MANILA— Majority of Filipino Catholics believe that the Holy Eucharist is "the actual body and blood" of Jesus Christ and not just a representation, a recent survey conducted by Church-run Radio Veritas found.

The Veritas Truth Survey found that 97 percent of its respondents "do believe that the Holy Eucharist" — the ceremony that commemorates the Last Supper, in which the bread and wine are consecrated and consumed — "is indeed the real body and blood of Christ and not just symbolical."

Two percent said they do not believe the Holy Eucharist is Christ's body and blood, "implying that it is merely depictive of the real body and blood," while the remaining 1 percent are undecided, based on the survey.

Bro. Clifford Sorita, head of the Veritas Truth Society, said the survey's results show the deep belief of Filipinos towards Transubstantiation or the idea that during the Mass, the bread and wine used for Communion transform into Christ's body and blood.

He said the result of the survey is "significant because that is a core belief for the Catholic Faith."

The survey, which used a stratified sample of 1,200 respondents nationwide with a +/- 3-percent margin of error, was conducted from April 25 to May 25.

It was part of a series of surveys in celebration of the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines, a predominantly Catholic country where some 80 percent of the population belong to the faith.

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