{"id":10456,"date":"2019-08-05T11:31:55","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T16:31:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/transubstantiation-eucharist-u-s-catholics\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T01:19:22","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T06:19:22","slug":"transubstantiation-eucharist-u-s-catholics","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2019\/08\/05\/transubstantiation-eucharist-u-s-catholics\/","title":{"rendered":"Just one-third of U.S. Catholics agree with their church that Eucharist is body, blood of Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"By<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
(Avalon_Studio via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n\n

Transubstantiation \u2013 the idea that during Mass, the bread and wine used for Communion become the body and blood of Jesus Christ \u2013 is central to the Catholic faith. Indeed, the Catholic Church teaches that \u201cthe Eucharist is \u2018the source and summit<\/a> of the Christian life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n

But a new Pew Research Center survey<\/a> finds that most self-described Catholics don\u2019t believe this core teaching. In fact, nearly seven-in-ten Catholics (69%) say they personally believe that during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine used in Communion \u201care symbols<\/em> of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.\u201d Just one-third of U.S. Catholics (31%) say they believe that \u201cduring Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\"Seven-in-ten<\/figure>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

In addition to asking Catholics what they believe about the Eucharist, the new survey also included a question that tested whether Catholics know<\/em> what the church teaches on the subject. Most Catholics who believe that the bread and wine are symbolic do not know that the church holds that transubstantiation occurs. Overall, 43% of Catholics believe that the bread and wine are symbolic and also that this reflects the position of the church. Still, one-in-five Catholics (22%) reject the idea of transubstantiation, even though they know about the church\u2019s teaching.<\/p>\n\n

The vast majority of those who believe that the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ \u2013 28% of all Catholics \u2013 do know that this is what the church teaches. A small share of Catholics (3%) profess to believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist despite not knowing<\/em> the church\u2019s teaching on transubstantiation.<\/p>\n\n

About six-in-ten (63%) of the most observant Catholics \u2014 those who attend Mass at least once a week \u2014 accept the church\u2019s teaching about transubstantiation. Still, even among this most observant group of Catholics, roughly one-third (37%) don\u2019t believe that the Communion bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ (including 23% who don\u2019t know the church\u2019s teaching and 14% who know the church\u2019s teaching but don\u2019t believe it). And among Catholics who do not attend Mass weekly, large majorities say they believe the bread and wine are symbolic and do not actually become the body and blood of Jesus.<\/p>\n\n

\"Most<\/figure>\n\n

The survey also finds that belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is most common among older Catholics, though majorities in every age group (including 61% of those age 60 and over) believe that the bread and wine are symbols, not the actual body and blood of Christ.<\/p>\n\n

Note: See full topline results<\/a> and methodology<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just 31% of U.S. Catholics believe that the bread and wine used in Communion become the body and blood of Christ. Nearly seven-in-ten say the Eucharist is symbolic. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":386,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[161,180],"bylines":[926],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[517],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-10456","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-beliefs-practices","category-catholicism","bylines-gregory-a-smith","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-religion"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":428,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2019\/08\/05\/transubstantiation-eucharist-u-s-catholics\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":20468,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2019\/08\/FT_19.08.05_transubstantiation_featured-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2019\/08\/FT_19.08.05_transubstantiation_featured-jpg.webp?w=564&h=317&crop=1","width":564,"height":317,"chartArt":false},"A2":{"id":20468,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2019\/08\/FT_19.08.05_transubstantiation_featured-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2019\/08\/FT_19.08.05_transubstantiation_featured-jpg.webp?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"A3":{"id":20468,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2019\/08\/FT_19.08.05_transubstantiation_featured-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2019\/08\/FT_19.08.05_transubstantiation_featured-jpg.webp?w=194&h=110&crop=1","width":194,"height":110,"chartArt":false},"A4":{"id":20468,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2019\/08\/FT_19.08.05_transubstantiation_featured-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2019\/08\/FT_19.08.05_transubstantiation_featured-jpg.webp?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"XL":{"id":20468,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2019\/08\/FT_19.08.05_transubstantiation_featured-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2019\/08\/FT_19.08.05_transubstantiation_featured-jpg.webp?w=720&h=405&crop=1","width":720,"height":405,"chartArt":false},"social":{"id":20468,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2019\/08\/FT_19.08.05_transubstantiation_featured-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2019\/08\/FT_19.08.05_transubstantiation_featured-jpg.webp?w=1200&h=628&crop=1","width":1200,"height":628,"chartArt":false}},"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"One-third of U.S. Catholics believe in transubstantiation","description":"Just 31% of U.S. Catholics believe that the bread and wine used in Communion become the body and blood of Christ. 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