Bishop Adriano Ciocca Vasino
Posted on 09/09/2023 9:55:31 AM PDT by ebb tide
Bishop Adriano Ciocca Vasino
A Brazilian bishop has lent his support to the Archbishop of Londrina, who gave Holy Communion to a Muslim sheik, questioning if the “‘sin’ is so big or scandalous.”
At the end of August, the Catholic Archbishop of Londrina in Brazil instigated outrage among Catholics when he handed Holy Communion to a Muslim cleric during a funeral Mass. The funeral was for the recently deceased Cardinal Geraldo Majella Agnelo.
READ: Archbishop defends giving Holy Communion to Muslim leader, citing Pope Francis and Vatican II
As evidenced by video footage of the Mass, Archbishop Geremias Steinmetz can be seen clearly handing Holy Communion to Sheik Ahmad Saleh Mahairi. In a statement from Mahairi that he gave to the archdiocese, it was confirmed that the Muslim consumed the Holy Eucharist.
Mahairi told the vicar general that he did not intend to “disrespect the Catholic Church” and that he consumed the host when he sat down in his pew.
However, Archbishop Steinmetz has received support from fellow Catholic prelates in the country. Speaking to Crux, Bishop Adriano Ciocca Vasino of the Prelature of São Félix do Araguaia defended the archbishop’s actions.
Vasino curiously admitted that the action contradicted Church law, but questioned whether breaking Church teaching regarding the Eucharist was so serious. “Of course, according to the Church’s laws, something like that is not possible,” he began. “But I ask myself if that ‘sin’ is so big or scandalous?”
“Italian-born Vasino recalled that Jesus himself broke several rules of religious purity,” Crux said.
“If we only analyze the events from a legal perspective, without taking into consideration the reality of the people, we will be always ready to criticize everybody,” stated Vasino. He added that it was impossible to “get into the sheikh’s heart and be conclusive about what happened, but he might have failed to understand what Communion was.”
“I think it is much worse when a person seeks Communion and has his or her heart full of resentment,” added Vasino.
However, in Steinmetz’s own statement, he included information from the sheik, who had stated that the late Cardinal Agnelo had explained to the Music cleric that “the Eucharist is the body of Jesus, considered a prophet for Islam.”
Meanwhile, another Brazilian bishop criticized the action but added that giving Holy Communion in such a situation was a result of a “human impulse.”
“You are giving Communion, and then somebody appears who you know is not able to receive it. You do not want to refuse to give the host to that person … But I have already refused it, very discreetly, but I did,” said Bishop Franz Meinrad Merkel, emeritus of the Diocese of Humaitá.
“We should not give too much attention to this case,” added Merkel, saying that “it was certainly a difficult moment for him [Steinmetz].” It is a “human impulse,” he stated.
Merkel nevertheless reiterated the fundamental difference between Islam and Catholicism, noting that Muslims reject Christ as God. “Believing in Jesus as a prophet is not enough to receive Communion the way the Church wants, and the way Jesus announced in the Last Supper,” he said.
Both Sheik Mahairi and Steinmetz were defended by another Muslim cleric of the area, Sheikh Jihad Hammadeh, who told Crux that the matter was likely the result of an innocent mistake.
“I do not see any bad intention coming from him or from the archbishop – only from the ones who are criticizing them now,” he argued.
Indeed, while support has been proffered to Steinmetz, the archbishop was in no apparent need of support given that he did not apologize for giving Holy Communion illegally, but in fact defended his action by citing Pope Francis and Vatican II.
He quoted from Vatican II’s Nostra Aetate, arguing that Muslims worship “the One God, living and subsistent, merciful and omnipotent.”
Additionally, Steinmetz quoted Pope Francis’ 2022 document on the liturgy, Desiderio Desideravi, which both reaffirmed his 2021 restrictions on the traditional Mass and appeared to open the door on the matter of receiving Holy Communion.
“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.
Rather than depicting the Eucharist as the Catholic Church teaches — namely, the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ, to be received only by Catholics without mortal sin on their soul — Steinmetz chose the depiction of the Eucharist as a font of “fraternity.”
“The Eucharistic celebration,” wrote Steinmetz, “teaches us the noble exercise of charity, nourishes meekness, leads us to fraternity and respect for all.”
But responding to the archbishop’s comments, respected theologian and author Dr. Peter Kwasniewski argued that Steinmetz was evidencing the Church being “in the worst crisis of her history.”
“We have never seen something like this before,” wrote Kwasniewski. “Even at the worst times, no priest or bishop would have dared to give the Body of the Lord to an unbaptized pagan or infidel.”
He warned that citing Pope Francis’ writings, even if a false reference, demonstrated the “ripple effects” of the papal statements.
“Give communion to the peripheries … to the divorced and ‘remarried’ … to the LGBT community … to anyone and everyone and perhaps eventually anything that eats, like pets and carnivorous plants,” Kwasniewski quipped.
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“The Eucharistic celebration,” wrote Steinmetz, “teaches us the noble exercise of charity, nourishes meekness, leads us to fraternity and respect for all.”
Ping
If you take the Eucharist without belief, you bring judgment upon yourself.
Basically denying the real presence.
Is public sacrilege, committed by a bishop, not scandalous?
And knowingly giving it to an unbeliever, an infidel as it were, is a deliberate demeaning of the host and of the priest.
Pope Francis, Vaican II and Baal.
Yes. For a bishop who actually does know better, it is big and scandalous.
I am not even Catholic, and I think it is a really big deal that these bishops are treating the Eucharist as nothing more than a handshake.
He wasn’t doing the sheik any favors. Quite the opposite.
The other question is why would a Muslim do that? Is there going to be a fatwa against him?
......Brazilian bishop downplays giving Holy Communion to Muslim sheik: Was it ‘so scandalous?’.......
YES!!!!
You know, in an era when bishops are handing out communion to *Muslim sheiks* for crying out loud, I’m kinda starting to wonder if I’m a little silly to have told Episcopalian friends not to receive communion at Catholic mass.
And, as a muslim, the sheikh has committed apostasy by his taking communion. Apostasy is punishable by death in Islam. Muslims, do your duty!
He will get a sharp knife when his Muslim friends behead him.
Holy Communion is OK for “un-saved” Muslim, but not OK for divorced “saved” church members?
Do not try to use any logical analysis for this - the enemy does not use logic.
That's not what the Catholic Church teaches. It never has and never will. Jesus Christ had warned about wolves in sheep's clothing.
In Frankenchurch, we have many more wolves than shepherds.
You're assuming this priest doesn't give Communion to divorced parishioners. In modern practice, it's rare for any priest to deny Communion to anyone.
I heard a saying some priests have: When in doubt, pass it out.
that’s above his pay grade... damn
Have plenty of close family members,
born, raised, confirmed Catholics -
Who cant be bothered to give God even 1 hour of their week in Mass,
let alone wanting the Eucharist they grew up with anymore.
And here, a Muslim wants, for whatever reason,
wants for the Body of Christ to be in him.
And is risking bodily harm to do so.
Lets hope the hub-bub doesn't lose sight of that desire.
That's B.S. The muslim stated Jesus was a prophet. Nowhere did he say he was receiving the Body of Christ.
Your justification of sacrilege of the Most Holy Sacrament is pathetic.
Satanists do believe the Blessed Sacrament is the Body of Christ. Do you believe they should also be given It, for later desecration?
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