A survey done by a Catholic news organization in Manila said most Filipino Catholics believe the Holy Eucharist is the real “body and blood of Christ.”
Veritas Truth Survey, which was conducted by Church-run Radio Veritas 846, asked Filipino Catholics if they believe the Holy Eucharist is “the actual body and blood of Christ.”
Majority of the respondents, or 97 percent, responded that “they believe that the Holy Eucharist is indeed the real body and blood of Christ and not just symbolical.”
The remaining two percent said they do not believe that it is the real body and blood of Christ but is “merely depictive of the real body and blood of Christ.”
The remaining one percent said they were “undecided on what to reply to this question.”
Father Anton Pascual, president of Radio Veritas 846, said the result of the survey “embodies the deep spirituality we have toward the Holy Eucharist.”
In a statement released on June 2, the priest noted that a similar survey in the United States found that only one-third of American Catholics, or 31 percent, believe in “transubstantiation.”
The Catholic Church teaches that “transubstantiation” is the process by which the bread and wine of the Eucharist is transformed into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
Catholics believe that through transubstantiation, the risen Jesus becomes truly present in the Eucharist.
Clifford Sorita, who managed the survey, said the result is indicative of “our deep belief toward transubstantiation.”
“In a time when most Catholics in other parts of the world see the bread and wine as mere symbols of the Body and Blood of Christ, it is noteworthy to stress that we Filipinos believe in the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist,” he said.
“The resurrected Christ is present to his Church in many ways, but most especially through the sacrament of his Body and Blood,” added Sorita.
The survey was conducted from April 25 to May 25 and used a stratified sample of 1,200 respondents nationwide. It has a +/- 3% margin of error and was gathered through text-based and online data gathering process.
