A Spanish bishop joined his voice to that of others in the Church who have clarified how to pastorally care for those who cannot consume wheat products, but still want to receive the Eucharist.Bishop Jesús Sanz Montes of Huesca made public a statement explaining what to do for the faithful who suffer from celiac disease, and thus cannot consume gluten, a composite of proteins that exists, conjoined with starch, in some grass-related grains, such as wheat, rye and barley.
The text was published Tuesday.
The pastoral situation of celiac suffers brought the Church to study how to care for these members of the faithful while still protecting the requirements for the matter of the sacrament of the Eucharist.
The dilemma of how to allow gluten intolerant people to receive Communion without endangering their medical condition arose in Huesca after a boy who suffered from celiac disease reached the age of his first Communion.
The boy's mother proposed using hosts made of maize flour, but the parish priest cited a 2003 document of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that states, "Hosts that are completely gluten-free are invalid matter for the celebration of the Eucharist."
The text was signed by then prefect of the congregation, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
The solution found in Huesca was similar to that found in other areas: The child was able to receive the Eucharist using a low-gluten host.
The particular host chosen by the diocese is a wheat-starch host manufactured in Germany with an almost imperceptible level of gluten.
The Association of Celiacs of Aragon gave the medical OK; the Diocese of Huesca approved that the host could be the matter of the sacrament; and the boy's family accepted the solution.
The vicar general of the Diocese of Huesca, Father José Antonio Satué Huerto, said that the bishop's document was based on "two similar documents, one from the Italian episcopal conference and another from the Archdiocese of Pamplona."
The document affirmed that, "in recent years, the number of faithful affected by celiac disease has increased considerably" and goes on to explain the solution found by the Church: hosts that are nearly gluten-free, or receiving Communion just under the species of wine.
The statement urged priests to know their faithful, becoming aware of who suffers from celiac disease, and doing what they can to "alleviate the difficulties and the discomfort they encounter for their daily life and their participation in the Eucharist."
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