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Dear Father Angelo,

I recently had a discussion with some people. They argue that Jesus referred to the Church of Heaven and not to an institution on Earth, while He was saying: “the powers of the underworld will not prevail over it”. Therefore, according to them, the Church could disappear along with the whole Earth due to a possible nuclear war (this example was made). But is it really so? I was very perplexed and I don’t think so.

Besides, they argued that a priest must give Communion also to people who are publicly in mortal sin.

I ask for your opinion and thank you in advance.

Heartily

Riccardo

Dear Riccardo,

1. the Lord spoke to Peter saying: “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18).

The Lord was building the Church, the one on earth. And He based it upon the rock (kefa in Hebrew) which is Peter (kefa).

St. John Chrysostom comments: “Upon this rock, that is, on the faith of his confession. Hereby He signifies that many were now on the point of believing, and raises his spirit, and makes him a shepherd“ (Commentary on Matthew 16:18).

Therefore, the Lord is talking about the Church that lives on earth.

Besides, at the moment when Jesus was speaking, there was not yet the heavenly Church, that is, the assembly of the saints.

2. About the words “the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it”, St. Cyril of Alexandria, a church father of the fourth century, comments: “According to the promise of Christ, the apostolic Church of Peter remains pure from any seduction and sheltered from any heretical attack, specially the governors and the Bishops, above all the primates of the Church and its pontiffs, in its most complete faith and in the authority of Peter.

And while some churches have been marked by somebody’s mistakes, only it reigns definitively established, imposing silence and closing the mouth of all heretics; and we, together with it if we are not misled by a foolish presumption of our salvation nor intoxicated by the wine of pride, confess and announce the truth and the holy apostolic tradition in its authentic form” ([tr.] Lib. Thesauri).

3. Holy Communion cannot be given to people living in a state of public sin.

Here is what the Code of Canon Law says:

“Can. 915 – Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion“.

4. And this is also what St. Thomas teaches:

“A distinction must be made among sinners: 

some are secret; others are notorious, either from evidence of the fact, as public usurers, or public robbers, or from being denounced as evil men by some ecclesiastical or civil tribunal. Therefore Holy Communion ought not to be given to open sinners when they ask for it. 

Hence Cyprian writes to someone (Ep. LXI): «You were so kind as to consider that I ought to be consulted regarding actors, and that magician who continues to practice his disgraceful arts among you; as to whether I thought that Holy Communion ought to be given to such with the other Christians. I think that it is beseeming neither the Divine majesty, nor Christian discipline, for the Church’s modesty and honor to be defiled by such shameful and infamous contagion. »

But if they be not open sinners, but occult, the Holy Communion should not be denied them if they ask for it. For since every Christian, from the fact that he is baptized, is admitted to the Lord’s table, he may not be robbed of his right, except from some open cause. Hence on 1Cor. 5:11, « If he who is called a brother among you, » etc., Augustine’s gloss remarks: « We cannot inhibit any person from Communion, except he has openly confessed, or has been named and convicted by some ecclesiastical or lay tribunal. » Nevertheless a priest who has knowledge of the crime can privately warn the secret sinner, or warn all openly in public, from approaching the Lord’s table, until they have repented of their sins and have been reconciled to the Church; because after repentance and reconciliation, Communion must not be refused even to public sinners, especially in the hour of death. Hence in the (3rd) Council of Carthage (Can. XXXV) we read: «Reconciliation is not to be denied to stage-players or actors, or others of the sort, or to apostates, after their conversion to God»” (Summa Theologiae, III, 80, 6).

I wish you all the best and I bless you.

Father Angelo