It was "most disappointing" that the Pope had issued the encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharista "once again denigrating the sacrament of Holy Communion in Protestant churches", the Gazette, the weekly publication of the Church of Ireland, has said.
The Pope "was proclaiming the falsehood that there is something lacking in the sacrament we celebrate," it said.
That the Vatican did not regard Protestant churches as "proper" was "most certainly not a witness to the truth" but displayed a mistaken understanding of what the church is, it said.
It continued: "However, the fact that this kind of statement is being issued more and more frequently from Rome is very likely a sign that more and more Roman Catholics are in fact dismissing the papal line."
The editorial also expressed disappointment with the response of both the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Anglican Communion Office.
They "did not correct the Pope and did not take sufficiently seriously the hurt caused to Anglicans, and others, by the attack," it said.
The Roman Catholic Church "possesses no exclusive rights to Christian truth or 'ecclesialness'," it said, and it was not surprising that many people were now asking about the value of continuing dialogue between Anglicans and Roman Catholics on theological matters.
"Of course, when we time and again hear the Holy Communion, which lies at the heart of all our ecclesial life, and our Holy Orders so openly disparaged, it is difficult not to be profoundly distressed. . . Nonetheless, packing our theological bags is not an option," it concluded.
Meanwhile, in a weekend address Archdeacon Gordon Linney of the Church of Ireland in Dublin remarked on the issue: "One aspect of that debate centres on the Real Presence of Christ.
There may be differing views on what it means in Eucharistic theology, but there can be none when it comes to his presence in the least of these his brethren."
