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The Mass and Its Meaning

It is His Body that is there taken, His Flesh that is divided for the salvation of the people, His Blood that is poured, not as before into the hands of unbelievers, but into the mouths of the faithful.

- St. Gregory I the Great, Dialogues, c. 600

After the words of the consecration there is present numerically the same Body of Christ as was born of the Virgin and was immolated on the Cross.

- Clement VI, Letter to the Armenias, September 29, 1351

There is indeed nothing which is more contrary to, or bad for, church discipline, than negligently and disrespectfully to carry out liturgical worship.

- Benedict XIV,  Annus Qui Hunc, February 19, 1749

Very beautiful and joyful too is the spectacle of Christian brotherhood and social equality which is afforded when men of all conditions, gentle and simple, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, gather round the holy altar, all sharing alike in this heavenly banquet.

- Leo XIII, Mirae Caritatis, May 28, 1902

He who approaches the Holy Table should do so, not out of routine, or vain-glory, or human respect, but that he wishes to please God, to be more closely united with Him by charity, and to have recourse to this divine remedy for his weaknesses and defects.

- St. Pius X, Sacra Tridentina Synodus, December 20, 1905

The Church has further used her right of control over liturgical observance to protect the purity of divine worship against abuse from dangerous and imprudent innovations introduced by private individuals and particular churches.

- Pius XII, Mediator Dei, November 20, 1947