Oy vey! Where in the world are you getting your information?
One thing you can count on with the Catholics, they write everything down. It's just a matter of knowing where to look.
Wait a minute, I thought that the Catholics did away with the eating meat on Friday rule about the same time that they fired St. Christoper.
Hey, that's what I thought!
And as a pre-Vatican II American Catholic I was raised to believe I was going to hell if I willfully ate a chicken sandwich on a Friday. If this is not accurate, them blame the nuns and priests who raised and educated us during the 50s and 60s.
Well many people believe that the Church did away with eating meat on Friday. The truth is they did not but that they did leave it up to the Bishops of a country to make a decision regarding this. There must be some penance on Friday, this ne er changed. The U.S. Bishops determined one could give up meat or something else or do some other act of penance in lieu of the meat. Most people just started eating meat and ignored the need to give up something else or do penance.
That said, it is Lent. On Ash Wednesday and all Fridays during Lent, Catholics are forbidden to eat meat and the more liberal penance does not apply. If they are under a certain age or over a certain age (sorry don't have the exact ages at hand) and are not otherwise ill, they must also fast on those days during Lent.