By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While no one has a right to claim God's gifts, Catholics do have a right to receive the Eucharist from the Catholic Church, said the Vatican's top expert on church law.
Cardinal Julian Herranz, president of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, spoke Oct. 10 to the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist.
Whether the faithful have a right to receive the Eucharist and, if they do, what the church must do to ensure there are enough priests to celebrate Mass was a recurring topic of discussion at the Oct. 2-23 synod.
Italian Cardinal Angelo Scola of Venice, the synod's recording secretary, had opened the synod saying the Eucharist was a gift, not a right, implying that a lack of priests was a motive for prayer, not for changing the church's discipline on priestly celibacy to ensure greater access to the Eucharist.
The Vatican released summaries of the bishops' talks and provided briefings on their full content.
Cardinal Herranz told the synod that the Eucharist was a "priceless gift" of God's love.
People, he said, "have no right before God to receive the Eucharist precisely because it is an act of infinite freedom and mercy" on God's part.
However, he said, "once God gave the church the sacraments for the good of his people, all the faithful enjoy the right" to receive from the church the spiritual goods of the word of God and the sacraments.
Canon law says that unless they are in a state of serious sin, the faithful have a right to receive the Eucharist, he said.
"As you can see, this is a basic, although not absolute, right," Cardinal Herranz said.
When the faithful are in a state of sin, he said, their pastors must "follow them with loving patience and pastoral concern" so they return to being in a state of grace and so that none of them think they are "excommunicated just because they cannot receive Communion."
Cardinal Herranz asked the bishops to be "more sensitive to the just requests of the faithful who express their hunger for the Eucharist," ensuring that priests are available to hear their confessions and ensuring that churches are kept open so people can stop and pray before the Blessed Sacrament.
"Because justice consists in giving each person that to which he has a right," he prayed that Mary would "help us guarantee our lay brothers and sisters the exercise of their rights for the good of their souls, but also for the apostolic vigor of the entire people of God."
Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
