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Questions / The Mass and the Eucharist

What is the Real Presence?

Church teaching

Answered on video by Bishop Robert Barron

Video: Bishop Barron on the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, Bishop Robert Barron, published Jul 13, 2011. Checked 10 October 2026. Loads from YouTube (privacy-enhanced mode) only when you press play. Watch on YouTube

In short: Christ is present in lots of ways, but most of all in the Eucharist. The Church calls that presence real. CCC 1373 CCC 1374

The answer, in writing

Church teaching

Christ is present to His Church in many ways: in His word, in prayer, in the poor and the sick, in the sacraments. CCC 1373

But His presence in the Eucharist is unique: there the whole Christ is truly, really and substantially present. CCC 1374

Our words

“Real” doesn’t mean the other ways aren’t real. It means here He is present in the fullest way.

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Sources on this page

How we know · 2 Catechism paragraphs
  1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1373, 1374 (official text on vatican.va).

Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words and cites every teaching claim. Our own wording is not an official Church text. Found a mistake? Report an errorCorrections.