Pope gives Tony Blair the Eucharist?

Apparently, in the United Kingdom you can offer non-Catholics the Eucharist under extraordinary circumstances according to a 1998 agreement between the Anglican Church and the Catholic Church. This is precisely what happened at the Vatican during PM Tony Blair’s visit to Rome. Blair, who is Anglican, received the Eucharist along with his wife and three children who are Catholic.

For those of us not Catholic, for the Eucharist to be dispensed to non-Catholics is a serious matter. Catholics believe the Eucharist to be the literal Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. To accept the Eucharist during Communion means several very profound things, that (1) you believe that the Eucharist is literally the wholeness of Jesus Christ, and (2) you believe this and all of the teachings of the Catholic Faith with everyone else who is receiving the Eucharist, hence the notion of Communion (both with God and with the Church). I’m not saying that Tony Blair believed this or otherwise, but for a non-Catholic to take the Eucharist and not believe these things is a great scandal to the Church.