Question Corner: Why can’t the church offer a completely gluten-free host?

Q: I recently read your answer to the question, “Is non-alcoholic church wine valid for consecration?” In your response you cited the canon law that discusses the “valid matter” for the celebration of the Eucharist. This quickly brought to mind my wife’s severe celiac disorder. My question is, is it absolutely essential to use wheat as a component for the celebration of the Eucharist? She has been told that there must be a component of wheat and she has been offered a “low gluten host” in lieu of the regular host. We are a bit confused as to why a “completely gluten-free host” cannot be offered. Certainly Jesus would not have proposed something as important as this is, that would make his followers ill?

A: It is true that actual wheat must be used in a valid celebration of the Eucharist, but there are still ways to receive holy Communion even as a Catholic with a severe gluten intolerance.

Canon 924 of the Code of Canon Law discusses valid matter — that is, the physical “stuff” necessary in order for a sacrament to “work” — for both species of the Eucharist. With respect to the bread that is to become the body of Christ, the canon tells us that “the bread must be wheaten only, and recently made, so that there is no danger of corruption (i.e., spoilage).”

Because the Eucharistic bread must be made of wheat, and because wheat fundamentally contains gluten, it would not seem to be possible to have Eucharistic bread that was completely gluten- free. Most of the time, when we see truly gluten-free bread products in other, non-sacramental contexts, these breads are made of some grain like rice or corn which naturally do not contain gluten. Since these grains are not wheat, they cannot be used.

Similarly, if there was a way to remove all of the gluten out of a wheat product, it would be questionable whether this would remain “wheaten” in a meaningful sense. This is most likely the reasoning reflected in the 2003 letter by the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later to become Pope Benedict XVI) from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith when it states: “Hosts that are completely gluten-free are invalid matter for the celebration of the Eucharist.”

However, this same letter goes on to note that: “Low-gluten hosts (partially gluten-free) are valid matter, provided they contain a sufficient amount of gluten to obtain the confection of bread without the addition of foreign materials and without the use of procedures that would alter the nature of bread.”

There are companies which produce ultra-low gluten hosts which many Catholics with celiac disease can tolerate. But even those celiacs who cannot take even trace amounts of gluten can still receive holy Communion from the chalice. As the above-mentioned 2003 letter tells us: “A layperson affected by celiac disease, who is not able to receive Communion under the species of bread, including low-gluten hosts, may receive Communion under the species of wine only.”

Here it’s good to point out that we as Catholics believe in the doctrine of concomitance, meaning that Jesus is fully present — body, blood, soul and divinity — in either eucharistic species. This means that a Catholic is not somehow receiving “less Jesus” if they are, for instance, only able to receive from the chalice.

All that being said, I can appreciate where these rules and distinctions might seem somewhat nitpicky and even a bit out of character for the Jesus whom we know from the Gospels as being generous and understanding. But I think this is part of the great mystery of the sacraments in general.

That is, we as a church have received the sacraments as gifts from God “as is.” We can use what we know for sure to discern the parameters of what is valid and appropriate in their celebration, but we cannot edit them according to our own ideas of what would be best.

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