Questions
Common questions, answered in the Church’s own words. Supported by the Catechism and magisterial documents.
Faith & reason
14
- Whether God exists
Is there anyone there at all?
- Suffering and evil
If God is good, why did he let it happen?
- Abuse in the Church
Why should anyone trust it after that?
- Morality without God
Why would anyone need religion to be good?
- Whether the Bible can be trusted
Who wrote it, and why believe what it says?
- Why the Catholic Bible has more books
Were books added, or were they taken away?
- Creation and science
Hasn’t science settled how the world began?
- Who Jesus was
Did any of it actually happen?
- What happens after death
Is that all there is?
- Atheism and unbelief
What does the Church say about people who do not believe?
- The Church’s record
How could the Church have done that?
- The Church’s wealth
Why not sell it and give it to the poor?
- Colonialism and indigenous peoples
The missionaries came with the conquerors. What now?
- Persecution
Is this something new?
What divides Christians
9
- Mary
Why do Catholics give her so much?
- The saints, statues and images
Is praying to a saint idolatry?
- Purgatory and indulgences
Where is any of that in the Bible?
- The Pope
Why should one man have that authority?
- Scripture and Tradition
Isn’t the Bible enough on its own?
- Faith and works
Do Catholics think they earn heaven?
- Confessing to a priest
Why not go straight to God?
- The Eucharist
Is it bread, or is it not?
- Christian division
Why are there so many churches?
Authority & change in the Church
8
- Whether teaching changes
Has the Church changed its mind?
- When the Pope is wrong
May a Catholic say so, and about what?
- Disagreeing with the Church
What if my conscience says otherwise?
- The Second Vatican Council
Did the Church become something else in 1965?
- The older Mass
Why was it taken away?
- Who governs the Church
Who actually decides anything?
- Women in the Church
Is it run by men, for men?
- Charismatic gifts and healing
Was what I felt from God?
The hard teachings
14
- What the Church means by love
We love each other. Why is that not the answer?
- Contraception
Why is it forbidden, when almost everyone does it?
- IVF and embryos
Why forbid the treatment that would give us a child?
- Sex before marriage
Why does living together first count against us?
- Divorce and remarriage
Why can a marriage not simply end?
- Homosexuality
What does the Church ask of someone who is gay?
- Gender and transition
What does the Church say about being trans?
- Women priests and deacons
Why can a woman not be ordained?
- Married priests
Why must a priest be celibate?
- Abortion
Why does the Church treat it as the gravest of them?
- Euthanasia and assisted dying
Why refuse someone a death without pain?
- The death penalty
The Church once allowed it. What changed?
- Chastity
What is being asked, and of whom?
- Lying and reputation
Is a small lie really a sin?
Politics & the common good
14
- Property and wealth
Is the Church for capitalism or against it?
- Socialism and Marxism
Why has the Church condemned it so many times?
- Work and the economy
What does the Church ask of an employer?
- Migration and refugees
How many is a country obliged to take?
- War and peace
When, if ever, may a country fight?
- The State and obedience
How far does a citizen have to obey?
- How a Catholic may vote
Is any party ruled out?
- Living under a hostile State
May a Catholic hide it, or must they refuse?
- Whether the State should be Catholic
Was religious liberty the mistake?
- Religious liberty
May anyone be made to believe, or stopped from believing?
- Ecology and climate
Why is this the Church’s business?
- Poverty
What is required of those who have enough?
- Technology and artificial intelligence
What does the Church say about machines that think?
- Media and public speech
What is owed to the truth in public?
Other religions & cultures
8
- Judaism
What does the Church say about the Jewish people?
- Islam
What does the Church say about Muslims?
- Salvation outside the Church
What about everyone who is not Catholic?
- Whether to convert anyone
Should the Church still be trying?
- Faith and culture
Must a convert give up the customs they were raised in?
- Polygamy
What becomes of the other wives if a man is baptised?
- Superstition and inherited practice
Was what my grandmother did superstition?
- Prosperity preaching
Does God reward faith with money?
Illness, dying & death
6
- After a diagnosis
What does the Church say to someone who is ill?
- A parent who is dying
Must every treatment be continued to the end?
- When someone has died
Where is he now, and is there anything I can do for him?
- A child who died unbaptised
What does the Church say became of them?
- After a suicide
Someone has taken their own life. Is there hope for them?
- Cremation
May a Catholic be cremated, and may the ashes be scattered?
Marriage & annulment
5
- Getting married
What is it that makes a marriage a marriage?
- Marrying someone who is not Catholic
What is required, and of which of us?
- When a spouse has been unfaithful
Am I allowed to leave?
- Annulment
Am I still married?
- Communion after a divorce
May I receive?
Children & the household
8
- Pregnancy and miscarriage
Was it already a person?
- Infertility
We cannot have children. What is left to us?
- Adoption
Is the child ours in the Church’s eyes?
- Raising a child in the faith
What if they will not come to Mass?
- A child who has left the faith
Where did we go wrong?
- Honouring a parent
What if they do not deserve it?
- A parent growing old
They cannot manage alone any more, and I cannot do it all.
- Losing work
Does the Church say anything about being out of work?
Sex & the body
5
- Pornography
What does the Church say about it, and about not being able to stop?
- Masturbation
Is it always a mortal sin?
- Being gay and Catholic
What am I supposed to do with my life?
- After contraception or a sterilisation
We already did it. What now?
- After an affair
Do I have to tell?
Guilt & forgiveness
8
- Whether a sin can be forgiven
Is there anything too grave to be forgiven?
- Confession after a long time
What happens if the last confession was years ago?
- When confession never feels finished
Did I confess it properly?
- After an abortion
Can this be forgiven?
- Someone I cannot forgive
Do I have to?
- Temptation
Is wanting it already a sin?
- Using the Name
Is saying it when I am angry a sin?
- Anger
Is losing my temper a sin?
Despair & losing faith
6
- Wanting to die
If I did it, would God forgive it?
- Losing belief
I still go to Mass and I no longer believe any of it.
- Whether God loves me
I believe it about everyone else.
- When prayer is not answered
I asked, and nothing happened.
- When the illness is in the mind
Is it a sin, a demon, or an illness?
- Anxiety
Is being afraid all the time a failure of trust?
Angels, demons & the unseen
9
- Astrology and divination
Horoscopes, tarot, the dead — what is actually forbidden?
- Signs
Was that a sign, or was it a coincidence?
- Ghosts and the dead
Can the dead come back?
- Demons and exorcism
Does the Church still do that?
- Angels
Is a guardian angel a real thing?
- Apparitions and private revelation
Does a Catholic have to believe in them?
- Miracles and relics
Are bones and incorrupt bodies really venerated?
- Near-death experiences
Do people who came back see what they say they saw?
- The end of the world
Is any of the end-times talk the Church’s?
Catholic practice
17
- Praying
I do not know how it is done.
- Fasting and abstinence
What is required, and on which days?
- Sunday Mass
What happens if it is missed?
- Rest and leisure
Is there anything wrong with doing nothing?
- Screens
Why can’t I put it down?
- What to watch
Should I be watching this?
- Yoga and meditation
Is yoga just exercise?
- Becoming Catholic as an adult
Where does anyone even start?
- Baptising a baby
Who may be a godparent, and what is asked of them?
- Whether a baptism was valid
Do I need to be baptised again?
- The name at baptism
Does it have to be a saint’s name?
- Organ donation
May organs be given, in life or after death?
- Tattoos and the body
Is anything forbidden about what is done to it?
- Modesty
What am I supposed to wear?
- Giving and tithing
How much is a Catholic supposed to give?
- Vows and oaths
What is a promise made to God?
- Freemasonry
Can a Catholic be a Freemason?
Money, work & vocation
9
- What to do with a life
How is anyone supposed to know?
- A just wage, and striking
What is a wage supposed to cover?
- Spending and saving
How much is too much to spend on myself?
- Investing and speculation
Is there a wrong way to make money with money?
- Lending and usury
Is charging interest a sin?
- Tax
Is cheating on it a sin?
- Envy
Why does everyone else’s life look better than mine?
- Sloth and acedia
Is no longer caring a sin?
- Working too much
When does work stop being a good thing?
Justice & human dignity
8
- Racism
What has the Church actually said about it?
- Trafficking and prostitution
What does the Church say about buying a person?
- Violence at home
What does the Church say to someone being hurt?
- Reputation, privacy and what is said online
What is owed to somebody’s name?
- Disability
What does the Church say about a life others call diminished?
- Prison and torture
What may be done to someone who has done wrong?
- Self-defence
May a person defend themselves, and how far?
- Whether to have children
Is it wrong to decide not to?