Pope Francis told reporters aboard the papal airplane Sept. 15 the story of him accidentally giving a Jewish woman Holy Communion as a priest.

On his return flight from Bratislava, Slovakia, to Rome, Pope Francis fielded questions from reporters regarding abortion-rights politicians, COVID-19 vaccinations and much more.

While religious media were enamored with the pope’s comments regarding the distribution of Communion to abortion-rights politicians, one aspect of his testimony slid under the radar — his positive interpretation of accidentally giving Communion to a woman not in the Roman Catholic Church.

Asked whether he has ever distributed the Holy Eucharist to abortion-rights politicians, the pope responded that he hasn’t — but went on to say he’s never denied it to any individual.

“No, I have never refused the Eucharist to anyone, to anyone,” the pope stated. “I don't know if anyone in that condition came, but I never, never refused the Eucharist. As a priest, that is. Never. I have never been aware of having a person like the one you describe in front of me, that is true.”

However, the pope recalled an instance during his priesthood when he slipped up and gave the Eucharist to a Jewish woman by accident.

“An interesting thing was when I went to celebrate Mass in a rest home, and we were in the living room, and I said, ‘Raise your hand if you want to receive Communion,’” the pope recalled. “Everyone — the old men, the old women, everyone — wanted communion, and when I gave communion to one woman, she took me by the hand and said to me, ‘Thank you, Father, thank you. I'm Jewish.’”

According to the canon law of the Catholic Church, “Catholic ministers administer the sacraments licitly to Catholic members of the Christian faithful alone, who likewise receive them licitly from Catholic ministers alone, without prejudice.”

Canon law also states, “A person who is conscious of grave sin (mortal sin) is not to celebrate Mass or receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in this case the person is to remember the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition which includes the resolution of confessing as soon as possible.”

In short, one must be a member of the Catholic Church in good standing or in a state of grace and without unforgiven mortal sin to receive the Eucharist.

However, the pope explained that he found the accident to be a positive mishap, telling the woman that the Eucharist and Christ were Jewish:

“I said, ‘No, the one that I gave to you is Jewish, too.’ The only strange thing — but the woman received communion first. She said it after.”

In defense of his position, Pope Francis referenced the heresy of Jansenism — a historic heterodoxy that emphasized the necessity of pure and perfect morality from members of the church.

The pontiff said, “No. Communion is not a prize for the perfect, no? Let's think of Port Royal, of the issue with Angélique Arnaud — Jansenism: those who are perfect can receive Communion. Communion is a gift, a present, the presence of Jesus in his church and in the community. This is the theology.”

Instead, the pontiff claimed that the incident was an act of God — a reward for a woman who traditionally denied the Eucharist, which the pope has previously referred to as “medicine” — saying, “Then, those who are not in the community cannot receive communion, like this Jewish woman, but the Lord wanted to reward her without my knowledge,” he said.

Timothy Nerozzi is a writer and editor from northeastern Pennsylvania. He covers religious issues with a focus on the Roman Catholic Church and Japanese society and culture.