Where Do Catholics Go When They Die?

Knock. Knock. Knock. “Hi, my name is Ben and we’re out in the community inviting people to church.”

“Well, thanks but I already go to ______ Baptist Church.”

“Oh! Hey, is it alright if I ask you a question, too? If you were to die tonight, and God asked you, why should I let you into heaven, what would you say?”

“Well, I try to live right and obey the Bible.”

A few doors later…

Knock. Knock. Knock. “Hi, my name is Ben and we’re out in the community inviting people to church.”

“Well, thanks but I already go to ______ Catholic Church.”

“Oh! Hey, is it alright if I ask you a question, too? If you were to die tonight, and God asked you, why should I let you into heaven, what would you say?”

“I would say because of what Jesus Christ has done for me on the cross paying the debt of my sin!”

Believe it or not, both these encounters actually happened to me on the same day. I can’t remember word-for-word what was said, but I had a Baptist tell me they were going to heaven because they were good and a Catholic tell me they were going to heaven because of Christ. So where will they end up in eternity?

Where the Baptist will end up is an easy answer. Unless he realizes his need of Christ and confesses his sin, he will spend a Christless eternity in hell. The Bible is abundantly clear that our own righteousness will never save us, only Christ can do that (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5). I don’t know if his church taught a watered down gospel, if he was such an infrequent attender that he never really heard a clear gospel presentation, or if he simply went to church for all those years and never really got it. In any case, based on his answer and God’s Word, he is not saved and will not go to heaven.

But what about the Catholic? I’ve heard this question many times, “Will there be Catholics in heaven?” After all, what about the person I just described, who said that he was saved because of Christ? What about someone like Marco Rubio, a Roman Catholic who during his campaign talked about his faith in Christ[1]​? If faith in Christ saves, aren’t all those Catholics saved? This is why Protestants made such a big deal over the term sola fide (by faith alone). The Catholic church has never taught that salvation doesn’t include faith. They do after all, have Bibles and are fully aware that Paul ties justification and faith together very closely (Romans 3:28; Galatians 3:6). Any Catholic priest will be quick to tell you that faith is necessary for salvation, but he will go on to explain faith alone isn’t enough to be saved.

In Catholic theology, the Christian life begins at baptism where God infuses his grace into you. That grace must then be developed through faith and merit by following the seven sacraments: baptism, eucharist, confirmation, confession, marriage, last rites, and ordination. As these sacraments are followed, along with faith and good works, a person becomes holier and holier until God eventually justifies them. What if they’re really close and die before they’re fully justified? They go to Purgatory to work off their remaining debt until they are holy enough to be justified and can go to heaven.

In the Bible, justification is something that God does for you in a moment (Romans 3:24), despite your sins (Romans 4:5). It is a declaration of innocence based on the righteousness of Christ (Romans 3:26). In Catholicism, justification is a process you go through, beginning with your baptism and continuing through after your death, a process that must be helped by good works[2]. In the Bible, salvation is a gift (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9). In Catholicism, salvation must be worked for with God’s help [3].  Sometimes little distinctions make a big difference. One decimal place is the difference between $10,000 and $100,000. Salvation by grace through faith and works versus salvation by grace through faith alone may seem like a small difference, but it changes everything.

So what about my Catholic friend from the beginning. Was he saved? I don’t know. The answer he gave me sounded good, but the danger is that a Catholic could say, “I’m saved by grace through faith,” and yet in their minds be thinking “faith plus works.” I do think, hope, and pray that there are many Catholics confused about what the church teaches. Who by simply reading their Bibles, and with the help of the Spirit, have come to right conclusions about salvation; who realize their works can never form the basis of their right standing before God, even if those works are energized by God. If they believe that, then they will be saved, for “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).

However, that they choose to stay in an organization that denies and reinterprets God’s Word according to “official church teaching” concerns me and leaves me with major questions even for someone who seems to have a genuine testimony.

500 years ago today the Reformation started over the most central doctrine of Christianity: how is one saved? Two answers came out of that chaotic time period. The Reformers taught that salvation is by grace through faith alone. The Catholic church doubled down and said that salvation is by grace through faith and works. Despite all the talk of cooperation between evangelicals and Catholics and the desire of many to see Catholics and Protestants reunited, that small distinction between faith “alone” and faith “plus works” represents an unbridgeable chasm that can never be reconciled.

So where do Catholics go when they die? If they believe God’s Word alone that grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone will save them, to the glory of God alone, we will see them in heaven. If they hold to official teaching of the church they attend every week, believing their salvation in any way depends on their good works, they are headed for hell.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXZq3QvXq6c

[2] “If any one saith, that the justice received is not preserved and also increased before God through good works; but that the said works are merely the fruits and signs of Justification obtained, but not a cause of the increase thereof; let him be anathema [cursed] [emphasis mine].” Council of Trent, Session VI On Justification, Canon XXIV http://www.thecounciloftrent.com/ch6.htm
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[3] “And, for this cause, life eternal is to be proposed to those working well unto the end, and hoping in God, both as a grace mercifully promised to the sons of God through Jesus Christ, and as a reward which is according to the promise of God Himself, to be faithfully rendered to their good works and merits [emphasis mine].” Council of Trent, Session VI On Justification, Chapter XVI http://www.thecounciloftrent.com/ch6.htm

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​Ben Hicks went to Bob Jones University for college and stayed on for grad work, recently graduating with his Master of Divinity. Ben is the Young Adults Pastor and oversees the Single Focus ministry at Colonial Hills Baptist Church. Follow him on Twitter @HicksBen

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