Catholics Do Not Worship Statues
Our YouTube channel sees a constant influx of people claiming that Catholics worship statues. This is in spite of making a video on that very topic, even several videos. These videos demonstrate that the Catholic Church condemns worshiping Mary, the Saints, statues, or anyone or anything that is not God. Statues are just wood, marble, and plaster. They are dead. They cannot hear us, see us, and they have no powers or abilities. They don’t do anything at all because they are dead.
As Catholics, we understand this. In the Catholic Church, statues are just symbols. They are artistic representations of our brothers and sisters in faith who died and gone before us to heaven. Statues also help us to recall the holy lives that these men and women lived and how they followed Christ in an extraordinary way.
In Catholicism, statues are like having pictures of your family that you carry in your wallet or hang on your wall at home. You don’t worship them or talk to them, but they call to mind the family that you love. Whether in heaven or on earth, Catholicism is a family with many brothers and sisters. Statues are the bible for the poor. The majority of the world for the majority of history could not read or write, including the Bible. So, statues, stained glass windows and other art told the stories of God, Jesus, the Bible, and of our faith using pictures. So, it has nothing to do with worship, and if a Catholic does worship a statue, they are going against God, the Bible, and their own Catholic faith which condemns that.
While this makes sense to many non-Catholics, others are quick to point out that Catholics kneel and bow before statues. They see this as proof of worship. However, while Hindus worship statues and their devotion shows that, it is much different for Catholics. Bowing, kissing, and kneeling have nothing to with worship.
Many anti-Catholics think kissing, kneeling, and bowing are acts of worship. They can be. They also might not be. Here is a simple fact. Just because someone kisses something does not mean they are worshiping it. If kissing or bowing is always an act of worship, then men who kiss their wives would be guilty of worshiping them. Women who kiss a picture of their husbands who are away in the military would be guilty of false worship.
Most people can see the difference of intention between kissing something to worship it vs. kissing something out of love and affection and symbolic action. Bowing, kneeling, and kissing could be performed as acts of worship, or they could simply be done as signs of love and respect or symbolic expression. It all comes down to the intention and motive of the heart.
I had a friend once in college, and his father died. When we found out, a bunch of guys ran like mad around the campus looking for this poor boy in order to tell him the tragic news. Apparently, he already found out. When we finally located him, he was in a chapel praying and crying. He was sitting on the floor holding a picture of his deceased father, and he was hugging the picture and kissing it all while crying his eyes out.
I did not accuse him of worshiping the picture just because he was kissing and hugging it. This picture became a vivid visual memory of his father. Moreover, since this boy could not hug and kiss his real father, he symbolically hugged and kissed his picture out of love. It had nothing to do with worship of an image.
It is the same for Catholics, and it is truly that simple. In the Catholic Church, whether you live now, live in the past, or will live in the future, if you are part of the body of then you are family. Statues are simply reminders of our spiritual brothers and sisters in Christ who have gone before us. Each time we see a statue, it recalls to our minds their stories and the lives of holiness they lived. It reminds us of their virtues and how passionately they followed Christ. They are role models for us.
So for example, if someone kisses a statue of Jesus, Catholics understand that it is not the real Jesus. Just as that boy could not kiss his father in person and so symbolically kissed his picture, so Catholics cannot kiss Christ in person and so kiss the statue of Jesus as a symbolic act of love.
So again, if we kiss a statue, it is simply an external and symbolic gesture of our love for Christ (or another brother or sister in our family, in the body of Christ). It is in the same way that we kiss pictures of our loves ones or maybe even rub the picture as a way to connect with them and their memory.
Analogously, just because a person kneels or bows before something does not mean they are worshiping it. Like kissing, it all depends on the intention behind it. The Bible exhorts us to kiss one another with a holy kiss (2 Corinthians 13:12). At the same time, Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. So, the intention is of utmost importance.
After all, Protestants kneel on the floor in front of their Bibles. We don’t assume they are worshiping it. They may even kiss the Bible. We do not yell and scream that they should be kissing Christ and not a book. Rather, we understand it’s a symbolic gesture of love and respect for the Scriptures.
When Catholics kneel before a statue, it is a posture of prayer to God. Even if we ask a saint to pray for us to Jesus on our behalf, the end goal and desire of all of our prayers is God through Jesus Christ. Since He is the end of our prayers, our kneeling is to Him.
In the Bible, bowing is used for worship or for mere honor and respect. It all depends on the intention. In Revelation 22:8-9, Scripture states that John worshiped an angel by bowing before it. Thus, he was rightly scolded for false worship.
Contrast this with Joshua 5:14 where Joshua bows down in humility and respect before an angel but without worshiping it. He was not reprimanded. Therefore, it all depends on the intention of the heart.
Similarly, in 2 Kings 4:37, a woman bows down before prophet Elisha. “She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground; then she took up her son and went out.” No worship involved. In 1 Kings 1:31, “Bathsheba bowed her face to the ground to David and did obeisance to the king, and said, “May my lord King David live forever!” David likewise bowed his face down to the ground before Bathsheba in 1 Kings 2:19.
Even Jesus himself foretold in Revelation 3:9 that, “Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and learn that I have loved you.”
These people are not worshiping the Israelites with such an act, but it is a posture of humility and respect. There are countless more instances of bowing out of reverence in the Bible (Like Jacob and Esau, King David and Bathsheba, etc.).
This is not to be confused with worship that is meant for God alone or people bowing to false gods because they erroneously think they are gods.
Catholics worship God (Jesus) alone. Every week at our Mass, we pray to Jesus and say: “For you alone are the holy one. You alone are the Lord. You alone are the Most High Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit and in the Glory of God the Father. Amen.”
Thus, while exterior acts of devotions may be confusing for non-Catholics who do not understand, Catholics do not worship statues but only worship God alone. Any Catholic who worships who might worship statue is severely confused and misguided and must be set straight, though I have never heard of such a thing.
Catholics honor the saints and holy people who have gone before us. We remember them in pictures and in memory. We worship God and honor them.
We pray that this has helped to answer your questions or misunderstandings. Feel free to drop us a message if you have any questions. Just contact us above or visit our YouTube channel to find out more about Catholicism.
