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Perspectie 54 Giulia Casadei MA and Fokke Wouda MA The World Council of Churches calls upon its members to reconsider their restrictions on participation in Eucharistic celebrations. Although not formally a member of the WCC, this appeal is without doubt also directed towards the Roman Catholic Church. The call for admission to full participation in the Catholic Eucharistic celebration is heard in many ecumenical contacts. Dagmar Heller, president of the Societas Oecumenica during this year’s consultation, once argued: “The Catholic side must face the question of whether it is not a contradiction to recognize the baptism of other churches – and thus the fact that that Christians are members of the body of Christ outside the Catholic Church – and yet not admit them to the eucharist.” 14 But also Roman Catholic scholars challenge the Church’s official position. 15 Recently, Pope Francis fueled the discussion when he visited the Lutheran Church in Rome. Confronted with the situation of mixed marriages he posed the question: “Is sharing the Lord’s Supper the end of a journey or is it the viaticum for walking together?” 16 Searching for terminology As we have shown, the phenomenon is often referred to as intercommunion. This term is rejected especially for being too vague and ambiguous. From our perspective, it does not adequately describe the cases that we investigate. The field it refers to covers a wide range of practices, in which churches to a greater or lesser extent allow members of other churches to participate in their Eucharistic celebrations, and vice versa . Several distinctions must be made in order to clarify the field. These include the distinction between the individual and the collective, the frequency of the practice, and the question of mutuality. English edition), 27 August 2008. The episode was unofficially dismissed as an incident by a Vatican spokesman. 14 Dagmar Heller, ‘Eucharistic Fellowship in the Third Millennium? The Question of the Eucharist in Future Ecumenical Discussions.’ In The Ecumenical Review Vol. 51, Issue 2 (April 1999), p. 206. 15 Cf. e.g. the joint statement of Institut für Ökumenische Forschung (Tübingen), Centre d’Études Oecumenique (Strassbourg), and Konfessionskundliche Institut (Bensheim), Abendmahlsgemeinschaft ist möglich. Thesen zur Eucharistischen Gastfreundschaft (Frankfurt am Main: Lembeck-Verlag, 2003). 16 Vatican, ‘Visit to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Rome; Address of His Holiness Pope Francis.’ (Vatican website: https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/november/documents/papa- francesco_20151115_chiesa-evangelica-luterana.html, 15 November 2015, accessed 24 October 2016).