Cardinal suggests preparing children for Communion even before age 7

(Aug.10,2010) The Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, has suggested preparing children for Communion even before the age of seven. Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera said “Children today, are maturing so quickly and are exposed to so many different influences, that it might be time to consider allowing them, to prepare for, and receive their first Communion, even before their 7th birthday. A child's first Communion is like the beginning of a journey with Jesus, in communion with him; the beginning of a friendship destined to last and to grow for his entire life," the Cardinal wrote Aug. 8 in the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. Today, he said, "children live immersed in a thousand difficulties, surrounded by a difficult environment that does not encourage them to be what God wants them to be. Let us not deprive them of the gift of God," the cardinal wrote.
The Cardinal’s article marked the 100th anniversary of the decree of Pope Pius X, titled “Quam Singulari Christus Amore", the Latin for "How Special Christ's Love," which reversed the decades-old practice of delaying first Communion, until a child was 10 or 12. In his article, Cardinal Canizares said that Pope Pius' insistence on the careful preparation of children to receive first Communion still stands, but so does his concern that children have access to the grace that will help them be good and to mature into strong Christians. The Cardinal said he wanted to use the anniversary of St. Pius' decree to remind pastors that children should receive first Communion when they have "the use of reason, which today seems to be even sooner than age seven.”