Pope says Eucharist history’s greatest revolution in breaking barriers

(23 May, 2008) Pope Benedict XVI says the Eucharist brought history's deepest and most profound revolution. The Pope affirmed this on Thursday evening in his homily for the feast of Corpus Christi, or the body of Christ, in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. After the Mass, he led a Eucharistic procession through the streets of Rome to the Basilica of St. Mary Major. The Pope said that the Eucharist has brought about the deepest social revolution of human history, which is experienced precisely when people of different ages, sex, social and economic condition and political ideas gather around it. The Pope’s listeners were living proof of his words: The congregation included Missionaries of Charity, boy scouts, cardinals, Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, pilgrims from around the world, and even some homeless people curious about the celebration. The Pope said that the Eucharist can never be a private event, reserved to people chosen on the basis of affinity or friendship. Those who come around the Eucharist find themselves one in faith and form one body sharing the only Bread that is Christ, the Pope said.