Through the practice of the so-called "intercommunion", the present currents of ecumenism seek to demonstrate that the fundamental differences in the understanding of the Catholic Eucharist and the Protestant communion have been overcome. The open criticism of the recent Encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia is an exhortation to pay no heed to the Pontiff's decision. It is precisely such developments, facilitated by a minority, that endanger the ecumenical process. Theirs is not a fight for the unity of the Church of Jesus Christ, but the quest for a Church which will abdicate her own apostolic foundations.
The Church is apostolic because in her the Apostles will continue to teach, guide and sanctify, until the return of Christ.
Through the successors of the Apostles, the Bishops, assisted by the priests, the saving work begun by Christ is continued in the Church and for men and women.
The authentic transmission of the faith occurs through the sacrament of Orders that is implicit in succession. Apostolic succession guarantees the authenticity of the doctrine presented as binding. With it is expressed the fundamental criterion for succession, that is, inner identification with the faith of the Fathers, the teaching of the Church and the Pope as Supreme Pastor of the Church, without succession becoming merely an empty mechanism, degraded in a purely material way to a formality.
Apostolic succession is the intimate acceptance of the faith that the individual on whom the mandate is conferred has received from the Church. Before the rest of the People of God, the ministerial priest offers the Eucharistic sacrifice in persona Christi.
