The catechism of the Catholic Church invites the faithful to pray to those who, thanks to the good works they have done, have been declared saints by it :
"Witnesses who have preceded us into the kingdom, especially those whom the Church recognizes as saints, share the living tradition of prayer by the example of their lives ... They contemplate God, praise him and constantly care for those who have left on earth. Their intercession is their highest service in God's plan. We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world "(CCC, p. 645, # 2683 - see also p. 249, # 956).
Let's start by defining the word holy . The Catholic Church teaches that a saint is one of the few who, because of the good works performed while he was alive, is declared a saint after his death:
"By canonizing some of the faithful, that is, by solemnly proclaiming that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to the grace of God, the Church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within herself and sustains the hope of believers by offering them the saints as models and intercessors "(p. 219, # 828).
According to the Bible, however, every believer who has accepted the gospel and personally received Jesus Christ as their Savior is a saint. The apostle Paul, for example, wrote these words to all the saints (that is, to living Christians) in Rome:
"... to all those in Rome, loved by God, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 1: 7 - see also, in particular, Philippians 1 : 1 and 2 Corinthians 1: 1).
Many other verses explain the same truth:
"To me, I say, who am the least of all the saints, has been given this grace of preaching to strangers the unfathomable riches of Christ" (Ephesians 3: 8).
"And He Himself gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists and others as pastors and doctors, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry and for the building up of the body of Christ" (Ephesians 4: 11-12).
(See also: Acts 9:13; 9:32; 9:41; 26:10; Romans 8:27; 12:13; 15:25; 15:26; 15:31; 16: 2; 16:15 ; 1 Corinthians 6: 1, 2 Corinthians 1: 1, Ephesians 1: 1 , and the many other references found in the New Testament).
WHY THIS DOCTRINE?
The Catholic Church therefore discarded the scriptural definition of "saint" and devised a new one, instructing the faithful to pray to deceased saints.
The question is, why pray to others when the God of the universe is in heaven waiting for our prayers to hear and answer us?
Are the dead our intercessors ?
According to Catholic theology, the deceased saints "intercede for us with the Father". But we Christians know that Jesus Christ is our only intercessor . The Bible states that there are no others:
"There is in fact only one God, and also one mediator between God and men: Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2: 5).
"He (Jesus) can perfectly save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them" (Hebrews 7:25).
Teaching the contrary is a tradition invented by men, contrary to the Word of the Lord.
Let's see another quote from the Catholic catechism, concerning the saints:
"Just as Christian communion among us pilgrims brings us closer to Christ, so our communion with the saints unites us to Christ ..." (pp. 249-250, # 957).
According to the Catholic Church, praying to the saints would bring people closer to Christ. In fact, this doctrine is not present in the Bible either.
Indeed, this practice of having fellowship with the dead is dangerously similar to necromancy , a practice severely condemned by God (read for example Deuteronomy 18: 10-12), and yet it is taught by the Catholic Church in the form of prayer for the dead, who would be "... able not only to help them, but also to make their intercession effective for us" (page 250, # 958).
PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD AND THEIR INTERCESSION
Recall that when the Bible says that the dead know nothing (Eccl. 9: 5), it means that they no longer know what is happening on earth, nor what happens to their relatives, brothers, sisters, etc. In the book of Job, for example, it is said of the dying wicked that "if his sons go up in honor, he ignores him; if they fall into contempt, he sees him not" (Job 14:21). And in the book of Isaiah it is written that the Israelites said to God: "Abraham does not know who we are, and Israel does not recognize us" (Is. 63:16). The dead therefore know nothing about us and we do not even have to contact them, pray them, or invoke them. In fact, the consultation of the dead in favor of the living is a practice condemned by the Word of God (cf. Lev. 19:31; Deut. 18: 9-12), and Saul, for having practiced it, was made to die by God (cf. 1 Chron. 10:13).
CONCLUSION
The question that each must ask is: why does the Catholic Church prefer that men pray to this or that deceased saint, rather than the living and almighty God who answers the prayers of His children?
If I know an almighty God, Creator and Lord of heaven and earth, who declares himself to be of infinite and paternal love, what can induce me to ask thanks to other subjects?
Isn't the intercession of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, enough for us? Does the Creator of the Universe need the help of the dead so that he can persuade the Father to help them? What a degrading attitude towards the Lord Jesus Christ!
Know therefore that if these human traditions do not correspond to the truth, then all your prayers to the "saints" are useless.
But if you pray to God through Jesus, you can claim some wonderful promises that God has made to us:
" Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with full confidence, to obtain mercy and to find grace and to be helped at the opportune moment " (Hebrews 4:16).
Note on Patron Saints:
The Catholic Church teaches to trust the so-called patron saints, which it defines as follows: "Patron Saints, or protectors, are said to be those that each city, diocese, parish, institution, social class, profession, etc., elects to their own intercessors before God, and under whose patronage individuals place themselves "(Dizionario Ecclesiastico, Turin 1958, p. 114).
There are patrons who would watch over certain categories of workers, protectors for certain diseases and various other needs, other patrons would watch over a certain city, and so on. However, these are ideas of pagan origin, which do not come from Christianity, but from paganism that crept into the Roman church of the early centuries.
Nor should we believe that patron saints are intercessors that men can choose to be their mediators before God. Indeed, "There is only one mediator between God and men: Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2: 5). As believers we can intercede for one another, but it is always the intercession of living believers in favor of other living beings, never contact with the dead, which God sternly warns us not to practice under any circumstances.
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