(OK, spoiler alert...they don't.)
“You say you believe in the Bible. But why do you pray to and worship Mary and the saints? That goes against the Bible."
Catholics DON’T worship saints, Mary, or any other creature. We honor them, but we only worship God.“Well, why do you pray to them then?”
What we actually do is ask those who are in heaven, in God’s presence, to pray with us and for us. The reason we ask the saints to pray for us can be summed up in two sentences:1. We believe ”The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects.” (James 5:16)
2. And we believe in the Communion of Saints.
The Church is Christ’s body with Christ as the head (Eph 5:23), and a head can only have one body! Christ doesn't have separate bodies--one in heaven and one on earth--but ONE body. The body of Christ shares a powerful bond that isn’t affected by death. We call this belief the Communion of Saints. This belief is found in the oldest Christian creed and early writings of the Church Fathers.
Scripture says that those who have died in Christ remain alive in Christ.
2. And we believe in the Communion of Saints.
The Church is Christ’s body with Christ as the head (Eph 5:23), and a head can only have one body! Christ doesn't have separate bodies--one in heaven and one on earth--but ONE body. The body of Christ shares a powerful bond that isn’t affected by death. We call this belief the Communion of Saints. This belief is found in the oldest Christian creed and early writings of the Church Fathers.
"But the saints are dead. They can't see or hear you. You're trying to make them omniscient like God."
But where in the Bible does it say that believers in Jesus Christ are unaware of what's happening on earth after they die?Scripture says that those who have died in Christ remain alive in Christ.
Romans 6:8, John 11:25-26, 1 Thess 4:14, Phil 1:22-23
Scripture says those in heaven will see more clearly and understand more than we do on earth.
Scripture says those in heaven will see more clearly and understand more than we do on earth.
1 Cor. 13:12, 1 John 3:2
We do not believe saints in heaven are omniscient like God. We do believe their spiritual sight from being in the presence of God is different from our limited earthly sight. We call this "the beatific vision."
Scripture says those in heaven are aware of what’s happening on earth.
Hebrews chapter 11 lists the men and women of great faith, the saints of the Old Testament. And then continues on in Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us…”
The Greek word for “witnesses” here is “martus." The Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament defines it, as used in this verse, as “One who is a spectator of anything, e.g. of a contest.” Even non-Catholic commentaries agree with this meaning of the word, that it implies spectators at a stadium witnessing those who are competing. A good indication that those in heaven are spectators of our “race” here on earth.
In Revelation 6:9-11, these Christian martyrs are crying out "imprecatory prayers," pleas for God's judgment of the wicked and vindication of the righteous, an indication that they are aware of what’s happening on earth.
Scripture shows people and angels in heaven carry our prayers to God.
In Revelation 5:8, we see the elders in heaven carrying prayers of the saints to God.
We do not believe saints in heaven are omniscient like God. We do believe their spiritual sight from being in the presence of God is different from our limited earthly sight. We call this "the beatific vision."
Scripture says those in heaven are aware of what’s happening on earth.
Hebrews chapter 11 lists the men and women of great faith, the saints of the Old Testament. And then continues on in Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us…”
The Greek word for “witnesses” here is “martus." The Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament defines it, as used in this verse, as “One who is a spectator of anything, e.g. of a contest.” Even non-Catholic commentaries agree with this meaning of the word, that it implies spectators at a stadium witnessing those who are competing. A good indication that those in heaven are spectators of our “race” here on earth.
In Revelation 6:9-11, these Christian martyrs are crying out "imprecatory prayers," pleas for God's judgment of the wicked and vindication of the righteous, an indication that they are aware of what’s happening on earth.
Scripture shows people and angels in heaven carry our prayers to God.
In Revelation 5:8, we see the elders in heaven carrying prayers of the saints to God.
I once heard someone say, “no, those are the prayers of the saints in heaven.” Maybe, but they are in the presence of God and lack nothing, so what could they possibly be praying for, other than those who are still finishing their race on earth?
In Revelation 8:3-4 we see the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. Here is an example of an angel carrying prayers to God.
In Revelation 8:3-4 we see the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. Here is an example of an angel carrying prayers to God.
"For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all..." (1 Tim. 2:5-6)
Of course Catholics believe this, as we believe everything in Sacred Scripture. Our understanding is that as Jesus is both fully God and fully man, He is the "one and only mediator between God and men." (CCC 480) Christ uniquely bridged the gap between a holy God and sinful humanity by offering himself as a ransom on the cross. (CCC 618) Nobody else can do this for us, not Mary or any other saint. We are in agreement!But the Bible does say that we can go to God on behalf of others, and others can go to God on our behalf. If you back up just a couple verses before 1 Timothy 2:5, you'll read Paul asking that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone in 1 Tim. 2:1-3.
Offering supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving on behalf of another does not contradict Jesus being the One Mediator. Just as the angel carrying the prayers to God in Revelation 8:4 does not contradict Jesus being the One Mediator.
"We don't need to go through saints. We can pray directly to Jesus."
Of course we pray directly to Jesus. We can’t have a relationship with Him if we don’t talk to Him!But again, in Scripture, the Apostle Paul repeatedly asked for others to pray on his behalf. 2 Cor. 1:11, Ephesians 6:18-20, Philippians 1:19, Colossians 4:2-4, 1 Thes. 5:25, Philemon 22...
Just as I would ask others here on earth to intercede for me—strong Christian friends, a pastor, family members—I ask those in heaven to intercede also. They have overcome what I’m struggling with. They are right there with Jesus. Their prayers are powerful.
My question is…why would I NOT ask their prayers?
When our prayers are answered or when we receive a miracle after asking a saint’s intercession, we believe that answer or miracle comes from God.
If your prayers were answered after your pastor prayed for you or you received healing after one with a spiritual gift for healing laid hands on you, hopefully you would recognize that power came from God and not worship your pastor or that healer!
BTW, a “patron Saint” is one we call on for particular needs. This saint dealt with certain issues on earth or certain miracles have happened after asking for that saint’s intercession. So those are the saints we think of first in those circumstances. Kind of like “I just got a cancer diagnosis, and Paula has battled cancer, so I’m gonna ask her to pray for me, because she understands what I’m going through and knows specifically what to pray for…”
When our prayers are answered or when we receive a miracle after asking a saint’s intercession, we believe that answer or miracle comes from God.
If your prayers were answered after your pastor prayed for you or you received healing after one with a spiritual gift for healing laid hands on you, hopefully you would recognize that power came from God and not worship your pastor or that healer!
BTW, a “patron Saint” is one we call on for particular needs. This saint dealt with certain issues on earth or certain miracles have happened after asking for that saint’s intercession. So those are the saints we think of first in those circumstances. Kind of like “I just got a cancer diagnosis, and Paula has battled cancer, so I’m gonna ask her to pray for me, because she understands what I’m going through and knows specifically what to pray for…”
When we receive miracles after asking for someone’s intercession, we know those are signs that they are indeed in God’s presence.
"Talking to the dead is necromancy, condemned in Scripture."
Jesus would not do something forbidden by His Father, and he was seen talking to Moses and Elijah on Mount Tabor. (Matthew 17:3, Mark 9:4, Luke 9:30-31)
So the Bible shows us simply talking to the dead is not always forbidden.
But what Saul did in 1 Samuel 28:3-20 was forbidden. Saul didn’t receive an answer from God or his prophets, so he went to a forbidden source, hiding his identity, to summon Samuel back from the place of the dead.
This would be the same as going to a medium, witch/sorcerer, or Ouija board and trying to contact your dead loved ones that way. It’s forbidden! It shows a lack of faith or trust in God.
This would be the same as going to a medium, witch/sorcerer, or Ouija board and trying to contact your dead loved ones that way. It’s forbidden! It shows a lack of faith or trust in God.
Hopefully by now you can understand that we aren't trying to conjure people back from the dead when we ask members of the Body of Christ, who are in God's presence, to pray for us.
"Yeah, but y'all have graven images of the saints, and that goes against the second commandment. You omitted that commandment and replaced it with a different one to get around it."
God commanded some graven images to be made, cherubim in Exodus 25:18-20 and serpents in Numbers 21:8-9.Solomon included graven images of bull, cherubim, and lions in his temple, a temple which God consecrated. (1 Kings 7:25-29, 1 Kings 9:3)
The issue seems to be not in the making of images, but in having the intent to worship them instead of God.
For Catholics, worshipping graven images is included in the first commandment of worshipping nothing but God. We view coveting our neighbor's wife differently from coveting his property so those two are 9 and 10.
The issue seems to be not in the making of images, but in having the intent to worship them instead of God.
For Catholics, worshipping graven images is included in the first commandment of worshipping nothing but God. We view coveting our neighbor's wife differently from coveting his property so those two are 9 and 10.
But let’s read Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 again. The Bible doesn’t actually say “the first commandment is…the second commandment is…” Keep in mind the ancient manuscripts did not contain chapters and verses; it’s a seamless text. Dividing it by chapter and verses came in the thirteenth century.
The way the commandments are numbered is tradition. So although our tradition of numbering the commandments varies slightly, they contain the same commandments.
Number one: don’t worship anything besides God, including graven images.
The Church that numbers their commandments this way is the same Church that divided the text into chapters and verses. Why accept one tradition and not the other?
Remember, an idol is anything that you put before God. So those deer heads mounted on your wall or fishing pictures or sports pictures could very well be idols if you go after them instead of going to God’s house to worship Him.
Listen, I am not a theologian, just a regular mom. If you want to read more about praying to saints from a theologian, here are a couple good articles from a legit source:
I may edit for clarity, to add links. or to add something I didn’t think of before. Last updated 9-24-2026.
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