Intercommunion now?

Did you see what I thought I saw? Was a Protestant the first to receive Communion at the funeral of John Paul II, and from the hands of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger?

Granted, Roger Schutz, founder of the ecumenical Taize community in France, looks Catholic in his robes, and he's even called Brother. But strictly speaking, Taize, despite all its Catholic adherents, is not in full communion with Rome, and Brother Roger, for all his openness to Catholicism, has never left the Calvinist tradition in which he was raised. After he received Communion in his wheelchair, Schutz gave Cardinal Ratzinger a warm smile and patted him on the side.

The presence of so many representatives from different religious traditions at John Paul II's funeral offered fitting tribute to the papacy's potential for bridge-building (pontiff comes from the Latin pontifex, bridge-builder), and, in particular, to John Paul's efforts in this regard. More than any pope, he pursued interreligious dialogue, going so far as to apologize for the past failings of Catholics (in relations with the Jews, for example), and invited Christians outside the Roman fold to reflect on how the papacy might serve a more unified Christian church in the future. But he honored differences, preferring honest exchange and discussion to well-meaning fuzziness.

So what are we to make of this apparent act of intercommunion? Clearly, it was no accident, yet it goes against church teaching. Just last year, the Vatican suspended a German priest, Gotthold Hasenhuttl, for presiding at an ecumenical eucharistic service. Perhaps the new pope will shed some light on the subject.

T.P.S.