What do Catholics believe about the nature of the Eucharist?
It is a dogma of the faith that the bread and the wine become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Catholics are also bound to believe in transubstantiation, which differs slightly from the beliefs of the Orthodox and other churches with apostolic succession. Transubstantiation is the belief that the host and wine retain the “accidents” of their substance (FCD 379-382).. An accident is a quality that is not essential to the object in order for it to be what it is. For example, it is not necessary for a dog to be a specific color in order for it to be a dog. A dog is still a dog whether it is black or white. An orange does not have to taste sweet in order for it to be an orange. It can be under-ripe and sour. And so forth. Catholics believe that the host and the wine retain their accidents while transforming by nature into the body and blood of Christ (FCD 383). So the host is not longer really a host, but the body of Christ, and the wine is no longer the wine but the blood of Christ. Th
