Editing Transubstantiation (section)

=== Since the Second Vatican Council ===
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The ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' states the Church's teaching on transubstantiation twice.

It repeats what it calls the Council of Trent's summary of the Catholic faith on "the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ's body and blood [by which] Christ becomes present in this sacrament", faith "in the efficacy of the Word of Christ and of the action of the Holy Spirit to bring about this conversion": "[B]y the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P41.HTM |website=vatican.va}}</ref>

As part of its own summary ("In brief") of the ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' on the sacrament of the Eucharist, it states: "By the consecration the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is brought about. Under the consecrated species of bread and wine Christ himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner: his Body and his Blood, with his soul and his divinity (cf. Council of Trent: DS 1640; 1651)."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P44.HTM|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText|website=www.vatican.va}}</ref>

The Church's teaching is given in the ''[[Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' in question and answer form:
{{Quote|283. What is the meaning of ''transubstantiation''?
''Transubstantiation'' means the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of the whole substance of wine into the substance of his Blood. This change is brought about in the eucharistic prayer through the efficacy of the word of Christ and by the action of the Holy Spirit. However, the outward characteristics of bread and wine, that is the "eucharistic species", remain unaltered.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html#The+Seven+Sacraments+of+the+Church |website=vatican.va}}</ref>}}

The Anglican–Roman Catholic Joint Preparatory Commission stated in 1971 in their common declaration on Eucharistic doctrine: "The word transubstantiation is commonly used in the Roman Catholic Church to indicate that God acting in the eucharist effects a change in the inner reality of the elements."<ref name="ARCIC">{{Cite web |year=1971 |url=https://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/105215/ARCIC_I_Agreed_Statement_on_Eucharistic_Doctrine.pdf |publisher=Anglican – Roman Catholic Joint Preparatory Commission |title=Agreed Statement on Eucharistic Doctrine 1971}}</ref>

==== Opinions of some individuals (not necessarily typical) ====
In 2017 Irish Augustinian Gabriel Daly said that the Council of Trent approved use of the term "transubstantiation" as suitable and proper, but did not make it obligatory, and he suggested that its continued use is partly to blame for lack of progress towards sharing of the Eucharist between [[Protestantism|Protestants]] and Catholics.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catholics should 'stop talking' of transubstantiation |url=https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/7581/catholics-should-stop-talking-of-transubstantiation |access-date=2019-12-31 |website=The Tablet |language=en |archive-date=2019-12-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231221606/https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/7581/catholics-should-stop-talking-of-transubstantiation |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[Traditionalist Catholicism|Traditionalist Catholic]] Paolo Pasqualucci said that the absence of the term in the [[Second Vatican Council]]'s constitution on the liturgy ''[[Sacrosanctum Concilium]]'' means that it presents the [[Catholic Mass]] "in the manner of the Protestants". To this [[Dave Armstrong (Catholic apologist)|Dave Armstrong]] replied that "the {{em|word}} may not be present; but the {{em|concept}} is".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-07-22 |title=Vs. Pasqualucci Re Vatican II #11: SC & Sacrifice of the Mass |url=https://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2019/07/vs-pasqualucci-re-vatican-ii-11-sc-sacrifice-of-the-mass.html |access-date=2019-12-31 |website=Biblical Evidence for Catholicism |language=en}}</ref> For instance, the document ''[[Gaudium et spes]]'' refers to the "sacrament of faith where natural elements refined by man are gloriously changed into His Body and Blood, providing a meal of brotherly solidarity and a foretaste of the heavenly banquet" (Chapter 3).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vatican II and the Eucharist |url=http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/vat/a4.html |access-date=2020-01-03 |website=therealpresence.org}}</ref>

[[Thomas J. Reese]] commented that "using Aristotelian concepts to explain Catholic mysteries in the 21st century is a fool's errand", while Timothy O'Malley remarked that "it is possible to teach the doctrine of transubstantiation without using the words 'substance' and 'accidents'. If the word 'substance' scares people off, you can say, 'what it really is', and that is what substance is. What it really is, what it absolutely is at its heart is Christ's body and blood".<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Real Presence: What do Catholics believe and how can the Church respond? {{!}} Southern Cross Online Edition |url=https://www.archbalt.org/the-real-presence-what-do-catholics-believe-and-how-church-can-respond/ |access-date=2020-01-02 |website=southerncross.diosav.org|date=25 August 2019 }}</ref>

==== General belief and doctrine knowledge among Catholics ====
A [[Georgetown University]] CARA poll of United States Catholics<ref>{{cite web| url = https://cara.georgetown.edu/CARAServices/CCPMethods.html| title = CARA Catholic Poll Methods| access-date = 2020-04-13| archive-date = 2022-08-17| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220817055738/https://cara.georgetown.edu/CARAServices/CCPMethods.html| url-status = dead}}</ref> in 2008 showed that 57% said they believed that Jesus Christ is really present in the Eucharist in 2008 and nearly 43% said that they believed the wine and bread are symbols of Jesus. Of those attending Mass weekly or more often, 91% believed in the Real Presence, as did 65% of those who merely attended at least once a month, and 40% of those who attended at most a few times a year.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://cara.georgetown.edu/masseucharist.pdf| title = CARA Catholic Poll: "Sacraments Today: Belief and Practice among U.S. Catholics", p. 54}}{{Dead link|date=May 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Among Catholics attending Mass at least once a month, the percentage of belief in the Real Presence was 86% for pre–Vatican II Catholics, 74% for Vatican II Catholics, 75% for post-Vatican II Catholics, and 85% for Millennials.<ref>[https://cara.georgetown.edu/masseucharist.pdf CARA Catholic Poll: "Sacraments Today: Belief and Practice among U.S. Catholics", p. 55]{{Dead link|date=May 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}: "Among Catholics attending Mass at least once a month, Millennial Generation Catholics are just as likely as Pre-Vatican II Catholics to agree that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist (85 percent compared to 86 percent). Vatican II and Post-Vatican II Generation Catholics are about 10 percentage points less likely to believe that Christ is really present in the Eucharist (74 and 75 percent, respectively)." Indicated also in the diagram on the same page.</ref>

A 2019 Pew Research Report found that 69% of United States Catholics believed that in the Eucharist the bread and wine "are {{em|symbols}} of the body and blood of Jesus Christ", and only 31% believed that, "during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus". Of the latter group, most (28% of all US Catholics) said they knew that this is what the Church teaches, while the remaining 3% said they did not know it. Of the 69% who said the bread and wine are {{em|symbols}}, almost two-thirds (43% of all Catholics) said that what they believed is the Church's teaching, 22% said that they believed it in spite of knowing that the Church teaches that the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ. Among United States Catholics who attend Mass at least once a week, the most observant group, 63% accepted that the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ; the other 37% saw the bread and wine as {{em|symbols}}, most of them (23%) not knowing that the Church, so the survey stated, teaches that the elements actually become the body and blood of Christ, while the remaining 14% rejected what was given as the Church's teaching.<ref name="Pew Report">{{Cite web |date=August 5, 2019 |title=Just one-third of U.S. Catholics agree with their church that Eucharist is body, blood of Christ. |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/08/05/transubstantiation-eucharist-u-s-catholics/ |access-date=2020-01-01 |website=Pew Research Center |language=en-US}}</ref> The Pew Report presented "the understanding that the bread and wine used in Communion are {{em|symbols}} of the body and blood of Jesus Christ" as contradicting belief that, "during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus".<ref name="Pew Report" /> The Catholic Church itself speaks of the bread and wine used in Communion {{em|both}} as "signs" {{em|and}} as "becoming" Christ's body and blood: "[...] the signs of bread and wine become, in a way surpassing understanding, the Body and Blood of Christ".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText |url=http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P3Z.HTM |access-date=2020-09-18 |website=vatican.va}}</ref>

In a comment on the Pew Research Report, Greg Erlandson drew attention to the difference between the formulation in the CARA survey, in which the choice was between "Jesus Christ is really present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist" and "the bread and wine are symbols of Jesus, but Jesus is not really present", and the Pew Research choice between "during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus" and "the bread wine are {{em|symbols}} of the body and blood of Jesus Christ". He quotes an observation by Mark Gray that the word "actually" makes it sound like "something that could be analyzed under a microscope or empirically observed", while what the Church teaches is that the "substance" of the bread and wine are changed at consecration, but the "accidents" or appearances of bread and wine remain. Erlandson commented further: "Catholics may not be able to articulately define the 'Real Presence', and the {{Sic|phrase}} 'transubstantiation' may be obscure to them, but in their reverence and demeanor, they demonstrate their belief that this is not just a symbol".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Do we really believe in the Real Presence? |url=https://www.thebostonpilot.com/Opinion/article.asp?ID=185694 |access-date=2020-01-01 |website=The Boston Pilot}}</ref>