Dear Father,
I noticed that ChapGPT says black coffee doesn’t break Eucharistic fast while Grok says it does. Which of these AIs are correct?
-Lacey
Dear Lacey,
When I asked an Artificial Intelligence (AI) website about AI reliability, it told me: “The reliability of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a complex and evolving issue, with no simple yes or no answer.”
Some of AI systems describe themselves as generating responses that are more creative. We are not looking for creativity when it comes to the truths of our faith, even simpler matters about what breaks the Eucharistic fast.
Beware of using only AI for answers to questions, especially about Catholic matters. With so many AI systems vying for our attention combined with their unreliable responses, you do well to ask a priest or other Church authority for correct answers, including the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Code of Canon Law, and other Church writings.
Pope Leo XIV recognizes the challenges that artificial intelligence poses for us, particularly regarding “the defense of human dignity, justice and labor” (May 10 address to the College of Cardinals).
Addressing representatives of the media, the Pope expressed a concern for the way technology is developing. He said that he was “thinking in particular of artificial intelligence, with its immense potential, which nevertheless requires responsibility and discernment in order to ensure that it can be used for the good of all, so that it can benefit all of humanity. This responsibility concerns everyone in proportion to his or her age and role in society.”
The Pope has said that “we must rediscover, emphasize and cultivate our duty to train others in critical thinking, countering temptations to the contrary, which can also be found in ecclesial circles” (May 17, 2025 address).
Critical thinking leads us to say that black coffee is considered to break the Eucharistic fast. We are guided by the Code of Canon Law, which states: “Whoever is to receive the blessed Eucharist is to abstain for at least one hour before holy communion from all food and drink, with the sole exception of water and medicine” (919, §1.)
Some may argue that coffee is mostly water and therefore may be drunk before Communion. Well, then, such a person should simply drink plain water if he thinks there is little difference between coffee and water.
Others argue that coffee is a medicine because it is a drug that helps a person wake up. I respond that I have yet to see coffee in retailers’ medicine aisles. Rather, it’s found in the coffee and tea aisle!
We are to fast at least “one hour before Holy Communion.” That’s hardly asking for much. At a typical Sunday Mass with hymns and preaching, Holy Communion is not distributed until about 45 minutes after Mass has begun. That means that a person would need to be drinking coffee walking into church in order to break the fast!
Fasting for Communion goes back to the earliest times of the Church and it used to last longer. The reduction to one hour only came about in 1964 by Pope Paul VI. Catholics planning to receive Communion used to fast beginning at midnight, including water. In 1957, Pope Pius XII reduced the Communion fast to three hours.
Fasting for Communion is important, as Pope Pius XII wrote in his Christus Dominus: “Abstinence from food and drink is in accord with that supreme reverence we owe to the supreme majesty of Jesus Christ when we are going to receive Him hidden under the veils of the Eucharist.”
“When we receive His precious Body and Blood before we take any food, we show clearly that this is the first and loftiest nourishment by which our soul is fed and its holiness increased.”
Pope Pius also taught that the Eucharistic fast fosters piety; it helps to increase holiness in us because we consume Christ, who transforms us into Himself. The pangs of hunger are reminders that we are only truly satisfied when we are united with Christ, especially in Communion.
Artificial intelligence will never understand piety and union with God through the Eucharist. Use AI with caution on any topic but especially matters of the human soul.