I saw something interesting at Crux about the upcoming, 6-27 October, Amazon Synod.

“Amazon” Synod… who will be the first to quip that they will try to sell out the Church?

Apparently on the agenda for the Amazon Synod will be the question of ordaining married men to the priesthood because of priest shortages.

Another point may be rethinking – get this – the matter use for the Eucharist. There was a 25-27 February seminary on the upcoming Synod with some of the primary riggers. Crux says (my emphases):

Another issue Taborda said is likely to come up during the synod is the possibility of replacing bread used in the consecration of the Eucharist with yuca – a shrub native to South America which is commonly cultivated as an annual crop in tropical regions, where it is popular to eat the root of the plant. The reason for proposing the change, Taborda said, is because the bread normally used in Latin rite Masses turns into a pasty mush during the Amazonian rainy season due to the intense humidity, meaning “it’s not bread, and if it’s not bread, it’s not the Eucharist.” “In the Amazon, bread is made out of yuca,” he said. And while changing material used in the Eucharist is “a very complex question,” he believes it should be decided by the local bishops and will likely be mentioned during the October discussion.

For the Eucharist to be confected validly, only bread of wheat may be used. In the Latin Church we use only unleavened bread, as Christ used at the Last Supper (cf. Matthew 26:17, Mark 14:12, Luke 22:7).

If memory serves, and perhaps one of you can hunt this up, early missionaries to Asia attempted, through “inculturation”, to adapt the matter for the Eucharistic species to local products, such as rice. I think this was done by Jesuit missionaries and that they had to be corrected either by the Superior General or by the Roman Pontiff. Surely one of you out there will have the reference.

Anyway, no wheat… no Eucharist. Use of yuca would result in idolatry.