Abp. Steinmetz giving Holy Communion to Sheik Mahairi
Posted on 09/07/2023 10:09:26 AM PDT by ebb tide
Abp. Steinmetz giving Holy Communion to Sheik Mahairi
Citing Pope Francis’ writings restricting the traditional liturgy, a Brazilian archbishop gave Holy Communion to a Muslim cleric at a funeral for a recently deceased cardinal.
The news of a Muslim cleric receiving Holy Communion at the hands of a Catholic archbishop has sparked outrage.
On August 28, Archbishop Geremias Steinmetz of the Archdiocese of Londrina in Brazil gave Holy Communion to Sheik Ahmad Saleh Mahairi. The Mass was the funeral ceremony of recently deceased Cardinal Geraldo Majella Agnelo, which Sheik Mahairi was attending due to having known Cardinal Angelo for many decades.
In live-streamed footage from the Mass, Steinmetz can be seen handing Holy Communion to Sheik Mahairi in the hand. The action causes several priests and altar servers in the Communion line to stare at the Sheik, who passes out of camera shot holding the Host in his hand.
READ: Vatican’s ‘congratulatory message’ to Muslims calls Ramadan ‘important’ for Christians
With the incident causing controversy in local media outlets, Steinmetz issued a statement in which he defended handing Holy Communion to the Muslim leader.
The archbishop noted that representatives of “different religious denominations” were in attendance, including Sheik Mahairi of the King Faiçal Mosque.
Describing Mahairi as friend of Cardinal Angelo’s since the 1980s, Steinmetz wrote:
Sheiki is a man known in various spheres of society and maintains a respectful relationship with the Catholic Church. He was also a friend of another archbishop of Londrina, the late Don Albano Cavallin, with whom he had a close relationship. As a friend he participated in the Eucharistic celebration and, entering the communion line, received the body of Christ.
Steinmetz sought to excuse the action somewhat by stating how the images only showed the Muslim receiving Holy Communion, but not actually “consuming it.”
Following the “repercussions of these images,” Steinmetz stated he tasked the archdiocesan Vicar General to “talk to Sheiki to clarify the situation.”
The Sheik reportedly told the Vicar General that told the vicar general that he did not intend to “disrespect the Catholic Church,” revealing that he did in fact consume the host when he sat down in his pew. He added that the deceased cardinal had explained “that the Eucharist is the body of Jesus, considered a prophet for Islam.”
Nostra Aetate cited in defense
Seemingly unperturbed by the event, Steinmetz cited the Vatican II document Nostra Aetate – which has drawn criticism due to its permissive tolerance towards non-Catholic creeds – stating that the “Church also looks with esteem on Muslims.”
“They worship the One God, living and subsistent, merciful and omnipotent,” he continued in his quotation, but also acknowledged that Muslims do not recognize Christ as God.
READ: Here’s why Pope Francis is wrong to say Muslims and Catholics worship the same God
In the words of Islam’s religious text itself, it can be noted that there is an outright rejection of many fundamental elements of Catholicism. Firstly, the Koran rejects the notion of God as Trinity; secondly, it rejects that God has a son, saying it is beneath Him to have one. Thirdly, Jesus is viewed simply as a messenger of God, thus it claims that Mary could not be the Mother of God.
With this in mind, Bishop Athanasius Schneider in his book-length interview Christus Vincit, stated “Islam in itself is not faith.”
The bishop continued by explaining that faith is only found in Christianity and “is applicable only to belief in the Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit … When someone does not believe in the Holy Trinity, he has no faith but simply natural religion.”
Likewise, Cardinal Raymond Burke stated in an August 2016 interview, that “I don’t believe it’s true that we’re all worshipping the same God, because the God of Islam is a governor.”
Along with quoting Nostra Aetate, Steinmetz also drew from Pope Francis’ 2022 document on the liturgy, Desiderio Desideravi. “No one had earned a place at the Last Supper. Rather, they were invited, attracted, by the burning desire of Jesus himself to eat that Passover with them, whose lamb is himself,” said Steinmetz, paraphrasing sections 4 and 5 of the document.
READ: Bishop Schneider lists problems in Vatican II documents that lead to ‘relativism’
He further cited section 6, which when read in natural continuity from sections 4 and 5, appears to suggest that one’s reception of Communion is allowed simply due to having listened to God’s word. Furthermore, the papal text argues that even the simple presence at Mass – regardless of adhering to the Catholic faith or not – is an expression of listening to God’s word, and consequently a justification for receiving Communion.
“What is certain is that all our communions in the Body and Blood of Christ were desired by him at the Last Supper,” wrote Francis.
“The Eucharistic celebration,” wrote Steinmetz, “teaches us the noble exercise of charity, nourishes meekness, leads us to fraternity and respect for all.”
Notwithstanding such arguments drawing from Vatican II and Pope Francis, Catholic teaching is very clear on who is to be permitted to Holy Communion. Catholic moral teaching clearly outlines that the reception of Holy Communion is only for Catholics who have reached the age of reason and who have the proper disposition.
Canon law notes that Holy Communion is reserved for baptized, who meet the other requirements laid out: “Any baptized person not prohibited by law can and must be admitted to holy communion.”
Moral theologian Fr. John Laux outlines the necessary dispositions for Catholics as being:
The Vatican’s 2004 Redemptionis Sacramentum further states that “Catholic ministers licitly administer the Sacraments only to the Catholic faithful, who likewise receive them licitly only from Catholic ministers, except for those situations for which provision is made in can. 844 §§ 2,3, and 4, and can. 861 § 2.”
The canons mentioned pertain to the distribution of Holy Communion to those in the Eastern Churches, and to those in danger of death, and does not permit the possibility of distributing Communion to practicing Muslims.
Ping
They give communion to the people who fund abortions, why NOT this guy.
No. Period.
Oh, he didn’t eat it? Why didn’t you say so?!? So the good Archbishop admits to the grave sin of desecration of the Eucharist. I’m sure Frankie is going to come down hard /s
You have a point.
I wonder if his coreligionists will put him to the sword when they hear of his accepting the body and blood of Christ.
The Church is lost.
In most traditional Christianity, communion was received in conjunction with an acceptance of Jesus as Christ. Minus that acceptance, communion is being recieved falsely.
Even when persons from one Christian denomination is given communion in another Christian demonomiation that basis of understading I just mentioned is assumed to be in play. That cannot be the case with any practicing Muslim.
The archbishop and Francis are wrong if they think that the only thing that matters is what the person giving communion thinks. No, the primary element with communion is not from the provider, but the committment of the recipient, a committment to Christ.
Both are antichrist..
.
Who cares?
The purloined host, being the body, blood, soul and Divinity of Jesus, Christ of the Father, is clearly more valuable than anything in the world.
If the sheikh in question, who irreverently headfaked toward consuming the host, did not subsequently consume it, where is it now?
The sheikh is portrayed as being a good friend to Catholics.
Has he agreed to return the host—the Holy Sacrament of the Altar?
Pelosi was forbidden to receive by her archbishop in SF, finally after 30 years of being a strong advocate for abortion. But a month later she received communion in the Vatican. The church does bad even when 1 bishop is taking the right course. It’s not believable to think the vatican didn’t know she was being forbidden the sacraments by SF.
In the near past, I used to write, “I remember when the Pope was Catholic.”
Now, it’s,”I remember when the Pope pretended to be Christian.
Evil POS arch following the evil POS Antipope. Gee, what a surprise.
The whole thing is unbiblical. Jesus already sacrificed. No need to keep doing it over and over and over.
From Catholic.com, for your benefit:
Q&A
Illustrating Importance of the Sacraments
TOM NASH
What is the best way to express the importance of the Sacraments to my former Catholic (now devout Protestant) girlfriend?
Answer:
We explain the importance of the sacraments in the “How God Distributes His Gifts” section of our tract “Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth.”
The Eucharist or Sacrifice of the Mass is called the Most Blessed Sacrament because it makes sacramentally present and allows us to offer anew Jesus Christ’s one Sacrifice of Calvary, which makes all of the other sacraments possible.
The Eucharist or Sacrifice of the Mass is not a re-sacrificing of Jesus. Jesus offered himself once for all (Heb. 7:27; 9:28). So the Mass is called unbloody because Jesus does not suffer and shed his blood anew.
However, while Jesus suffers and dies only once, his Sacrifice as a whole culminated in everlasting glory in the heavenly sanctuary and is made sacramentally present at every Mass.
How can this be? The Catholic Church describes the Eucharist as “the source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC 1324). It’s the source, because the Eucharist enables us to make present and offer anew Jesus Christ’s one redemptive Sacrifice of Calvary, which began with his Passion (CCC 1362-68; 1341). It’s the summit, because the Eucharist is truly a foretaste of heaven, in which we partake of Jesus’ body and blood as heaven and earth become most profoundly one.
The Eucharist is a communion sacrifice, which means we partake of Jesus in a way similar to how the ancient Israelites ate the flesh of the Old Covenant Passover lambs. But the New Covenant Passover is much more profound, for there is only one Lamb—the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29, 35-36)—and eating Jesus’ body and drinking his blood provides eternal life, not simply emancipation from a mere human and earthly oppressor, i.e., Egypt (John 6:52-59; see 1 Cor. 13:23-34).
Forty days after his Resurrection from the dead, Jesus ascends in triumph to heaven, taking his seat at the right hand of the Father (Mark 16:19; Luke 24:50-52; Acts 1:6-11). In doing so, Jesus culminates his one Sacrifice of Calvary in everlasting glory, fulfilling also the Old Covenant Day of Atonement/Yom Kippur sacrifices (see Lev. 16). That’s because Jesus takes not the blood of goats and calves but his own, and he enters into the heavenly sanctuary, not one made by human hands (Heb. 9:11-14). So Jesus is the high priest of heaven (Heb. 8:1-3; CCC 662-64; 1137-39), and he always lives to make intercession for us (Heb. 7:23-25; 8:1-3; 9:23-24), which means the Eucharistic Sacrifice has continuing atoning power for the sins we commit daily (CCC 1366).
Jesus’ one Sacrifice is made sacramentally present and offered anew at every Mass according to the order of Melchizedek, i.e., under the forms of bread and wine (Gen. 14:18-20; Heb. 5:7-10; Matt. 26:26-29; Luke 22:19-20; see CCC 1333; 1355; 1544). Consequently, the words of the Lord’s Prayer—“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”—are nowhere more profoundly fulfilled than in the Mass, because heaven and earth are united in a most perfect way that further fosters the Redemption of mankind!
For more information on the intimate connection between the heavenly liturgy/work of Christ and the Sacrifice of the Mass, see Blessed Pope Paul VI, Credo of the People of God, 24-26).
From the posted article above:
The Sheik reportedly told the Vicar General that told the vicar general that he did not intend to “disrespect the Catholic Church,” revealing that he did in fact consume the host when he sat down in his pew. He added that the deceased cardinal had explained “that the Eucharist is the body of Jesus, considered a prophet for Islam.”
At some point, Catholics are going to realize that a significant number of our bishops are not functionally Catholic at all.
At some point the Catholic Church, along with most Protestant Denominations, switched from being religions to political corporations.
MORTAL SIN!
Omg...the CHURCH IS NOT LOST. THE GATES OF HELL WILL NEVER PREVAIL.
Stop sounding anti Catholic.....you have no idea what you’re saying.
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