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Dear catholic.com visitors: This Catholic Answers website, with all its free resources, is the world’s largest source of explanations for Catholic beliefs and practices. We receive no funding from the institutional Church and rely entirely on your generosity to sustain this website with trustworthy, accessible content. If every visitor this month donated $1, catholic.com would be fully funded for an entire year. If you’ve never made a gift, now is the time. Your donation will be matched dollar for dollar this week only. Thanks and God bless.
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Q&A

If Peter told Cornelius not to kneel before him, should Catholics kneel before a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary?

Catholic Answers Staff

Question:

Should Catholics kneel before a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary? After all, in Scripture Peter rebuked Cornelius for kneeling before him.

Answer:

The passage in question states: “When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, ‘Stand up; I too am a man’” (Acts 10:25–26).

The act of kneeling does not always mean that the person kneeling is performing an act of worship. Catholics kneel in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary to show her respect and honor and to pray for her intercession; they are not kneeling to worship her.

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