Most Catholics openly and proudly admit to praying to saints who have entered the presence of God before us. Just like we ask our friends and our family to pray for us, it’s even better to ask those who are already standing in the presence of God to pray for us.
It’s also an official doctrine of the Catholic church:
The witnesses who have preceded us into the kingdom, especially those whom the Church recognizes as saints, share in the living tradition of prayer by the example of their lives, the transmission of their writings, and their prayer today. They contemplate God, praise him and constantly care for those whom they have left on earth. When they entered into the joy of their Master, they were “put in charge of many things.” Their intercession is their most exalted service to God’s plan. We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 2683 (emphasis added)
Call It Like It Is
So, Catholics pray to dead people.
As Protestants, this seems obvious, but in my experience, Catholics always recoil when they hear it phrased this way. Why is this so controversial? It’s almost as if people have a natural visceral reaction to the idea of communing with the dead. So much so, that Catholics in conversation will do everything they can to avoid the accusation that they’re actually praying to dead people.
So, Catholics usually respond in one of two ways: They either deny that they’re praying to the saints. Or they’ll deny that the objects of their prayer are actually dead.
But first, why would they be afraid to admit the obvious truth, that they pray to dead people?
Because it’s a sin. That’s why.
Necromancy:
Form of divination in which a person calls upon the dead to receive communication that clarifies knowledge.
Necromancy received an absolute ban in the Old Testament. Israel was not to consult “mediums” ( Lev 19:31 ) or they would risk being cut off from the covenant community ( Lev 20:6 ). Necromancers themselves should be put to death ( Lev 20:27 ). Included under these statements were those who consulted ghosts or spirits or who sought oracles from the dead ( Deut 18:11 ).
Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology
Praying to dead saints fits the bill of Necromancy to a T. Catholics literally call upon the dead to intercede on their behalf. Some even claim to hear back from the dead saints. In a recent conversation I had with a Catholic, she and her husband prayed to Saint Joseph and he supposedly responded to them, telling them that he was praying for them every night.
Not only is praying to dead people sinful because it could very easily be considered one of the most abominable sins, but because it’s also one of the most blatant examples of idolatry.
Making Men Into Gods
Let’s say that every day, 100 people in different places in the world are praying at any given time to a particular saint.
How does that saint hear them?
Does he exist spiritually in all places around the world so he can hear every prayer? That would mean he would have the divine attribute of omnipresence, or something approaching it. What if instead he only existed in one place in heaven, but he simply had knowledge of everything everyone was doing on earth so he could then recognize when someone was praying to him? That would mean he had the divine attribute of omniscience, or something approaching it.
Omnipresence is God’s divine attribute of being everywhere. There’s no place that God does not exist.
Omniscience is God’s divine attribute of knowing all things. There is no thing that God doesn’t know.
If we give these attributes to humans, or slightly limited versions of these attributes, we’re imagining them as demigod-like beings who can exist in multiple places at once, or have knowledge that a mere human couldn’t have. Even one in heaven.
We’re turning mere humans into gods. That’s the definition of idolatry.
The Third Option
Many Catholics who deny that saints are given Godlike abilities to hear all prayers instead argue that God simply passes all the prayers along to the appropriate saints.
This takes care of the problem right? God gives knowledge to the people who need it.
Here’s what this looks like practically:
- Prayers that are prayed to Mary (and all of the other saints) go to God
- God then sorts through all of those prayers and sends them to the appropriate saints
- The saints then receive the prayer request, and then send those prayers back to God
- God finally pays attention to the prayers this time around and answers them
God becomes a cosmic post office. A divine middleman. A almighty email send-receipt.
Plus, if God gets all your prayers anyway, why not just pray to God? If you have a direct audience with the King of the Universe, why ignore him to plead with his servants?
In order to avoid the obvious conclusion that they’re giving dead people the attributes that God alone has, Catholics will argue this third option. However, instead of lifting men to the level of God, this third option lowers God below humanity. The first two options are idolatrous, and the third is blasphemous. Take your pick.
Ultimately, there is no way to justify praying to dead people, outside of saying “because my church says so.” In the eyes of most reasonable people who aren’t bogged down by heresy, this sorry justification doesn’t cut it. If it makes a difference, that justification isn’t good enough for God either.
Not only is there not a single shred of Biblical support for this view, the Bible actively condemns this behavior. Unfortunately, the people praying to the dead aren’t those who took their Bible very seriously in the first place.
I’ll go into more detail answering the objections that dead people aren’t actually dead, or that praying to dead people isn’t actually praying in a future blog post.
Also, check out this video to learn more about this subject and how to interact with Catholic arguments supporting praying to the dead. If it’s helpful to you, consider subscribing for more Biblical content.
