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OPINION 26 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 21 APRIL 2019 ON the Thursday before Easter, more than two billion Christians worldwide observe the Eucharist, a special ritual that commemorates the Last Supper – a meal hosted by Je- sus Christ for his friends 2,000 years ago, the night before he was arrested and crucified. During the meal, according to the Gospels, Christ said to his gathered disciples, that – like the bread broken and wine poured out – his body would be broken and his blood poured out for the sake of his people. Jesus invited his follow- ers to enact this meal whenever they gathered to remember his sacrifice. This early Christian practice assumed importance and has come to symbolise the core message of Christianity – that Christ sacrificed himself for the sake of humanity. As a theological dogma, the Roman Catholic Church af- firms that when the priest con- secrates the bread broken and wine shared during the Eucha- rist ceases to be bread and wine and becomes the real presence of Christ. This is known as "Transubstantiation" within the Roman Catholic Church – affirmed by the following statement from the Council of Trent in the 1560s : "By the consecration of the bread and of the wine, a conversion is made of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord, and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His blood"; which conversion is, by the holy Catholic Church, suitably and properly called Transubstantiation. But over 2,000 years of Church history, this doctrine has been at the centre of several schisms. Most of the Protestant churches reject the doctrine of Transubstantiation but retain some understanding of the Eucharist as an occasion where Christ's presence be- comes real and tangible along with the bread and wine – but not actual flesh and blood. Meanwhile, most Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians consider the Eucharist simply as a memorial meal or an op- portunity to experience spiritu- al communion with Christ. The official line of the Roman Catholic Church is that the majority of Catholics, subscribe – in principle at least – to the view of Transubstantiation as a core doctrinal teaching. But, most recently, PEW research findings published in 2010 sug- gested that about 52% of all re- spondents thought that bread and wine used for Communion are symbols. This raises doubts as to whether even Catholics really believe in the bread and wine really becoming the body and blood of Jesus – let alone understand the doctrine. Transubstantiation, as a philo- sophical concept, has also been under close scrutiny for many centuries. On the back of these observa- tions let me offer two thoughts. Firstly, due to the significant decline in religious adherence among millennials, the grasp and relevance of this central Catholic teaching is becom- ing seemingly less relevant. Even among those who attend the church either regularly or less frequently, there is a lack of clear understanding on the teaching of the Church regard- ing Transubstantiation. This could partly have to do with the general change in social worldview and the shift towards a greater understand- ing of science and embracing of technological innovation. Much of the Western world, particularly Europe and America, has become far more secular – something that is reflected in falling religious adherence. But with the shifting of global Christian populations – and the rise of South America, Asia and Africa as centres of Roman Catholicism – issues about belief and practice are addressed from a deep-rooted pre-Christian religious and cultural perspective. From my ongoing anthropological research in these contexts, it seems clear that the way belief is conceived among Christian communities is not based on discussion around essence and substance (as in philosophi- cal or theological) but rather on a more personal encounter with the divine through rituals performed within a community of believers. So, congregations give importance to the com- munal dimension of the Eucha- rist as a memorial ritual where one can encounter Christ. Ecumenical move Pope Francis I – unlike his predecessors – has not directly advocated the doctrine of Transubstantiation. Keeping to his South American theological roots, Pope Francis has called for Catholics to consider the Eucharist as an encounter with Christ – an occasion where Christ makes himself available to the community through an act of remembrance. It is an opportunity to be transformed to carry out the work of Christ. The focus here is not on dog- ma but on the action that flows from it. This is very different from the hard-core theological dogma of the Roman Catholic Church. This is very much in line with Pope Francis's ecumenical and inter-religious initiatives over the past five years. He has consistently spoken about Holy Communion as a "sacrament" – emphasising the commu- nal element rather than the mystery. The Eucharist is the sum- mit of God's saving action: the Lord Jesus, by becoming bread broken for us, pours upon us all of His mercy and His love, so as to renew our hearts, our lives, and our way of relating with Him and with the breth- ren. Through this teaching in the 2014 Encyclical, Pope Francis has departed from the tradi- tional line of who can receive or participate in Eucharist and called for a more inclusive openness to our understand- ing and practice of Eucharist (including non-Catholics to be able to take communion), and not to make it into an exclusive practice. This approach has been popular among Catholics, how- ever upsetting the traditionalist Catholics, including the previ- ous pope Benedict. The debate around Transub- stantiation within the Roman Catholic Church will no doubt continue – but by signalling that he is willing to welcome anyone and share the Eucharist with others, Pope Francis may have charted a different path by opening up the Eucharist to non-Catholics and those who have been traditionally exclud- ed. He is clearly moving away from the idea of the Eucharist as a directly "supernatural" experience and more towards a unifying sacrament. Easter: Bread and wine and Christ's flesh and blood This early Christian practice assumed importance and has come to symbolise the core message of Christianity – that Christ sacrif iced himself for the sake of humanity Anderson Jeremiah Anderson Jeremiah is an Anglican priest who lectures Theology at Lancaster University TheConversation.eu Anderson Jeremiah On the Thursday before Easter, more than two billion Christians worldwide observe the Eucharist, a special ritual that commemorates the Last Supper – a meal hosted by Jesus Christ for his friends 2,000 years ago, the night before he was arrested and crucified