Abstract

In 1964 the Second Vatican Council allowed intercommunion ‘sometimes’ as a means of grace. The directory of 1967 stated that an Anglican or Protestant must have no access to a minister of their own communion. In 1972 it was further enacted that this must be ‘for a prolonged period’. This allowed Anglicans, for example, to get communion in France but not in England. An adequate spiritual reason was ‘a need for a deeper involvement in the mystery of the church and its unity’. In 1980 at the Synod of bishops, cardinal Willebrands asked that this condition be removed as it had little connection with the doctrine of the eucharist. The 1983 code of Canon Law omitted the words ‘for a prolonged period’. The Encyclical Ut Unum sint of 1995 omitted all reference to ‘no access’. This abolishes the condition completely leaving a new legal situation with many implications