Ghosts and the dead

Can the dead come back?

The Church does not teach that the dead linger among us or return to be met. It teaches that each person is placed at death: “Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death”, either the blessedness of heaven, “through a purification or immediately”, or damnation. CCC 1022 Seeking them out is forbidden. “Conjuring up the dead” and “recourse to mediums” are among the forms of divination that “are to be rejected”, because they seek power over others and contradict “the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone”. CCC 2116 That is a rule about summoning the dead; it says nothing against grief, or against dreaming of someone who has died.

The way to reach them runs the other way, through prayer. “From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice”, and it commends almsgiving, indulgences and works of penance on their behalf. CCC 1032 Those who die in God’s friendship but still imperfectly purified are “assured of their eternal salvation”, and are purified after death. CCC 1030

Benedict XVI called the belief “that love can reach into the afterlife … in which our affection for one another continues beyond the limits of death” a fundamental conviction of Christianity, and “a source of comfort today”. “My prayer for another is not something extraneous to that person, something external, not even after death”, and “it is never too late to touch the heart of another, nor is it ever in vain.” Spe Salvi 48

Matthias Stom, Saul and the Witch of Endor, c. 1635. Private collection.

1 Sam 28:11

1030

All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

1031

The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. Cf. Council of Florence (1439): DS — Denzinger–Schönmetzer (Enchiridion Symbolorum); Council of Trent (1563): DS — Denzinger–Schönmetzer (Enchiridion Symbolorum); (1547): 1580; see also Benedict XII, Benedictus Deus (1336): DS — Denzinger–Schönmetzer (Enchiridion Symbolorum). The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. the tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire: Cf. 1 Cor 3:15; 1 Pet 1:7.

As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come. St. Gregory the Great, Dial. 4, 39: PL — Patrologia Latina (Migne); cf. Mt 12:31.

1032

This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: "Therefore Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin." 2 Macc 12:46. From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. Cf. Council of Lyons II (1274): DS — Denzinger–Schönmetzer (Enchiridion Symbolorum). The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead:

Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them. St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in 1 Cor. 41, 5: PG — Patrologia Graeca (Migne); cf. Job 1:5.

1022

Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven-through a purification Cf. Council of Lyons II (1274): DS — Denzinger–Schönmetzer (Enchiridion Symbolorum); Council of Florence (1439): DS — Denzinger–Schönmetzer (Enchiridion Symbolorum); Council of Trent (1563): DS — Denzinger–Schönmetzer (Enchiridion Symbolorum). or immediately, Cf. Benedict XII, Benedictus Deus (1336): DS — Denzinger–Schönmetzer (Enchiridion Symbolorum); John XXII, Ne super his (1334): DS — Denzinger–Schönmetzer (Enchiridion Symbolorum).-or immediate and everlasting damnation. Cf. Benedict XII, Benedictus Deus (1336): DS — Denzinger–Schönmetzer (Enchiridion Symbolorum).

At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love. St. John of the Cross, Dichos 64.

2116

All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future. Cf. Deut 18:10; Jer 29:8. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.

Spe Salvi Nov 30, 2007

From the Catechism

From the Magisterium