Although “Baptism constitutes the foundation of communion among all Christians,” that sacrament points to a fullness of communion realized in common participation in the Lord’s Supper. While some would urge intercommunion as an aid to unity, the Catholic Church has always held that unity must first be achieved, with Eucharistic communion being its “crowning” event.

Cardinal Schonborn describes the two-fold “Amen” that is the basis for common reception of the Eucharist; only those who can say the “Great Amen” after the canon of Mass can truly say “Amen” at the reception of the Eucharist.

"The desire to recover the unity of all Christians is a gift of Christ and a call of the Holy Spirit" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 820). Nowhere does the lack of unity become more painful, nowhere do we become more vividly aware of the urgency of unity than at the "Lord's Supper." That is why there is a longing on the part of many Christians for full unity, sealed and strengthened by "common participation in the table of the Lord" (CCC, n. 1398). Many people insist that this unity should be simply anticipated by requesting or demanding intercommunion before the communion of the Churches has been restored. But if true unity is to be furthered, progress toward that goal should be made in truth and in love, so that new rifts do not increase our disunity.

"Baptism constitutes the foundation of communion among all Christians" (CCC, n. 1271). Anyone who is not baptized cannot share in the Lord's Supper. No one is excluded from the love of Christians, but only someone who has received the "washing of regeneration" can share in fellowship with them at the table of the Lord. But baptism is only the beginning, for it "seeks for the attainment of the fullness of life in Christ" (Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism, n. 92), and thus for the common reception of Christ in the Eucharist.

Of course, separated Christians hold some sharply differing views about the meaning and importance of the Lord's Supper. These differences concern first and foremost the meaning of the priesthood, the Sacrifice of the Mass, and the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist (CCC, n. 1400). For Holy Communion to be true and fruitful, it must not be isolated from the totality of the eucharistic celebration.

There is now a quite simple and illuminating criterion for deciding whether a common reception of Holy Communion corresponds to the truth. When someone receives the Eucharist, he hears the words "The Body of Christ" and gives the response "Amen," "Yes, it is, I firmly believe it be so!" This Amen is preceded by the communal "Amen" at the end of the Eucharistic Prayer, after the words "Through Him, with Him, in Him." If the "Amen" to "The Body of Christ" is to ring true, then it must be in harmony with the "Amen" to the Eucharistic Prayer, through which the eucharistic Body of Christ has become present.

The "Amen" signifies assent to the offering of the sacrifice "in union with our Pope and our bishop," to fellowship with Mary and all the saints, "on whose intercession we rely," to prayer for "our departed brothers and sisters," and, above all, to the fact that bread and wine, by the power of the Holy Spirit and the words of Christ, spoken by the priest, "become for us the Body and Blood of [God's] Son, our Lord Jesus Christ."

Anyone who can give his Yes and Amen to these things is affirming the Eucharist as it is understood by the Catholic Church. He is saying Yes to the communion of this Catholic Church. His Yes and Amen to the fruit of this Eucharistic Prayer, the eucharistic Body of Christ, will also then be true. There are special situations in which Christians not in full communion with the Catholic Church can receive the Eucharist (CCC, n. 1401). The prerequisite for this will always be that they can say the twofold "Amen" with an upright heart.

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Christoph Cardinal Schonborn, Archbishop of Vienna, Austria, is a Dominican priest who, in addition to editing the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is the author of numerous books including Loving the Church and Introduction to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.