Who decided that the catholics couldn't eat meat on Fridays?

Answer 1

This practice began in 1966 with Pope Paul VI. Since Jesus died on a Friday, we are supposed to remember His sacrifice and death through little sacrifices of our own. Each Friday should be a mini Good Friday, as each Sunday should be a mini Easter. I am adding a link to an article about the start of the practice of not eating meat on Fridays.

[more from the same website] "The general law of the Catholic Church states that Catholics who have reached their 14th birthday should observe Ash Wednesday and all Fridays as days of abstinence. In 1966, as permitted then, the U.S. bishops decided to modify the general legislation. Instead of requiring abstinence on every Friday, Catholics 14 and older must abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and the Fridays of Lent. Those between 18 and 59 must also fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday."

Answer 2

Fr. Peter Scott, rector of Holy Cross Seminary Australia (sspx) answers frequently asked questions about Catholicism.

Question: Why do Catholics not eat meat on Fridays?

Answer: The practice of Friday abstinence dates from the very beginning of the Church. The principle of the penitential practice abstinence, in order to achieve self-mastery, was already outlined by St. Paul himself: "Everyone striving for the mastery must abstain from all things" ( I Cor 9:25) and "Let us exhibit ourselves as the ministers of Christ in labours, watchings, and fastings" (2 Cor 6:5).

Explicit mention is made of the practice of abstaining on Fridays in a documents from the end of the first century (The Didache of the Apostles), as well as by St. Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian in the 3rd century. It was the universal custom from the very beginning, and Friday was chosen in memory of the Passion of Our Lord, as a day on which we should make a special effort to practice penance. It is in recognition of the fact that Christ suffered and died, and gave up his human flesh and life for our sins on a Friday that Catholics do not eat flesh meat on Fridays. Pope Nicholas I made this a law of the Church in the ninth century. In the Latin Church, from the early middle ages this one day of abstinence was not considered enough, and Saturday abstinence was added, in honor of the burial of Christ and the mourning of the Blessed Mother and the holy woman on Holy Saturday. This was made a law of the Church by St. Gregory VII in the 11th century, but has since fallen out of custom, except by those who desire to profess their devotion to Our Lady in a special way. The Eastern rite Church also had strict rules for abstinence, given that it was binding for them on Wednesdays and Fridays.

The rules for what can and what cannot be permitted on days of abstinence have also varied with time. St. Thomas Aquinas, for example, indicates that eggs, milk, butter, cheese and lard are forbidden on days of abstinence because they come from animals and have some identity of origin with flesh meat. Present days rules limit the abstinence to flesh meat only.

The abstinence from meat is an ecclesiastical law, but one which has long obliged under pain of mortal sin. Pope Innocent III made this very clear at the beginning of the 13th century, and in the 17th century Pope Alexander VII anathematized those who would minimize the character of this obligation and declared that transgressions against it were only venial sins.

It is certainly true that, as an ecclesiastical law, it can be changed by the Church's sovereign authority. However, the way this important precept has been trivialized by the post-conciliar church is a great disgrace and shame for Catholics. It is clearly not taught to bind under pain of mortal sin, and the mention of the possibility of substituting any other kind of sacrifice by the 1983 Code of Canon Law has effectively destroyed this very ancient practice. The fundamental reason why the modernists detest the Friday abstinence is that they refuse the need for at least some small works of penance to satisfy for the temporal punishment due to our sins, and they do everything they can to empty out the mystery of the Passion, that is of the Cross, and to replace it by a Risen Christ with suffering and sacrifice. However, it was by suffering, and by offering up his own flesh and blood that Our Divine Savior deigned to redeem us, and consequently it is our duty to associate ourselves with Him by the Friday abstinence.

Traditional Catholics know full well that they have a grave obligation of maintaining this ancient penitential Tradition. They can and should confess it as a mortal sin, if they break the Friday abstinence without any excusing reason. It is not a mortal sin in virtue of the Church's positive, ecclesiastical law, or at least not clearly so. However, it is a sin of disrespect and contempt for Our Lord's passion and death, for the Church's traditions, and for the necessity of doing penance, and a sign of grave indifference to the work of our Redemption. Consequently, the priest will not hesitate to give absolution to one who confesses this sin, being truly contrite for it.

Answer 3

No one person can be pinpointed as the source of meat abstinence since the practice dates back to the earliest days of the Church. Over 2000 years the rules of fasting and abstaining from meat have changed considerably. Since Our Lord died on a Friday Catholics should do some form of penance or some charitable work in remembrance of the great sacrifice he made for us. Of course, abstaining from meat on Fridays only to go out and eat a lobster dinner instead does nothing to fulfill the obligation of penance.