UK Archbishop says rule on communion could be relaxed

Restrictions on Christians from other denominations receiving communion in the Catholic Church could be relaxed, the Archbishop of Birmingham has said, reports The Tablet.

Archbishop Bernard Longley, co-chairman of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (Arcic), said he foresaw a loosening of guidelines that already exist allowing baptised Christians to receive communion, although stressed he could not predict the pace of such a change.

In an interview with the Church of Ireland Gazette, the Archbishop pointed to a Vatican document in 1993 that already allowed for communion to be received by non-Catholic Christians in certain circumstances and following specific criteria.

'Given that that represents a change and a very significant shift away from the impossibility to the limited possibility then I could imagine and foresee one of the fruits of our ecumenical engagement as moving towards a deeper understanding of communion and a deeper sharing between our Churches ... which perhaps would lead to a reconsideration of some of the circumstances,' he said adding he was speaking 'personally.'