What is Transubstantiation?

• A. The symbolic remembrance of bread and wine.
• B. The belief that bread and wine literally become Body and Blood.
• C. The idea that only bread becomes body.
• D. The presence of Christ only spiritually.

Answer: (B)

Transubstantiation teaches that during the Eucharist the underlying substance of bread and wine is truly transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, even though their outward appearances, tastes, and textures—what we can see and touch—remain the same. In other words, the elements continue to look and feel like bread and wine, but what they truly are becomes Christ’s real Body and Blood. This explains why the statement about bread and wine literally becoming Body and Blood is the best fit: it captures the claimed ontological change, not just a symbolic act or a matter of spiritual presence. By contrast, viewing the meal as only symbolic remembrance denies that there is a real change in what the elements are, and saying only bread becomes body misses the claim about both elements undergoing transformation. The idea of spiritual presence alone would also differ from this Protestant-lessCatholic distinction, which emphasizes the substantial change rather than a purely invisible or purely memorial presence.