WASHINGTON • A new study about the level of Catholic belief in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist showed that a majority of Catholics do not believe that the bread and wine used at Mass become the body and blood of Christ.

The Pew study, issued Aug. 5, showed that 69 percent of all self-identified Catholics said they believed the bread and wine used at Mass are not Jesus, but instead “symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.” The other 31 percent believed in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, known as transubstantiation.

“Most Catholics who believe that the bread and wine are symbolic do not know that the Church holds that transubstantiation occurs,” said Gregory A. Smith, associate director of research at Pew Research Center in Washington. “Overall, 43 percent of Catholics believe that the bread and wine are symbolic and also that this reflects the position of the Church.

“Still, one in five Catholics – 22 percent – reject the idea of transubstantiation, even though they know about the Church’s teaching,” Smith said.

The numbers who believe in transubstantiation are higher among Catholics who go to Mass at least once a week, but are hardly overwhelming. About five of every eight churchgoing Catholics believe in the Church’s teaching of transubstantiation.

Split among the 37 percent who don’t believe that the Communion bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ are 23 percent who don’t know what the Church’s teaching is, and 14 pecent who know the Church’s teaching but don’t believe it, Smith said.

According to Pew’s figures, a majority in all age groups believe the bread and wine used at Mass to be symbolic, and the majority grows larger as the age group grows younger. Catholics with a high school education or less are less likely to believe in transubstantiation, Hispanic Catholics believe in it less than whites, and women believe in it less than men.