During Lent, no. Latin Catholics who are 14 or older abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and on every Friday of Lent. Outside Lent, Catholics in the United States may eat meat on Fridays, but Friday is still a day of penance, and the bishops ask that it be marked with some other act of self-denial.
The answer has two layers: the universal law of the Church, and the rules each national conference of bishops sets for its own country. Most of the confusion comes from mixing them up.
What the whole Church asks
Canon law names every Friday of the year, and the whole season of Lent, as penitential days for the universal Church. The Catechism gives the reason for Friday: it is kept “in memory of the death of the Lord.” Canon 1250; Catechism 1438
The general rule is abstinence from meat on all Fridays, unless a solemnity falls on that Friday. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday add fasting to abstinence. Abstinence binds from your fourteenth birthday; fasting binds adults until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Canons 1251–1252
The next canon lets each conference of bishops spell out how fasting and abstinence are kept in its country, and even replace them in whole or in part with other penances, especially works of charity and acts of piety. Keeping the prescribed days of fasting and abstinence is one of the precepts of the Church listed in the Catechism. Canon 1253; Catechism 2043
The rule in the United States
In 1966 the U.S. bishops used that permission. They kept abstinence from meat on the Fridays of Lent and ended the year-round Friday abstinence that had bound under pain of sin. Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence, 13 and 24
They did not turn Friday into an ordinary day. “Friday itself remains a special day of penitential observance throughout the year,” they wrote. They still gave “first place to abstinence from flesh meat” and hoped Catholics would keep it by free choice. For those who choose another penance, they suggested things like visiting the sick or volunteering at a hospital. Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence, 22–27
If you live outside the United States, check your own bishops’ conference, because the norms differ from country to country. Eastern Catholics follow the law of their own Church.
What counts as meat
For abstinence, meat means the flesh of land animals and birds: beef, pork, lamb, chicken and the like. Fish and shellfish are allowed, as are other cold-blooded animals. Eggs, butter and cheese are fine. Broths and gravies made from meat are technically permitted, though the USCCB notes that moral theologians have traditionally advised avoiding them as well. USCCB, Lent
Those are the edges of the law, not its goal. A Friday penance is meant to be a real sacrifice joined to Good Friday, so it helps to choose something you will actually notice.
When a solemnity falls on a Friday
On a solemnity the Friday penance gives way to the feast. Christmas Day 2026 falls on a Friday, so abstinence does not apply on December 25. The same exception applies when a solemnity, such as Saint Joseph on March 19, lands on a Friday of Lent.
Choosing a Friday penance
If you eat meat on a Friday outside Lent, pick one concrete thing instead. Skip a snack, give the money to the poor, pray a decade of the rosary at lunch, or call someone who is lonely. Decide in the morning so the day does not slip by.
The bishops added one warning. Those who keep Friday abstinence out of personal devotion “must not pass judgment on those who elect to substitute other penitential observances.” If you want to read the paragraphs cited here for yourself, our guide to reading the Catechism explains how the numbers and cross-references work. How to read the Catechism
