The Pope's upcoming Pan-Amazon synod could consider whether to allow the bread used in the Eucharist to be replaced with cassava root, commonly known as yuca, it has been claimed.
Fr Francisco Taborda SJ, a professor of theology at the Jesuit university in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, who has written several books on the sacraments, said in an interview with Crux that bread in the Amazon is regularly made out of yuca.
He said the normal bread used in the Mass degenerates into mush during the rainy season, therefore ceasing to be proper bread in any case.
“It’s not bread, and if it’s not bread, it’s not the Eucharist,” he told Crux.
The Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, which meets in October, is also expected to debate whether to allow married priests. The region is suffering a severe shortage of priests.
Fr Taborda admitted that changing from bread to yuca for the sacrament would be a "very complex" issue.
Catholic norms state: "The bread used in the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharistic Sacrifice must be unleavened, purely of wheat, and recently made so that there is no danger of decomposition. It follows therefore that bread made from another substance, even if it is grain, or if it is mixed with another substance different from wheat to such an extent that it would not commonly be considered wheat bread, does not constitute valid matter for confecting the Sacrifice and the Eucharistic Sacrament. It is a grave abuse to introduce other substances, such as fruit or sugar or honey, into the bread for confecting the Eucharist. Hosts should obviously be made by those who are not only distinguished by their integrity, but also skilled in making them and furnished with suitable tools.”
The Congregation for Divine Worship issued a circular to bishops in 2017 on the quality of the bread and wine used in the eucharist, stating that the bread cannot be completely gluten-free.
The circular says: "Until recently it was certain religious communities who took care of baking the bread and making the wine for the celebration of the Eucharist. Today, however, these materials are also sold in supermarkets and other stores and even over the internet. In order to remove any doubt about the validity of the matter for the Eucharist, this Dicastery suggests that Ordinaries should give guidance in this regard by, for example, guaranteeing the Eucharistic matter through special certification.
"The Ordinary is bound to remind priests, especially parish priests and rectors of churches, of their responsibility to verify those who provide the bread and wine for the celebration and the worthiness of the material.
"It is also for the Ordinary to provide information to the producers of the bread and wine for the Eucharist and to remind them of the absolute respect that is due to the norms."
Cassava root is high in carbohydrate and is gluten free.