Communion in hand should be revised, Vatican official says

Feb 1, 2008 / 13:32 pm

Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith, Secretary of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Cult and Discipline of the Sacraments has said that the policy of giving Communion in the hand should be revised.

Receiving Holy Communion in the hand "produces a growing weakening of a devout attitude toward the Most Holy Sacrament," wrote Archbishop Ranjith in the preface of a book from the Auxiliary Bishop of Kazakhstan, Bishop Athanasius Schneider.

The book's title, printed by the Vatican Editing house, is “Dominus Est: Meditations of a Bishop from Central Asia on the Sacred Eucharist."

Archbishop Ranjith says in the preface that the Eucharist should be received "with reverence and an attitude of devout adoration," and claims that the practice of receiving Communion in the hand "was introduced in some places in an abusive and hurried manner."

The Archbishop also highlights that the Second Vatican Council never promoted or legitimated such practice.

“I believe it is time to evaluate and reconsider such a practice, and if necessary, abandon it all together," Ranjith concludes.