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As the Church celebrates All Saints and All Souls, Nuntiatoria CXXX reflects upon remembrance as a duty of faith, charity and fidelity. From the preservation of Catholic Tradition to religious persecution, evangelisation, safeguarding and freedom of conscience, this edition considers what Christians owe to those who came before them, those who suffer today and generations yet to come. Above all, it recalls our obligation to pray for the faithful departed and to live in the light of eternity.
“Fellow Citizens with the Saints”
a Pastoral Epistle for All Saints
To the clergy, religious, and faithful of the Old Roman Apostolate, and to all those who seek to preserve the Catholic faith in its integrity and fullness:
grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.” — St Matthew 5:8
Cives sanctorum et domestici Dei — fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. With these words the Apostle St Paul describes the dignity to which every Christian is called and the heavenly inheritance which the Church places before us upon the solemnity of All Saints (Ephesians 2:19).
The multitude gathered before the throne of God, clothed in white and bearing palms of victory, is the company of those who have persevered through the trials of this world and entered into the joy of their Lord. They have passed beyond temptation, suffering and death, and attained that blessed vision for which Almighty God created the human soul. Their triumph is the fulfilment of the promise made to us in Baptism, the fruit of Christ’s Redemption, and the destiny towards which our earthly pilgrimage must be directed.
There is particular consolation in this feast for Catholics living amid the present difficulties of the Church and the world. Questions of doctrine, ecclesiastical authority, the integrity of divine worship and the preservation of Catholic Tradition rightly occupy our attention. They concern the means by which the Faith is transmitted and souls are brought to salvation. Yet All Saints reminds us why these things matter. The Church exists to glorify God and lead souls to Heaven. Her sacred ministry, her institutions and her apostolic labours must always be judged according to that divine commission.
The saints are the enduring witnesses to its fulfilment. Their lives differed enormously. Some governed kingdoms, others laboured anonymously; some defended the Faith before persecutors, others practised extraordinary patience within the confines of domestic life. There were scholars and simple labourers, contemplatives and missionaries, mothers and fathers, priests and religious, and penitents whose earlier lives had been marked by grave sin. Yet all came to recognise that God was their beginning and their end, that His commandments expressed a wisdom superior to their own, and that earthly life was given to prepare them for eternal communion with Him.
Their glory reveals a truth which our age has become increasingly reluctant to acknowledge: man finds his proper place in the universe only when God is given His.
The Feast of Christ the King, celebrated in our traditional calendar upon the last Sunday of October, leads us towards All Saints with remarkable theological coherence. Having proclaimed the universal sovereignty of the Incarnate Word, the Church now contemplates those in whom His redeeming reign has reached its fulfilment. Christ is King by the divine dignity of His Person and by the right of redemption established through His Precious Blood. The saints belong to His Kingdom, not merely as subjects, but as His friends and members of His Mystical Body, admitted through grace to the enjoyment of His eternal glory.¹
St John beholds the innumerable multitude standing before the throne and the Lamb, crying with a great voice that salvation belongs to God and to the Lamb (Apocalypse 7:9–10). Heaven is the fulfilment of every legitimate human longing because there the blessed possess God, their supreme and eternal Good. Sin has lost its dominion, every disordered desire has been healed, and the redeemed rejoice in the presence of their Creator.
This heavenly vision teaches us something fundamental about religion itself. In its classical theological meaning, religion is the moral virtue by which man acknowledges God’s supreme excellence and renders Him the worship which is His due. Adoration, or latria, belongs to God alone. We venerate the saints because of His grace manifested in them, and honour the Blessed Virgin Mary with the singular veneration owed to her as Mother of God. But all this honour leads us back to Him from Whom their dignity and glory proceed.²
Much contemporary discussion of religion begins elsewhere. Christianity is presented in terms of personal experience, emotional consolation, belonging or wellbeing. These may be genuine fruits of the spiritual life, but they cannot be its foundation. We worship God because He is God. His claim upon us does not depend upon whether we find the experience satisfying, whether our neighbours approve, or whether religious belief appears useful to society.
The Holy Office’s unfinished project Cultum Regi Regum, prepared during the final years of Pius XII’s pontificate, placed this understanding of religion at the centre of its treatment of modern errors. Though never promulgated as an encyclical, and therefore possessing no magisterial authority of its own, its underlying argument expressed a truth already firmly established in Catholic teaching: divine worship, moral conduct and the profession of faith belong to one ordered relationship between the creature and his Creator.³
The consequence is far-reaching. Our intelligence owes assent to divine truth, our wills owe obedience to the divine law, and our conduct must reflect the purposes for which we were made. Christianity cannot be confined to a private spiritual preference while the rest of our existence proceeds according to assumptions borrowed from an unbelieving world. Christ’s sovereignty reaches into our families, our work, our responsibilities as citizens, and the manner in which we treat one another. His authority is neither suspended at the church door nor restricted to Sunday morning.⁴
The saints understood this. St Thomas More served his earthly sovereign faithfully until obedience would have required him to surrender what belonged to God. St Monica endured years of anxiety for her son Augustine, persevering in prayer when she could do little else to bring about his conversion. St Thérèse of the Child Jesus, whose life was largely hidden within a Carmelite convent, discovered in ordinary acts of charity and self-denial a path of extraordinary spiritual fruitfulness.⁵
Few of us will be brought before a tribunal for the Faith. Many, however, will have to choose between conscience and convenience. Parents may know St Monica’s anguish when a child abandons religion. The sick, the housebound and those whose opportunities appear limited can learn from St Thérèse that no act of love offered to God is insignificant.
The saints served Him in the circumstances given to them. We are called to do likewise.
Nowhere is the primacy of God more clearly expressed than in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Upon the altar, the Church offers to Almighty God the one sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ, made sacramentally present through the ministry of the priest. Its infinite worth belongs to Christ, the divine Victim and principal Priest, whose offering upon Calvary accomplished our redemption.⁶
This truth governs everything about sacred worship. The liturgy is a sacred inheritance entrusted to the Church for the honour of God, the profession of Catholic truth and the sanctification of souls. The priest approaches the altar to fulfil a sacred office whose significance cannot be measured by the approval or enthusiasm of those assembled. The faithful assist at the sacrifice and unite themselves to its offering, bringing before God their thanksgiving, repentance, sufferings and petitions.
Our traditional Roman rites have formed generations of Catholics in this understanding. Silence, genuflection, sacred language, prescribed ceremonial and reverence before the Blessed Sacrament teach us that we stand before mysteries which we have received rather than invented. Their purpose is to lead us into deeper adoration of God and more fruitful participation in the sacrifice of His Son.
The same understanding must govern our reception of Holy Communion. The Holy Sacrifice is complete in its essential sacrificial action without the sacramental Communion of the assisting faithful. Although the Church earnestly encourages frequent and worthy reception, approaching the altar rail is never an automatic entitlement or a public demonstration of religious belonging. Those conscious of mortal sin must seek sacramental absolution before receiving, according to the Church’s discipline. The faithful who refrain from Communion for a proper reason continue to assist at the Holy Sacrifice and should cultivate the desire for spiritual communion.⁷
I would particularly encourage those who have become accustomed to approaching Holy Communion without much preparation to recover the habit of recollection. Examine your conscience honestly. Seek absolution frequently. Do not be ashamed to confess the same faults if you are sincerely struggling to overcome them. The confessional was established for sinners, and no contrite soul should imagine that Christ’s mercy has been exhausted by his weakness.
Our devotion to the traditional rites ought to deepen these convictions. Their preservation matters because divine worship matters. Yet their beauty must not become an object of admiration detached from the God to Whom they direct us. We cannot spend an hour before the altar professing humility and then return home determined to have the last word in every quarrel.
The Mass should change the way we live. That is the fruit which our devotion must seek.
The recognition of God’s sovereignty governs our understanding of truth, morality and human society. Creation possesses an intelligible order because it proceeds from divine wisdom. Man does not invent his nature, establish the ultimate purpose of his existence, or confer upon himself the dignity which he possesses as a creature made in the image and likeness of God.
The moral law expresses the demands of that created nature and the eternal law of God. Marriage, parenthood, family life, human dignity and the obligations of justice cannot be properly understood if they are detached from the purposes for which the Creator established them. Nor can civil government claim a moral authority independent of the divine law. Public responsibilities must be exercised for the true common good, with due respect for the rights and dignity of those governed.⁸
The same principle applies to Catholic doctrine. Divine revelation has been entrusted to the Church as a sacred deposit. Her pastors possess authority to guard, explain and faithfully transmit what she has received. Neither theological fashion nor pastoral expediency can justify altering the substance of the Faith. To abandon an inconvenient truth is no act of charity towards those who need to hear it.⁹
I am conscious that these matters weigh heavily upon many of the faithful. Some are isolated because of their attachment to traditional worship. Others struggle to obtain regular access to the sacraments or to secure sound Catholic instruction for their children. Many have been disheartened by the words and actions of those from whom they might reasonably have expected encouragement and pastoral care.
Their concerns are not imaginary, and they deserve more than assurances that everything is well. Those entrusted with sacred orders must remember that their authority is exercised for the salvation of souls. The Catholic faithful are entitled to sound doctrine, reverent worship and genuine pastoral solicitude.
Yet we must not allow disappointment to consume the spiritual life. It is possible to recognise real abuses and still become unjust in our judgements, intemperate in our speech or uncharitable towards those with whom we disagree. The Beatitudes appointed for All Saints offer a searching examination of conscience: poverty of spirit, meekness, mercy, purity of heart, hunger for justice and perseverance under persecution.
St Thomas More knew the claims of conscience and the price of remaining faithful. His example teaches us that firmness in the truth need not extinguish courtesy, affection or restraint. We may refuse an error without treating every person who holds it as an enemy.
I ask our clergy to be steadfast in their sacred obligations, generous in their care of souls and faithful to the doctrine they have received. I ask the laity to pray for their priests, support their missions and cultivate the virtues which make Catholic witness credible. Let our perseverance be strengthened by the saints, and our courage governed by charity.
Before Almighty God, we shall answer for the duties entrusted to us, not for the controversies in which we have prevailed.
For most Catholics, the first lessons in Christian life are learned within the home. Children discover the meaning of authority, affection, obedience, forgiveness and sacrifice long before they are capable of understanding theological disputes. They recognise whether those responsible for their upbringing genuinely believe that God comes first.
A crucifix displayed with reverence, the daily Rosary, the Angelus, morning and evening prayers, and grace before meals give visible expression to that conviction. The Church’s calendar teaches a family to measure time by the mysteries of Redemption rather than merely by school terms, commercial festivals and holidays. Fasting and abstinence teach self-command; feasts teach gratitude; and prayers for the dead remind children that the bonds of Christian charity extend beyond the grave.¹⁰
The sanctification of Sunday deserves particular attention. The Lord’s Day belongs to God. Attendance at Holy Mass, where the obligation binds and no legitimate impediment excuses it, should be the centre of its observance. Family prayer, a meal shared without unnecessary haste, spiritual reading, hospitality, suitable recreation and works of mercy help preserve its sacred character.¹¹
I know that many families face substantial pressures. Employment, illness, distance and the scarcity of traditional sacramental provision can make the observance of Sunday difficult. Some of our faithful live far from any regular mission or oratory, while others must care for relatives who cannot be left unattended. Those genuinely prevented from assisting at Mass should sanctify the day as they are able, joining themselves spiritually to the Holy Sacrifice and persevering in prayer. Our clergy must continue striving to provide for them wherever circumstances permit.
But I would also encourage families to reconsider the priorities which have gradually come to govern their lives. We can find time for a surprising number of things which we consider important. Prayer is too easily displaced because it has been left to whatever time remains.
Begin modestly. A Rosary prayed faithfully, an evening examination of conscience, or a few minutes spent reading the Gospel together may establish habits which endure for years. Parents need not recreate the discipline of a monastery within their household. They should seek a rule of life which helps them fulfil their actual responsibilities.
And let affection be evident in that discipline. Children should associate the Catholic Faith with truth and reverence, certainly, but also with the warmth of a Christian home. A family which prays together should be learning to forgive one another. Parents who teach the commandments must also show their children what repentance looks like when they themselves have been impatient or unjust.
I particularly encourage families to celebrate All Saints with genuine joy. Let children learn the lives of their patrons. Tell them about the young saints, the martyrs, the missionaries, and the mothers and fathers who attained Heaven through the duties of family life. They should know that sanctity is not an achievement reserved to extraordinary personalities, but the vocation given to every Christian.
Nor should those living alone imagine themselves excluded from this domestic calling. A widow praying before her crucifix, an elderly person offering suffering patiently, or a housebound Catholic joining spiritually in the Holy Sacrifice is participating in the life of the Church. Those who live within families have a corresponding duty to remember such people, visit them and ensure that they are not forgotten.
We have sometimes become better at discussing what has gone wrong in the Church than at teaching our children to pray. The recovery of Catholic life must begin with both.
The joy of All Saints leads immediately into the solemn remembrance of All Souls. The Church Triumphant, the Church Suffering and the Church Militant remain united in the one Mystical Body of Christ. The blessed intercede for us; we seek their assistance; and we offer our prayers and suffrages for those faithful departed who await the completion of their purification.
The doctrine of Purgatory expresses both the holiness of God and the greatness of His mercy. Those who die in His friendship are assured of their final salvation, yet may still require purification before entering the fullness of the Beatific Vision. The Church has always taught that the faithful departed are assisted by our prayers, particularly by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.¹²
This doctrine should be a source of consolation to those who mourn. Death has ended our ordinary companionship with those whom we love, but it has not destroyed the bonds of charity established through Christ. We can still do something for them. We can pray, offer sacrifices and ask that the Holy Mass be applied for the repose of their souls.
We must also be careful not to replace Christian hope with presumptuous certainty. When someone dies in tragic circumstances, perhaps by suicide, or apparently estranged from the visible life of the Church, we should not pretend to know the final disposition of that soul before God. His judgement is perfectly just, His mercy immeasurably greater than ours, and the hidden movements of conscience at the approach of death are known to Him alone. We may therefore commend such persons to His mercy, pray for them and entrust them to the merits of Christ.
I urge all our faithful, throughout November, to recover the practice of offering suffrages for the departed. Submit the names of deceased relatives and friends for remembrance at the altar. Arrange Requiem Masses where possible, visit their graves, pray the De Profundis, and offer acts of penance and charity on their behalf. Remember especially the forgotten dead, those who perished without family around them, and the departed clergy who served previous generations.¹³
Within the Old Roman Apostolate, this duty finds practical expression through our Guild of Holy Souls, approved in November 2022. The Guild was established to encourage prayer for the faithful departed, maintain Chantry Books in which their names may be remembered, provide for regular monthly Requiems, and offer guidance and practical assistance towards traditional Catholic burial. Its purpose unites two ancient works of mercy: praying for the dead and burying them with Christian dignity.¹⁴
I encourage our clergy and faithful, wherever circumstances permit, to participate in this apostolate and make its provisions known to those who may benefit from them. The names preserved in our Chantry Books should remind future generations that those who have gone before us remain members of the Christian family.
All Saints and All Souls belong together. On the first day of November the Church rejoices with those who behold God face to face; on the second she prays for those who are being prepared to join them. In both observances she teaches us to look beyond the short horizon of earthly existence.
We should therefore consider our own preparation for death. Let us not postpone repentance or leave reconciliation with God and neighbour until some imagined future opportunity. The sacraments of Confession, Viaticum and Extreme Unction are among the Church’s greatest consolations for those approaching their final passage.
The saints whom we honour have already crossed that threshold. Their happiness is the promise towards which our lives must be directed.
Dearly beloved, I would have you approach this solemnity with confidence and renewed affection for the Church. The difficulties of our age are real. We have seen confusion concerning doctrine, irreverence in worship and painful failures of pastoral responsibility. These things deserve our attention and, where necessary, our resistance. But they must not rob us of the joy which belongs to those who believe in the Resurrection and the life everlasting.
Christ remains enthroned. His sacrifice has lost none of its power. The Church’s saints have not ceased to intercede for her children. Whatever may be said or done upon earth, the blessed continue in the everlasting adoration of the Most Holy Trinity.
Among them are countless souls whose names have never appeared in any calendar, whose sacrifices attracted no earthly admiration, and whose fidelity was known to God alone. They were parents, labourers, widows, priests, servants and children. They had their disappointments, temptations and sorrows. Some struggled for years against faults which others never knew they possessed. They trusted in divine mercy, returned to the sacraments after falling, and persevered.
Perhaps some whom we have known are already numbered among that blessed company. We cannot presume upon their eternal state, but we may confidently hope in the mercy of God, while continuing to offer the prayers which charity requires.
St Paul tells us that we are called to become fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (Ephesians 2:19). We are travelling towards an inheritance which neither the troubles of the world nor the failures of men can take away from those who persevere in grace.
As we pass from the celebration of Christ’s Kingship to the contemplation of His saints, I ask you to renew your allegiance to Him in the circumstances of your own lives. Give to Almighty God the worship which is His due. Honour His law in your decisions. Seek His mercy in Confession and approach His altar with faith and reverence. Preserve the Catholic character of your homes, pray for those who have wandered from the Faith, and do not neglect the lonely, the suffering or the departed.
Above all, never imagine that the age of saints has passed. The same divine grace which sustained the martyrs, strengthened the confessors and brought hidden souls to perfection remains available to us. The Church may be afflicted, society may change beyond recognition, and our own circumstances may become more difficult than we had anticipated. None of these things prevents us from loving God or fulfilling His will.
He has not called us to admire Heaven from a distance. He has called us to enter it.
May the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of All Saints, intercede for us. May St Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, protect our homes and families. May the holy Apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins and all the blessed assist us by their prayers, that we may remain steadfast in the Faith, generous in charity, and faithful to Christ until death.
And may the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, reign in our hearts, our homes and our common life, until that blessed day when faith shall give way to sight and we shall behold Him in the company of His saints.
With my paternal affection and blessing, I commend you all to the mercy and protection of Almighty God.
Haec est via.
I.X.
Brichtelmestunensis
In Vigilia Omnium Sanctorum A.D. MMXXVI
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui diligentibus te regnum aeternum praeparasti, et servos tuos gloria visionis tuae coronasti: respice propitius ad nos, qui in hac mortali vita adhuc laboramus. Per intercessionem beatae Mariae semper Virginis et omnium Sanctorum tuorum, in vera fide nos conserva, corda nostra ab omni peccato emunda, in virtute nos robora, atque in gratia tua usque in finem perseverare concede. Preces nostras pro fidelibus defunctis clementer suscipe; domibus familiisque nostris benedic; sacerdotes tuos in fidelitate confirma; nosque tandem, per merita Iesu Christi Filii tui, ad consortium electorum tuorum perduc, ut cum Angelis et omnibus Sanctis te in aeternum laudare mereamur. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen
O Almighty and Eternal God, Who hast prepared for those who love Thee an everlasting Kingdom, and hast crowned Thy servants with the glory of Thy heavenly presence, look mercifully upon us who still labour in this mortal life. Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all Thy Saints, preserve us in the true Faith, purify our hearts from sin, strengthen us in virtue, and grant us perseverance in Thy holy grace. Receive our prayers for the faithful departed, bless our homes and families, sustain Thy priests in fidelity, and bring us at last, through the merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to the company of Thy elect, where with the angels and saints we may praise Thee for ever. Through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.
¹ Pius XI, Quas Primas, 11 December 1925, §§7–19, 28–29.
² St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II–II, q. 81, aa. 1–6; Council of Trent, Session XXV, Decree on the Invocation and Veneration of Saints, 3 December 1563.
³ Sabine Schratz and Daniele Premoli, “L’Enciclica Pascendi dei tempi moderni”: Il progetto per l’ultima enciclica di Pio XII (1956–58), Journal of Modern and Contemporary Christianity 3, no. 1 (2024): 153–174; Nuntiatoria, “The Encyclical That Never Was: Cultum Regi Regum, Pius XII and the Road Not Taken in 1958”, 14 August 2026.
⁴ Pius XI, Quas Primas, §§17–19, 24–26.
⁵ John Paul II, E Sancti Thomae Mori, 31 October 2000; St Augustine, Confessions, bk. IX; Francis, C’est la confiance, 15 October 2023, §§5–6, 14–18.
⁶ Pius XII, Mediator Dei, 20 November 1947, §§65–79, 80–104.
⁷ Pius XII, Mediator Dei, §§112–118; Nuntiatoria, “The Faithful Who Do Not Receive”, 16 October 2026.
⁸ Pius XI, Quas Primas, §§17–19; Pius XI, Divini Illius Magistri, 31 December 1929, §§11–20.
⁹ Pius XII, Humani Generis, 12 August 1950, §§18–21.
¹⁰ Pius XI, Divini Illius Magistri, §§30–39; Nuntiatoria, “Christ Must Reign at Home”, 23 October 2026; Nuntiatoria, “A Home with Room for Heaven: Preparing for All Saints and All Souls”, 23 October 2026.
¹¹ Codex Iuris Canonici (1917), cann. 1247–1249.
¹² Council of Trent, Session XXV, Decree Concerning Purgatory, 3 December 1563.
¹³ Nuntiatoria, “Requiem Aeternam: The Church That Will Not Forget Her Dead”, 30 October 2026.
¹⁴ Old Roman Apostolate, “Guild of Holy Souls”, 21 November 2022; Nuntiatoria, “A Home with Room for Heaven”, 23 October 2026.
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CHRISTUS REX | NUNTIATORIA CXXIX — 25 October 2026: As the Church celebrates Christ the King, this edition examines the crisis of authority in Church and society, the erosion of Catholic Tradition, doctrinal confusion, institutional double standards and the courageous witness of persecuted Catholics. We also introduce The Domestic Church, a new weekly series helping traditional Catholics restore prayer, devotion and the liturgical year to everyday family life, beginning with preparations for All Saints and All Souls. The renewal of Christendom begins with fidelity to what we have received. Christus vincit. Christus regnat. Christus imperat.
On worthy Holy Communion, the examination of conscience, and the recovery of divine worship as the first purpose of attending Mass
✠ Jerome Lloyd OSJV, Titular Archbishop of Selsey
I am increasingly convinced that one of the most serious problems confronting contemporary Catholic life is not simply a decline in religious observance, nor even the widespread ignorance of particular doctrines, but a fundamental misunderstanding of what the sacraments are and why they are given. Too often, they are approached as though they were personal accomplishments, milestones in religious development, or privileges to which individuals become entitled through participation in the life of the Church. Their essential character as undeserved gifts of divine mercy has become obscured. This confusion is especially apparent in prevailing attitudes towards Holy Communion, where sacramental reception is increasingly treated as an expected expression of belonging to the gathered congregation rather than a sacred encounter with Christ requiring faith, repentance and proper spiritual disposition.
The distinction matters enormously. The sacraments are not things which human beings achieve. They are supernatural gifts instituted by Our Lord Jesus Christ, through which He communicates His grace and sanctifies those who receive them with the requisite dispositions. Their efficacy derives from Christ, not from the accomplishments, emotions or personal worthiness of the recipient. The proper response to such gifts is therefore not self-congratulation, but humility, gratitude and a renewed determination to live according to the grace received. St Paul’s question to the Corinthians expresses the principle with remarkable simplicity: “Or what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7).¹ The Apostle’s challenge applies with particular force to the sacramental life. Whatever preparation may precede our reception of grace, we remain its beneficiaries, not its authors.
Consider the celebrations surrounding First Holy Communion, Confirmation and Sacred Ordination. These occasions ought to be among the most joyful in Catholic life, yet the manner in which they are sometimes presented can suggest that the recipient has attained a personal distinction rather than been blessed by God. First Holy Communion becomes the culmination of a course of preparation; Confirmation resembles a graduation from religious instruction; Ordination is celebrated almost as the crowning achievement of an ecclesiastical career. Considerable attention may be devoted to clothing, photographs, festivities, congratulations and presentations, while the supernatural significance of what has taken place receives comparatively little emphasis. None of these outward celebrations is objectionable in itself. Families are right to rejoice when their children receive the sacraments, and the Church should celebrate the gift of priestly vocations. But the festivities must never obscure the nature of the gift. The child receiving Our Lord for the first time has not earned Him. The confirmand has not achieved the Holy Ghost. The ordinand has not made himself worthy of the priesthood through years of study or preparation. Each has been granted something which no human effort could ever purchase.
This is not to deny the importance of preparation, perseverance or the proper exercise of human freedom. Sacramental preparation is necessary, and those approaching the sacraments must possess the dispositions appropriate to their reception. The distinction is between cooperating with grace and imagining that grace is owed to us because of our cooperation. A priest may have studied diligently, endured years of formation and responded generously to a divine vocation; nevertheless, the priesthood is not his personal accomplishment. It is a sacred office conferred through the grace of Holy Orders, bringing obligations far exceeding any distinction attached to it. The same principle applies to every sacrament. The recipient is not honoured because he has become sufficiently deserving. He is blessed because God has chosen to bestow His gifts upon the undeserving, calling them thereby to holiness.
I believe this confusion has had particularly serious consequences for the understanding of Holy Communion. The Eucharist is increasingly perceived primarily as a sign of fellowship with the other members of the congregation, a visible expression that one belongs to the community gathered for worship. Certainly, the Eucharist has an essential ecclesial dimension. The faithful are united in Christ, and sacramental Communion both expresses and deepens the unity of His Mystical Body. It would be mistaken to deny this aspect of the sacrament. The difficulty arises when the order of that relationship is reversed. Our communion with one another derives from our communion with Christ. We are not principally receiving a symbol of fellowship with our neighbours; we are receiving the true Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Our unity with one another is founded upon that supernatural reality and the common profession of the faith which it presupposes. As Benedict XVI explained in Sacramentum Caritatis, Eucharistic communion and ecclesial communion are inseparably related precisely because the Eucharist is the sacrament of Christ’s presence and sacrifice.²
When this understanding becomes obscured, Holy Communion gradually assumes the character of a social expectation. Attendance at Mass is presumed to entail reception. Those who remain in their places while others approach the altar may feel conspicuous, embarrassed or obliged to explain themselves. The expectation can extend even to those who are not Catholic, or who do not share the Church’s faith concerning the Eucharist, because withholding Communion is increasingly interpreted as a refusal of fellowship rather than the observance of sacramental discipline. Yet the Church does not possess the authority to redefine the Eucharist as an indiscriminate sign of welcome. Its reception requires communion in the faith and life of the Church, subject to the particular provisions of ecclesiastical law. The carefully defined exceptions concerning certain other baptised Christians do not establish a general principle of unrestricted admission. The Blessed Sacrament is not ours to distribute according to changing social expectations. It is Christ’s gift, entrusted to His Church, to be administered according to His truth.
It is my pastoral judgement that far too many Catholics now receive Holy Communion frequently when they ought first to examine their consciences and recognise that they should refrain. I do not make that observation as a claim to know the spiritual condition of particular individuals. The secrets of conscience belong to God, and no priest is entitled to presume the presence of mortal sin merely from appearances. Nor do I possess statistical evidence by which to measure the precise proportion of communicants who may be improperly disposed. My concern arises from the increasingly habitual expectation of reception, the apparent decline in recourse to sacramental confession, and the diminished emphasis upon the examination of conscience as an indispensable preparation for approaching the altar. Where Communion becomes automatic, its frequency can conceal rather than demonstrate spiritual maturity.
The number of people receiving at Mass tells us very little, by itself, about the holiness of a congregation. A parish in which almost everyone receives may be one whose members are genuinely devoted to the Blessed Sacrament, regularly examine their consciences and avail themselves of confession whenever necessary. But the same outward appearance might exist in a parish where examination of conscience is rarely taught, confession is neglected and reception has become an unquestioned custom. We cannot determine the spiritual reality by counting communicants. The more meaningful question is whether Catholics understand why they are receiving, what dispositions are required, and whether they are prepared to refrain when conscience obliges them to do so.
St Paul’s warning to the Corinthians leaves no room for treating this responsibility lightly. He commands that a person should examine himself before receiving the Eucharist and warns against receiving without discerning the Lord’s Body. The Douay-Rheims translation renders his admonition with unmistakable gravity: “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself” (1 Corinthians 11:29).³ These words ought to be familiar to every Catholic preparing for Holy Communion. The Apostle does not regard reception as an automatic benefit conferred by participation in the Christian assembly. He insists that it carries a responsibility proportionate to the holiness of the gift.
The warning should neither be exaggerated nor diminished. St Paul does not teach that every instance of unworthy reception automatically results in eternal damnation. Indeed, his subsequent words distinguish divine chastisement from condemnation. Nevertheless, deliberately receiving the Blessed Sacrament while conscious of unrepented mortal sin constitutes a grave sacrilege and places the soul in spiritual danger. Where mortal sin is persisted in without repentance, eternal salvation itself is imperilled. It would be a strange conception of pastoral charity which regarded it as more compassionate to encourage sacramental reception regardless of disposition than to warn the faithful against offending Our Lord and endangering their souls. The Church’s discipline exists not merely to protect the dignity of the sacrament, but also for the spiritual welfare of those who approach it.
For this reason, I believe it would be a far more convincing indication of developing personal holiness if Catholics recovered the habit of serious and honest examination of conscience before receiving Holy Communion. Where such examination reveals mortal sin, they should seek sacramental confession before approaching the altar. Where a genuine and well-founded doubt remains concerning their spiritual disposition, prudence may counsel abstention until the matter can be resolved through confession or competent spiritual direction. Such restraint should not be regarded as a source of embarrassment. It may be an act of humility, reverence and obedience, demonstrating a more mature understanding of the sacrament than reception undertaken merely because everyone else is approaching.
An important distinction must be maintained here. Examination of conscience is not an invitation to scrupulosity, nor should those subject to persistent religious anxiety be encouraged to doubt their spiritual condition endlessly. A passing apprehension is not evidence of mortal sin, and a properly formed conscience must distinguish between grave and venial matter, deliberate consent and involuntary weakness. The faithful who suffer from scruples should follow sound spiritual direction rather than multiplying private judgements against themselves. The Church does not require moral perfection before Holy Communion. Indeed, the Eucharist is itself a remedy for weakness and a source of the grace by which the Christian life is sustained. But she does require the dispositions appropriate to its worthy reception. To make this distinction clearly is not rigorism. It is elementary pastoral responsibility.
Nor should my argument be mistaken for opposition to frequent Communion. St Pius X expressly encouraged frequent and even daily reception in the decree Sacra Tridentina Synodus of 1905. He opposed the excessive severity which had discouraged Catholics from receiving unless they believed themselves to have attained an exceptional degree of spiritual perfection. His teaching was clear: those in the state of grace who approach with a right and devout intention should be encouraged to receive frequently. But he was equally clear that a right intention excludes reception motivated merely by routine, vanity or human respect.⁴ This last consideration is especially relevant today. The problem is not that Catholics receive frequently when properly disposed. The problem is that frequent reception may become so habitual that the question of proper disposition scarcely arises. The remedy is not to discourage worthy Communion, but to recover the sacramental seriousness which makes it fruitful.
The traditional prayer before Holy Communion, Domine, non sum dignus — “Lord, I am not worthy” — should therefore recover its proper significance. It is possible to recite these words and then behave as though we possessed an unquestionable claim upon the Blessed Sacrament. Yet the prayer expresses the precise opposite. No Catholic, however devout, approaches the altar by virtue of personal deserving. We come as sinners dependent upon mercy, seeking the grace which only Christ can bestow. To receive worthily does not mean to have become worthy of God through our own accomplishments. It means to approach according to the dispositions He requires, recognising that even these depend upon the assistance of His grace. The sacramental life cannot be understood properly if the distinction between meriting a gift and being prepared to receive it is forgotten.
This leads to a further and, in my opinion, even more consequential misunderstanding: the tendency to regard Holy Communion as the principal purpose of attending Mass. In much contemporary Catholic consciousness, participation in the Eucharistic celebration is measured chiefly by whether the individual receives the sacrament. A Mass at which somebody does not receive may be regarded as an incomplete experience, as though the person’s attendance had somehow failed to achieve its intended purpose. Such an assumption fundamentally misconceives what the Mass is.
The Holy Mass is first and foremost the Holy Sacrifice of Christ. It is the sacramental making-present, in an unbloody manner, of the one perfect offering of Our Lord upon Calvary. Christ Himself is the principal Priest and Victim. Through the ministry of the ordained priest, His sacrifice is offered to the Eternal Father for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. The traditional theology of the Mass identifies its four ends as adoration, thanksgiving, propitiation and impetration, or petition. These are the fundamental purposes of the sacrifice. The faithful assist at Mass by uniting themselves, their intentions, prayers, sacrifices and lives with the offering of Christ. They come, before everything else, to worship Almighty God.
This truth is of enormous importance. The congregation does not assemble principally to celebrate itself, affirm its members or create a sense of communal belonging. It assembles to render to God the worship which is His due, through the sacrifice of His Son. The Mass is not made holy by the presence of the congregation, nor does its essential worth depend upon the number of people who receive Holy Communion. Its infinite dignity derives from Christ, whose offering is made sacramentally present upon the altar. The faithful participate most fruitfully when they unite themselves in faith, hope, charity, repentance and adoration to that sacrifice. Holy Communion is an incomparable participation in its fruits, but its reception by every member of the congregation is not what constitutes the Mass as the supreme act of Christian worship.
Pope Pius XII addressed precisely this question in Mediator Dei, his great encyclical concerning the Sacred Liturgy. He taught that the integrity of the Eucharistic Sacrifice requires the sacramental Communion of the celebrating priest, but not that of every person assisting at Mass. He explicitly rejected the argument that general Communion should be regarded as the culmination of the whole celebration on the assumption that the Eucharist is essentially a fraternal meal. At the same time, he strongly encouraged the faithful to receive frequently and fervently, recognising the abundant graces of worthy Communion.⁵ There is no contradiction between these positions. The Mass is essentially a sacrifice; Holy Communion is the sacramental participation in that sacrifice’s fruits. To defend the primacy of divine worship is not to diminish Communion, but to place it within the theological reality from which it derives its meaning.
The Council of Trent had already affirmed the same distinction. It encouraged the faithful to receive not merely spiritually but sacramentally, so that they might obtain more abundant fruit from the Holy Sacrifice. Nevertheless, it explicitly defended the legitimacy and completeness of Masses at which the priest alone receives Holy Communion.⁶ The teaching is decisive because it demonstrates that attendance at Mass without individual sacramental reception is not thereby rendered meaningless. A Catholic who conscientiously refrains has nevertheless assisted at the supreme sacrifice of the New Covenant. He may have offered adoration, thanksgiving, contrition and petition, united himself spiritually to Christ’s offering, and received genuine spiritual benefit through his participation in the worship of the Church.
I have argued elsewhere, particularly in my reflections on the liturgy under the title In Conspectu Dei, that genuine participation in divine worship cannot be measured simply by outward activity. The faithful are not spectators at a religious performance, but neither do they become participants merely by performing a visible action. Their essential participation is interior: the union of heart, mind and will with Christ’s offering to the Father.⁷ This principle is especially relevant to Holy Communion. Sacramental reception is a most intimate participation in the Eucharistic mystery, but it should arise from an interior disposition consistent with what is being received. A person who remains prayerfully in his place may be participating with greater reverence than somebody who approaches the altar inattentively or through social expectation. No observer is competent to pronounce upon the relative holiness of those two souls; the point is simply that outward reception and inward devotion are not interchangeable realities.
For these reasons, I believe the Church urgently needs to recover a culture of worship and adoration as the fundamental orientation of attendance at Holy Mass. The first question should not be whether everybody received Communion, but whether Almighty God was worshipped with reverence, whether the faithful understood the sacrifice being offered, and whether those who approached the altar did so with suitable preparation. Our churches should once again be recognised unmistakably as places in which God is adored, where silence, recollection, prayer and reverence naturally direct the soul towards His presence. Eucharistic adoration outside Mass, thanksgiving after Communion, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, preparation before Mass and the regular examination of conscience all form part of that recovery. Far from competing with sacramental reception, these practices prepare the soul to receive more fruitfully and help preserve the supernatural understanding of the Eucharist.
The relationship between Eucharistic worship and adoration is intrinsic. Christ is present upon the altar as the divine Victim offered to the Father, and He remains truly present under the consecrated species. The worship due to Him is not suspended when the Mass concludes. Eucharistic adoration therefore expresses the same faith which inspires worthy reception. As Benedict XVI observed in Sacramentum Caritatis, the celebration of the Eucharist and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament must never be placed in opposition; adoration prolongs and deepens what takes place in the liturgical celebration.⁸ A renewal of Eucharistic devotion must consequently include both an understanding of the Mass as sacrifice and a renewed practice of adoration before Our Lord’s Real Presence.
Such a renewal would also help restore the proper relationship between the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Penance. The decline in the practice of confession, wherever it occurs, cannot be considered unrelated to the assumption that Communion may be received routinely. If Catholics cease to recognise the possibility that grave sin can separate them from the life of grace, they will inevitably struggle to understand why confession might be necessary before receiving the Blessed Sacrament. The obligation to examine one’s conscience becomes unintelligible when the distinction between mortal and venial sin is neglected. Yet the purpose of confession is not to humiliate the penitent or erect unnecessary obstacles before Holy Communion. It is to restore the sinner through the mercy of Christ and prepare the soul for fruitful sacramental union with Him. The Church’s discipline concerning reception is therefore itself an expression of pastoral care. It protects the holiness of the sacrament while directing the faithful towards reconciliation and spiritual healing.⁹
There is also a necessary lesson concerning the Church’s responsibility towards those who cannot presently receive Holy Communion because of their matrimonial or other circumstances. Their participation in the life of the Church should not be regarded as worthless simply because sacramental reception is impeded. They remain members of the worshipping community, capable of prayer, charity, repentance and spiritual growth. The Church owes them genuine friendship, pastoral assistance, sound guidance and every legitimate opportunity to move towards sacramental reconciliation. Their circumstances should neither be concealed through a false understanding of compassion nor employed as a reason for humiliation or exclusion from the wider life of the parish. Pastoral charity requires both the acknowledgement of objective truth and a patient concern for the person who finds it difficult to live according to that truth.
At the same time, the existence of difficult pastoral circumstances cannot justify treating Holy Communion as though its reception were the ultimate measure of whether somebody has been welcomed by the Church. A Catholic who cannot presently receive may still worship God, attend Mass, listen to His Word, pray, perform works of charity and seek the grace necessary for conversion. The obligation to participate in the Church’s worship is not identical with an obligation to receive Communion at every Mass. The Church strongly recommends frequent worthy reception, while traditionally distinguishing the obligation of attending Mass on Sundays and holy days from the minimum obligation of receiving Communion at Easter. These distinctions reflect a sacramental life richer than the assumption that attendance and reception are invariably synonymous.
I should emphasise that this argument is not intended to cultivate an atmosphere in which the faithful feel constantly scrutinised or discouraged from receiving Holy Communion. There is no merit in making people afraid of the sacraments, nor in creating a parish culture where refraining from Communion invites suspicion. Nobody should be presumed guilty because he remains in his place, just as nobody should be presumed spiritually perfect because he approaches the altar. The Church must teach her people to form their consciences and act according to them, under the guidance of sound Catholic doctrine. Her priests must be available for confession and spiritual counsel, and her communities must be places in which sincere repentance is encouraged rather than stigmatised. The spiritual welfare of souls is served neither by careless permission nor indiscriminate severity.
What I desire is something more profoundly Catholic: a culture in which the faithful understand the extraordinary holiness of the sacraments and the mercy by which they are bestowed; in which children approach First Holy Communion with awe rather than merely excitement; in which Confirmation is recognised as a strengthening of the soul by the Holy Ghost rather than a certificate of religious maturity; and in which an ordinand understands that he is being entrusted with a sacred responsibility, not rewarded with ecclesiastical status. Above all, I desire a culture in which Catholics attend Holy Mass principally to worship Almighty God, approach Holy Communion with reverence and gratitude, and are sufficiently well formed in conscience to know when they should refrain.
Such a culture would not necessarily produce fewer Communions. It should produce more worthy Communions, more frequent confession, deeper examination of conscience, greater Eucharistic adoration and a more mature understanding of Christian holiness. The objective is not to make abstention preferable to reception, but to restore the truth that both must be governed by reverence for Christ. A Catholic who is properly disposed should receive with gratitude and confidence in divine mercy. A Catholic who is not properly disposed should refrain, seek reconciliation and continue to worship God faithfully. Neither should act because of embarrassment, social pressure or the desire to appear more devout than others.
Ultimately, the question is whether the sacramental life remains centred upon what God gives or has become increasingly concerned with what human beings expect to receive. The difference is not merely one of emphasis. It determines how Catholics understand grace, sin, repentance, worship and the very purpose of the Church. If the sacraments are treated as personal achievements, their reception becomes a form of self-affirmation. If they are recognised as gifts of divine mercy, their reception becomes an occasion for humility, thanksgiving and conversion. If the Mass is reduced to a gathering whose principal purpose is the reception of Communion by those assembled, its essentially sacrificial character becomes obscured. If it is understood as the supreme act of worship offered to the Eternal Father through Christ, sacramental Communion assumes its proper place as a sublime participation in the fruits of that sacrifice.
The Church must therefore recover the courage to teach that grace is not entitlement, that participation is not necessarily reception, and that the reverent examination of conscience is an act of fidelity rather than a sign of exclusion. She must encourage the frequent reception of Holy Communion among those properly disposed, while also reminding the faithful of the grave responsibility involved in approaching the altar. She must restore the practice of confession and the spirit of adoration, and teach Catholics once again to recognise that the Mass is offered first for the glory of Almighty God, not for the affirmation of those who attend.
For my part, I would regard it as a hopeful sign of genuine spiritual renewal if Catholics became less concerned about whether everybody in church had received Communion and more concerned about whether everybody had worshipped God with reverence, examined his conscience honestly and understood the mystery before him.
The Blessed Sacrament is not ours to claim. It is Christ’s gift to receive. And the greatest evidence that we understand that gift is not how readily we approach the altar, but how seriously we take the truth of what is offered there.
The faithful must learn again not merely to receive Holy Communion, but to receive it worthily; not merely to attend Mass, but to offer worship; and not merely to celebrate the sacraments, but to stand in wonder before the undeserved mercy of God.
REFERENCES
Nuntiatoria CXXV examines a recurring crisis of our age: the confusion of authority with the power to determine reality. From Tradition, synodality and interreligious practice to justice, medicine and single-sex spaces, this edition argues that institutions remain accountable to truths they did not create. Veritas non mutatur consensu — truth is not altered by agreement.
The crisis of our age is increasingly a crisis of custody. Churches, institutions and nations inherit things they did not create, yet too often behave as though inheritance conferred ownership rather than obligation. The Catholic answer is older and sterner: what is received must be guarded, and what is guarded must be handed on.
Nuntiatoria CXXIII — Qui bene distinguit, bene docet: This week’s edition asks why clear distinctions matter: between criticism and hatred, dialogue and equivalence, pastoral care and managed extinction, safeguarding and ideology, welcome and endorsement, prudence and surrender, information and wisdom. From 9/11, Assisi, the Traditional Mass, Anglican Orders and China to RSHE, gender, religious liberty and recollection, CXXIII argues that sound Catholic judgement begins by refusing to confuse things which are not the same.
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