CHAPTER 1: ECUMENICAL PROGRESS AND STAGNATION 31 in general, towards a genuine exchange between the levels. Such a turn would offer a profoundly different perspective on the ecumenical process and may offer valuable suggestions to overcome the current impasse. It is precisely this ‘hermeneutics of experience’ that is envisioned in the current study. I will elaborate on this in section 2.2. The ecumenical process and Eucharistic hospitality Within the spheres of lived ecumenism and spiritual ecumenism, the question of Eucharistic hospitality inevitably emerges. Although ecclesial regulations have evolved from an unambiguous prohibition of any form of Eucharistic sharing in ecumenical contexts towards permitting such sharing under specific conditions, there has always been a clear stance: Eucharistic communion generally presupposes ecclesial communion. After providing a helpful, concise overview of ecclesial documents on the subject from the 1917 Code of Canon Law up until Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, Brendan Daly concludes: “There have been consistent statements in principle that there is an essential link between ecclesial and Eucharistic communion,”71 resulting in a general rejection of Eucharistic hospitality as means for the restoration of unity. For instance, Daly quotes Pope Benedict XVI, who writes: “We hold that eucharistic communion and ecclesial communion are so linked as to make it generally impossible for non-Catholic Christians to receive the former without enjoying the latter.”72 Canonist Myriam Wijlens, on the other hand, strongly emphasizes that the ecumenical insights adopted by the Second Vatican Council have resulted in a fundamental change: “There is thus a change in perspective, which originates in the new ecclesiology and is also the result of the many ecumenical dialogues. It must be kept in mind, that the general perspective is that of a permission, not a prohibition!!!”73 The new 71 Brendan Daly, “The Stance of the Catholic Church on Sharing the Eucharist with Baptised Non-Catholics Such as Anglicans and Presbyterians,” The Australian Catholic Record 38, no. 3 (2007): 304. This principle is reiterated in the most recent document on the issue, see Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, The Bishop and Christian Unity: An Ecumenical Vademecum, 2020, https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/ pubblico/2020/12/04/201205a.html. 72 Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis, post-synodal apostolic exhortation (Rome, 2007), sec. 56, https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_benxvi_exh_20070222_sacramentum-caritatis.html#The_Eucharist_and_the_Church 73 Myriam Wijlens, “Interchurch Marriages and Pastoral Care in Sickness: A Canonical Consideration,” Proceedings of the Canon Law Society of America 72 (2010): 264. At the same time, she acknowledges that many faithful and pastors still perceive the general intention as
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