Editing Full communion (section)

====Sharing in the Eucharist====
{{canon law}}
{{See also|Communicatio in sacris}}

As a practical matter for most Catholics, full communion means that a member of one Church may partake of the [[Eucharist]] celebrated in another,<ref name="BostonCatholic"/> and for priests, that they are accepted as celebrants of the Eucharist in the other Church.

Restrictions in this matter were already in force in the second century as witnessed to by [[Justin Martyr]] in his ''[[First Apology]]'': "No one is allowed to partake (of the Eucharist) but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined."<ref>{{cite wikisource |editor1-last=Roberts |editor1-first=Alexander |editor2-last=Donaldson |editor2-first=James |editor3-last=Coxe |editor3-first=A. Cleveland |series=The Ante-Nicene Fathers: the writings of the fathers down to A.D. 325 |location=Buffalo |publisher=Christian Literature |edition=American |year=1870 |volume=2 |plaintitle=The writings of Justin Martyr and Athenagoras |author=Justin Martyr |translator=Marcus Dods |chapter=The First Apology of Justin Martyr |wslink=Ante-Nicene Christian Library |at=ch. 66}}</ref>

For acceptance into full communion with the Catholic Church a specific profession of the faith of the Catholic Church is required even of those who have been members of a separate church whose [[sacrament]]s the Catholic Church considers to be valid.<ref name="BostonCatholic">{{cite web |url=http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Offices-And-Services/Office-Detail.aspx?id=12446&pid=464 |title=RCIA and Confirmation Qualifications: On Participants in RCIA and Confirmation |website=bostoncatholic.org |publisher=Archdiocese of Boston |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151004233906/http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Offices-And-Services/Office-Detail.aspx?id=12446&pid=464 |archive-date=4 October 2015 |access-date=8 November 2015 }}</ref><ref name=McNam-2007>{{cite web |url=http://www.zenit.org/article-20753?l=english |title=When an Orthodox joins the Catholic Church |last1=McNamara |first1=Edward |location=Rome |website=Zenit.org |publisher= Innovative Media Inc |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831204812/http://www.zenit.org/article-20753?l=english |archive-date=31 August 2009 |access-date=8 November 2015 }}</ref> Being "in full communion with the Catholic Church" requires that they "firmly accept" its teaching on faith and morals.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_1998_professio-fidei_en.html |title=Doctrinal Commentary on the Concluding Formula of the ''Professio fidei'' |last=Ratzinger |first=Joseph |author-link=Pope Benedict XVI |last2=Bertone |first2=Tarcisio |publisher=Libreria Editrice Vatican |date=29 June 1998 |access-date=26 August 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202223910/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_1998_professio-fidei_en.html |archive-date=2 December 2013 }}</ref>

Intercommunion usually means an agreement between churches by which all members of each church (clergy with clergy, or laity with laity, respectively) may participate in the other's Eucharistic celebrations or may hold joint celebrations.<ref name="Gribble-2010">{{cite book |last=Gribble |first=Richard |title=The Everything Guide to Catholicism: A complete introduction to the beliefs, traditions, and tenets of the Catholic Church from past to present |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MwGJrUDcPjcC&pg=PA115 |access-date=7 November 2015 |date=18 November 2010 |publisher=Everything Books |location=Avon, Massacnusetts |isbn=978-1-4405-0409-9 |page=115 |chapter=Part IV: Roman Catholic Theology }}{{Dead link|date=May 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The Catholic Church has entered into no such agreement: it allows no Eucharistic [[concelebration]] by its clergy with clergy of churches not in full communion with it.{{efn|"Catholic priests are forbidden to [[concelebrate]] the Eucharist with priests or ministers of churches or ecclesial communities which do not have full communion with the Catholic Church{{CIC1983|908}}{{sfn|CCEO|1990|loc=c. 702}}}}

The Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism indicates the limited circumstances in which Catholics may receive the Eucharist from clergy of churches not in full communion (never if those churches are judged not to have valid [[apostolic succession]] and thus valid Eucharist), and in which Catholic clergy may administer the sacraments to members of other churches.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/general-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_19930325_directory_en.html |title=Principles And Norms On Ecumenism |publisher=Vatican.va |access-date=8 September 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100816040600/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/general-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_19930325_directory_en.html |archive-date=16 August 2010 }}</ref>{{rp|at=nn. 122–136}}

The norms there indicated for the giving of the Eucharist to other Christians ({{lang|la|[[communicatio in sacris]]}}) are summarized in [[canon 844]] of the [[Latin Church]]'s [[1983 Code of Canon Law|1983 ''Code of Canon Law'']].{{CIC1983|844}} The ''[[Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches]]'' (CCEO) indicates that the norms of the Directory apply also to the clergy and laity of the [[Eastern Catholic Churches]].{{sfn|CCEO|1990|loc=cc. 908, 1440}}