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Francis' positions had drawn backlash from some conservative parishioners, who objected to his suggestion that divorced Catholics could still receive the Eucharist, and more recently, his objection to Trump's deportation plans.

During the day he alternated prayer and rest and this morning he received the Eucharist, it added.

On Monday, the feast of Epiphany in the Christian calendar, Mr Welby will attend two services at Lambeth Palace, a Eucharist at lunchtime and Evensong later in the day.

One sister recalled a time when she and another altar server accidentally spilled open a bag of already-consecrated Eucharist wafers as they were preparing for mass in the wood-paneled sacristy.

Growing up in a religious, partly Hispanic household, I learned from an early age that eating the Eucharist at church was representative of consuming Jesus’ body and blood.