It is also my joy to reaffirm before Ireland and the whole world the wonderful teaching of the Catholic Church regarding Christ’s consoling presence in the Blessed Sacrament: his Real Presence in the fullest sense: the substantial presence by which the whole and complete Christ, God and man, are present (cf. Mysterium Fidei, 39). The Eucharist, in the Mass and outside of the Mass, is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, and is therefore deserving of the worship that is given to the living God, and to him alone (cf. Mysterium Fidei, 55; Paul VI, Address of 15 June 1978).

And so, dear brothers and sisters, every act of reverence, every genuflection that you make before the Blessed Sacrament, is important because it is an act of faith in Christ, an act of love for Christ. And every sign of the Cross and gesture of respect made each time you pass a church is also an act of faith.

May God preserve you in this faith–this holy Catholic faith–this faith in the Blessed Sacrament.

– Saint John Paul II