In the Latin Catholic Church, the law of fasting ordinarily binds adults from the age of majority until the beginning of their sixtieth year. In practice, this is commonly summarized as ages 18 through 59. Abstinence from meat has a different age threshold and normally begins at age 14.
Fasting and abstinence are different
Catholic discipline distinguishes fasting from abstinence. Fasting limits the amount of food eaten. Abstinence means refraining from meat or another food as defined by Church law and local norms.
Confusing the two rules is one of the main reasons people see different ages online.
What age does fasting begin?
Canon law states that the law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Because the age of majority in canon law is 18, bishops’ conferences commonly summarize the fasting obligation as applying to Catholics ages 18 through 59.
In the Latin Church, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are the principal obligatory days of fasting.
What age does abstinence begin?
The law of abstinence binds Catholics who have completed their fourteenth year. In the United States and many other places, abstinence from meat is required on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent, with local rules determining some details outside Lent.
Someone can therefore be required to abstain from meat at age 14 while not yet being bound by the stricter fasting rule until age 18.
What does the Catholic fast allow?
In the common Latin discipline, a fasting person may take one full meal, with two smaller meals if needed for strength, provided the smaller meals together do not equal another full meal. Eating between meals is normally avoided.
Rules about beverages and particular foods should be distinguished from the basic legal definition of the fast.
Health and other exemptions
The Church does not expect fasting to endanger health. People who are ill, pregnant, nursing, frail, doing demanding work under certain circumstances, or otherwise unable to fast safely may have legitimate reasons not to observe the rule in the usual way.
Local pastoral guidance can help in unusual circumstances. Medical advice should be followed where health is involved.
Should children fast voluntarily?
Children under the legal age may participate in age-appropriate forms of penance with parental guidance. Canon law encourages pastors and parents to help children develop a genuine sense of penance even before they are legally bound by fasting.
That should not mean imposing adult food restrictions on children in ways that compromise nutrition or health.
The short answer
For Latin Catholics, obligatory fasting normally begins at 18 and continues through age 59; abstinence from meat normally begins at 14. Local Eastern Catholic discipline can differ, so members of Eastern Catholic churches should follow their own church’s rules.
See also the site’s Catholic fasting articles for related questions about Lent and Good Friday.
