MyCatholicSource.com - 'Quick Help' Page: Is 'Prayer of Authority' A Catholic Prayer?

Question / Issue:

"I would like to know if the 'Prayer of Authority' is a Catholic prayer. It was given to me to be used as a prayer for healing that should be said morning and night along with reading one chapter of Scripture. A relative is concerned that this is not a good prayer to be using. I would appreciate a response so that I can let them know."

Answer / Resources:

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From what I see online, this does not seem to be a Catholic prayer. Online I see that this type of prayer appears to be associated with Jesus' reference in Scripture to binding & loosing. However, Jesus didn't make this statement indiscriminately, but rather to certain members of the Church (i.e. the apostles and their successors, bishops and priests). Although a Protestant would argue this point, it obviously wouldn't make sense for everyone to have the power to bind and loose. It's just not practical. Otherwise, for example, I could bind something and you could simply loose it. It would lose all meaning, would it not? Furthermore, it is troubling how some of these "prayers of authority" encourage lay persons to command evil sprits, which may be ill advised (lay people should not address evil sprits directly). Also troubling is just about every site I saw this type of prayer on was Protestant. Without seeing the exact prayer you are speaking about, it is a bit hard to say for sure, but based on what I did see online, I am quite confident that the prayer you are referring to is Protestant. I would, of course, recommend using only prayers that are specifically Catholic. You can find some on our site related to sickness here and other prayers here. BTW, if it is an urgent need, there is a nice "urgent need" novena here that can be said every hour for nine hours. Hope that helps. God bless you.

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