Upvote:0
What you quote from the CCC makes reference to 1988 Canon 914, which does make the qualification that only children who have reached the age of reason are bound to make a sacramental confession before First Communion (my emphases):
Can. 914 It is primarily the duty of parents and those who take the place of parents, as well as the duty of pastors, to take care that children who have reached the use of reason are prepared properly and, after they have made sacramental confession, are refreshed with this divine food as soon as possible. It is for the pastor to exercise vigilance so that children who have not attained the use of reason or whom he judges are not sufficiently disposed do not approach holy communion.
Upvote:1
You state that paragraph 1457 states this without qualification. I don't think this is precisely true. The paragraph states in full:
According to the Church's command, "after having attained the age of discretion, each of the faithful is bound by an obligation faithfully to confess serious sins at least once a year." [quoting canon 914] Anyone who is aware of having committed a mortal sin must not receive Holy Communion, even if he experiences deep contrition, without having first received sacramental absolution, unless he has a grave reason for receiving Communion and there is no possibility of going to confession. Children must go to the sacrament of Penance before receiving Holy Communion for the first time.
Clearly, the point of going to Confession before First Holy Communion is to ensure that the communicant is cleansed of sin at reception of the Eucharist. And as you point out, infants (and in the Latin Church, children under age 7) are incapable of committing sin. The statement in paragraph 1457 therefore can only apply when one's First Communion takes place after the beginning of the age of reason. And in fact, we see this in the CCEO (the Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium, or Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches). The CCEO discusses requirements surrounding the Divine Eucharist in its Title XVI, Chapter 3 (canons 698β717). Only canon 710 discusses this situation:
Circa infantium in Divina Eucharistia participationem post baptismum et chrismationem sancti myri serventur opportunis adhibitis cautelis praescripta librorum liturgicorum propriae Ecclesiae sui iuris.
Concerning the participation of infants in the Divine Eucharist after baptism and chrismation with holy myron, the prescripts of the liturgical books of the relevant Church sui iuris are to be observed with the due and appropriate cautions.
(my translation)
There is nothing here about a minimum age (as there is in the Latin Rite Code of Canon Laws, canon 914), nor about the need to make a confession first.
Why then would the Catechism not make a specific statement that this applies only to the Latin Rite Church? A few reasons I can think of: