Pope John Paul II: Encyclical Letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia, Part 28

In 2003, on Holy Thursday, 2003. Pope John Paul II issued what would be his final encyclical: Ecclesia de Eucharistia, "On the Eucharist and Its Relationship to the Church." This encyclical contains much to prayerfully ponder/meditate on. The encyclical's Chapter Three, The Apostolicity of the Eucharist and of the Church, continues as follows:

"28. Lastly, the Church is apostolic in the sense that she 'continues to be taught, sanctified and guided by the Apostles until Christ's return, through their successors in pastoral office: the college of Bishops assisted by priests, in union with the Successor of Peter, the Church's supreme pastor'.⁵³ Succession to the Apostles in the pastoral mission necessarily entails the sacrament of Holy Orders, that is, the uninterrupted sequence, from the very beginning, of valid episcopal ordinations.⁵⁴ This succession is essential for the Church to exist in a proper and full sense.

"The Eucharist also expresses this sense of apostolicity. As the Second Vatican Council teaches, 'the faithful join in the offering of the Eucharist by virtue of their royal priesthood',⁵⁵ yet it is the ordained priest who, 'acting in the person of Christ, brings about the Eucharistic Sacrifice and offers it to God in the name of all the people'.⁵⁶ For this reason, the Roman Missal prescribes that only the priest should recite the Eucharistic Prayer, while the people participate in faith and in silence.⁵⁷

Notes

⁵³Ibid.

⁵⁴Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter Sacerdotium Ministeriale (6 August 1983), III.2: AAS 75 (1983), 1005. 

⁵⁵Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 10.

⁵⁶Ibid.

⁵⁷Cf. Institutio Generalis: Editio typica tertia, No. 147.