic, used to receive communion with her at Mass frequently but stopped when he was written to by the late Cardinal Hume.
But the cardinal has said that the Catholic Church's teaching on the Eucharist is clearly stated in the eucharistic prayer at Mass. He added, however, that the "appropriateness" of non(Roman) Catholics going to communion in a Catholic church should also be considered, as their doing so may be misunderstood.
Austria's senior Anglican churchman, Archdeacon Jeremy Peake, is quoted in the Catholic weekly, the Tablet, as welcoming Cardinal Schonborn's comments but he added: "We would be more pleased if Roman Catholics were allowed to receive communion in Anglican churches".
