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GÖRLITZ, Germany, December 11, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Two counties in Germany today lifted a ban on distributing Holy Communion after local Bishop Wolfgang Ipolt of Görlitz publicly protested the decision. “This is a clear encroachment on the right to exercise one’s religion freely,” Ipolt had said.

Daniel Frank, the head of the Catholic Office in Saxony, which is the bishops’ lobby organization in this specific part of Germany, announced the reversal of the ban earlier today, after speaking with the county authorities of Görlitz and Bautzen.

Frank had previously told Germany’s Catholic News Agency (KNA) that if the counties did not redress the situation, then the Church would be prepared to take legal action.

The decision of the two counties to prohibit the distribution of Holy Communion came only yesterday, with the reversal going into effect roughly one day later at midnight tonight.

Ipolt said he was “very surprised” about the initial decision, which he characterized as an “aggravation,” since there was no effort made by the counties to speak with church officials before making the announcement.

The restrictions the authorities had intended to impose was in response to concerns about the spread of COVID-19. Ipolt defended the current practice around distributing communion in his diocese, saying he has “issued strict hygiene regulations for it.” The bishop added that if anyone was still truly concerned about receiving the Eucharist, then they are free not to receive, since there “is no obligation in the Catholic Church to go to Holy Communion.”

Though this is a victory for the diocese, other restrictions are still in place, some of which are part of the diocese’s regulations. The priest still needs to disinfect his hands before giving Communion to the faithful from a suitable distance. There are also a mask mandates and a singing embargo in place for the faithful during religious services.

According to Church law (canon 843§1), “Sacred ministers cannot deny the sacraments to those who seek them at appropriate times, are properly disposed, and are not prohibited by law from receiving them.”

In addition, canon 912 states that “[a]ny baptized person not prohibited by law can and must be admitted to holy communion.” The reference to prohibition by law is not a reference to secular laws, but rather to other, appropriate parts of ecclesial law, none of which bear on the matter in hand.

The problem of the state attempting to ban Communion for the faithful is not unique to Saxony. Dioceses all over the world have been contending with governments telling them to reduce parish attendance and halt communion distribution since the lockdowns started back in March.

Priests and parishes have been battling their own bishops in this regard, pushing back against illicit orders to restrict communion to reception in the hand alone. Ipolt’s diocese has also banned communion on the tongue.

In a 2009 letter to a Catholic layman in England, responding to a restriction made by a bishop in light of the then prevalent H1N1 “swine flu”, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW) stated that: “This Dicastery observes that its instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum (25 March 2004) clearly stipulates that ‘each of the faithful has the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue’ (n.92), nor is it licit to deny Holy Communion to any of Christ’s faithful who are not impeded by law from receiving the Holy Eucharist (cf n.91).”

The rationale behind restricting communion to reception on the hand alone for the sake of health has been found wanting. A group of 21 physicians authored a letter in August that cuts down many of the arguments against the ancient and revered practice of communion on the tongue.

“From the point of view of hygiene, it is absolutely incomprehensible to us why oral communion has been banned,” the doctors wrote, adding that, in their professional opinion, they “consider this form of distribution [on the tongue] safer than hand communion.”

Bishop Athanasius Schneider has weighed in on both the banning of Holy Communion and public Masses, proclaiming that such acts are “pure human law; however, the supreme law in the Church is the salvation of souls.”

Schneider suggested that bishops who, in line with government guidelines, have prohibited communion on the tongue have “reacted more like civil bureaucrats than shepherds. In focusing too exclusively on all the hygienic protective measures, they have lost a supernatural vision and have abandoned the primacy of the eternal good of souls.”