(LifeSiteNews) — In a new video interview that will be released in parts starting December 8, Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Astana, Kazakhstan, relates how in 2008 he convinced Pope Benedict XVI to stop distributing Holy Communion in the hand.
In a new interview series, which LifeSiteNews has viewed, Schneider begins by recounting how surprised he was when he learned that he was chosen to become a bishop, and how this surprise was only increased when he learned that his being made bishop was a personal decision of Benedict XVI’s.
“You have to know that your nomination was a personal decision of Pope Benedict,” the then-Vatican nuncio told a reportedly speechless Schneider at the time.
These words confirmed to Schneider that his nomination to the episcopate was “the will of God,” adding that he had known then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he had been elected pope.
Schneider relayed that shortly before his episcopal consecration in 2005, during the Synod of Bishops on the Holy Eucharist to which Benedict had invited Schneider, the Kazakh prelate of German origin spoke with the pope privately.
Schneider said during this meeting he asked the pope not to distribute Communion in the hand, something which “filled me with great concern.” Benedict replied, according to Schneider, that “this is true,” and that “several bishops have already said so.”
Schneider said that it was the next day that he gave the pope a booklet he himself had written about the topic and included in it a note that read: “Holy Father, I ask of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, you as Pope, do not distribute Holy Communion in the hand anymore.”
At that point, Benedict was still distributing Communion in the hand, according to Schneider.
Benedict reportedly answered Schneider a few weeks later in a letter, saying that his “text is convincing,” “but,” he reportedly added, “as you know, there are powerful groups in the Church who oppose this intention.”
Benedict at the time reportedly left his statement at that and simply added his blessing, which is why Schneider said he was shocked when Benedict eventually did stop distributing Communion on the hand.
Moreover, in 2008, Schneider’s booklet Dominus Est, which was against Communion in the hand, was published in Italian by the Vatican’s own publishing house, Libera Editrice Vaticana. In the same year, on Corpus Christi, Schneider said that “the Pope started to do what I had asked him to do,” that is, to distribute Holy Communion only on the tongue while the recipient kneels.
“He did not give any Communion in the hand anymore until the end of his pontificate,” Schneider stated in the interview, adding the change made him “very happy, very surprised, and glad.”
Schneider recounted that shortly thereafter, at a General Audience, he told Benedict, “May God reward you for the miracle that has happened on Corpus Christi, Holy Father.’
Benedict, Schneider says, “immediately understood, smiled” and responded “Yes, this is much more appropriate, this form.”
In an Ad Limina visit in Rome that same year, Schneider said he was once more able to thank the Holy Father in person, who once more “confirmed” his position on the matter, saying that “this should be like this.”
The video interview was conducted by Certamen, a group of young Catholics promoting the traditional Catholic faith (here is a video on Purgatory) with the help of videos.
In the same interview, Schneider also recounted the story of how he gained from Pope Francis the admission that the Abu Dhabi declaration’s claim that “the diversity of religions” is “willed by God” refers merely to the “permissive will of God,” meaning that God does not positively wish that there exists different religions which contradict one another about the essence of God and His Precepts for men.
This claim concerning the diversity of religions is, according to Bishop Schneider, “unacceptable” and “against the First Commandment,” which is why he said he felt urged to deliver a speech during an Ad Limina visit with Francis in Rome, and in the presence of his fellow bishops, to ask Francis to “proclaim the truth.”
At some point, during the course of several exchanges, Schneider reportedly told Francis: “I ask you, in the name of Jesus Christ, proclaim to the whole world that there is no other way of salvation than Jesus Christ. Should you do this, it will one of your greatest consolations in the moment of your judgment before the Judgment Seat of God.”
But, to Schneider’s regret, even though he finally got Francis to at least make a public statement on the matter of the “permissive will of God,” Francis was then to revert to the earlier position in a general audience, where he said that it was “good, that there are different religions,” according to Schneider. This statement was then subsequently sent to all theological faculties in the world.
Schneider said he laments Francis’ “ambiguity,” as well as his contradictory statements, adding that he views them in the context of “modernism, relativism,” according to which different statements with opposing content can “stand on equal footing next to one another.”
Later in the interview, the Kazakh prelate spoke once more to condemn the suppression of the traditional Latin Mass, saying that “the pope has not received from Jesus Christ the power to diminish Tradition.” Therefore, “Traditiones Custodes is a very very sad document, one must say,” he continued, arguing that Francis “abused his power” in the matter.
We hope that “this document will have a short life-span,” Schneider concluded.
Editor’s note: This article was updated on Friday December 8, 2023.
