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Evangelical, Pentecostal or ProtestantStep 7 of 8

The saints, and asking for prayers

A long roll call of heroes. Then the writer turns around and looks straight at you.

Start here

Watch this first

Do Catholics Worship Saints? · Ascension Presents

Give it 7 minutes, then come back and we’ll walk through it together.

Video: Do Catholics Worship Saints?, Ascension Presents, published Jun 21, 2017. Checked 10 October 2026. Loads from YouTube (privacy-enhanced mode) only when you press play. Watch on YouTube

Believers on earth, those being purified, and the saints in heaven are one family, one Church.1 The saints keep praying for you, always through the one mediator, Christ Jesus.2

Watch first Or start reading3 min read · 7 min film
The Apostle Paul, by Rembrandt: an old man with a white beard beside an open book.

Rembrandt, The Apostle Paul, c. 1657. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Public domain, source.

Disputed questionChurch teaching

Journeys / Evangelical, Pentecostal or Protestant / Step 7 of 8

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Keep reading

All 8 steps in Evangelical, Pentecostal or Protestant You’re on step 7
  1. 1. What we share
  2. 2. The Bible and Tradition
  3. 3. Faith and works
  4. 4. The Lord’s Supper
  5. 5. Peter and the pope
  6. 6. Mary: honored, not worshiped
  7. 7. The saints, and asking for prayers
  8. 8. Coffee and next steps

The Letter to the Hebrews, chapter 11

Hebrews 11 reads like a hall of fame: by faith Abel offered his sacrifice.3 By faith Noah built a boat on dry land.4 By faith Abraham packed up and left, “not knowing where he went.”5

And about Abel, dead for ages, it says something strange: “through it he, being dead, still speaks.”3

Then the roll call ends, and the writer turns to the audience. To us.

01The crowd

A great cloud of witnesses

“Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us,”

Hebrews 12:16

Odds are you’ve texted a friend, “pray for me.” Catholics believe God’s friends who died in Christ are still alive in Him, so you can ask them too. Here’s why.

But are the dead really around to pray? Jesus answered that Himself.

02The living

Alive in Christ

When people tried to trap Him on the resurrection, Jesus pointed to the burning bush, where God called Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, present tense.9

“Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him.’”

Luke 20:3810

So the Church believes in the communion of saints: believers on earth, those being purified, and the saints in heaven, all one family. Death doesn’t cancel your membership.1

And what does a family do for each other? It prays.

03The practice

Praying for one another

“Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.”

James 5:1611

Scripture tells Christians to pray for everyone.12 And the saints in heaven “do not cease to intercede with the Father for us,” always through the one mediator, Christ Jesus.2

Revelation even shows elders before the Lamb holding golden bowls of incense, “which are the prayers of the saints.”13

So the Catechism says: “We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world.”14

So does asking a saint to pray steal something from Jesus? Look which way the crowd is facing.

04The direction

Looking on Jesus

Asking a saint to pray for you isn’t worship; that belongs to God alone.15 And every saint prays through the one mediator, Christ Jesus.2

“looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Hebrews 12:216

The cloud of witnesses isn’t the finish line. They’re the crowd along the marathon route, cheering, and every one of them is pointing to the same Person.

Abel, being dead, still speaks. So do the rest of them. And every one of them is saying His name.

Your move

Try this, this week

  1. Read Hebrews 12:1-2. Notice who the “cloud of witnesses” point us toward.
  2. Read Revelation (Apocalypse) 5:8. Look for what the elders hold.
  3. Learn about one saint. Read about their life and what they wrote.
  4. Ask a friend to pray for you this week. Then pray for them.

You’ll need

  • A Bible, open to Hebrews 12 and Revelation (Apocalypse) 5.

Remember Like asking a friend to pray for you.

If this is hard

If asking saints for prayer feels weird, that’s understandable, and nobody’s going to force you. Start with what you already do: asking friends to pray for you. Bring your questions to a priest any time.

How to talk to a priest

Three questions people ask

Isn’t contacting the dead forbidden?

Answered on video by Catholic Answers · Full answer page

Scripture and the Church forbid divination, including conjuring up the dead and recourse to mediums.1718 Asking the saints to pray for us is different: the Catechism teaches that they share in the living tradition of prayer and that we can and should ask them to intercede for us.14

How does someone become a canonized saint?

Answered on video by Fr. Mike Schmitz · Full answer page

By canonizing some of the faithful, the Church solemnly proclaims that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God’s grace. It proposes them as models and intercessors.7

Do Catholics also pray for the dead?

Answered on video by Ascension Presents · Full answer page

Yes. From the earliest days the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers for them, because “it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead.”1920 The Church offers prayers for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice.21

Only one thing to do

Your one next step

This week, ask one friend to pray for you, and pray for them in return. That is the heart of it. If you know a Catholic, you could ask them over coffee what the saints mean to them.

Coffee with a Catholic friend

Step 7 of 8 · Evangelical, Pentecostal or Protestant

Christ built His Church on Peter. What does that mean for the Pope today?

Step 8: Coffee and next steps
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Your real next step

This page can’t give you the sacraments. A parish can.

We’re just pointing. People walk with you. Find a Catholic parish near you, go to a Mass, or just ask a priest for ten minutes. You don’t need to have it figured out.

Take the next step What to say when you call

Notes

How we know · 21 sources for this page
  1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 962. vatican.va
  2. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 956. vatican.va
  3. Hebrews 11:4, World English Bible. read the chapter
  4. Hebrews 11:7, World English Bible. read the chapter
  5. Hebrews 11:8, World English Bible. read the chapter
  6. Hebrews 12:1, World English Bible. read the chapter
  7. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 828. vatican.va
  8. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2634. vatican.va
  9. Luke 20:37, World English Bible. read the chapter
  10. Luke 20:38, World English Bible. read the chapter
  11. James 5:16, World English Bible. read the chapter
  12. 1 Timothy 2:1, World English Bible. read the chapter
  13. Revelation 5:8 [Douay Apocalypse 5:8], World English Bible. read the chapter
  14. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2683. vatican.va
  15. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2132. vatican.va
  16. Hebrews 12:2, World English Bible. read the chapter
  17. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2116. vatican.va
  18. Deuteronomy 18:10-11, World English Bible. read the chapter
  19. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 958. vatican.va
  20. 2 Maccabees 12:45 [Douay 2 Machabees 12:45], World English Bible. read the chapter
  21. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1032. vatican.va

Excerpts from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America Copyright © 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc. – Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with Permission. English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Modifications from the Editio Typica copyright © 1997, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops – Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain), modern verse numbers; Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Early Christian writers: Ante-Nicene Fathers (1885, public domain). Video: “Do Catholics Worship Saints?,” Ascension Presents, supporting material, not a teaching source.

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