Clergy should follow Pope’s lead on communion

IN response to the letter from Pat Swords headlined ‘Pope’s wrong move on giving out communion’ (July 5), I must say I have never heard of anyone ever contracting germs from a priest while receiving holy communion on the tongue.

In fact, I wish to commend Pope Benedict XVI for making it mandatory that communicants kneel and receive holy communion on the tongue during papal masses. This is not a return to tradition but rather an affirmation of present church norms.

St Thomas Aquinas and Pope John Paul II have stated that only the priest, who stands as a intermediary between God and the people, should touch the sacred host because only his hands are especially anointed for this task at his ordination. Kneeling and receiving communion on the tongue helps the devotion of the faithful and introduces the sense of mystery of the mass more easily. Hopefully, all Catholic bishops and priests will follow the Pope’s lead in helping to restore in the faithful a more profound sense of the sacred.