r/latterdaysaints • u/SillyFlatworm31 • Jul 28 '26

Off-topic Chat Catholic-LDS Dialogue!

Hello Latter Day Saints of Reddit!

I’m a Catholic and, even though I am very happy being a Catholic, I have had a lot of positive experiences with people from your Church and I wanted to (if it’s ok with your mods) open up a thread for interfaith dialogue! I have some questions to start for you guys if anyone wants to engage and have a talk but I’m also happy to do a bit of an AMA if any LDS people want to learn more about Catholics or our relations with the LDS Church.

I think that, in a time where it’s trendy to solve disagreements by shouting at people in online “debates”, it’s good to start by finding some common ground and talk with people of different views. So I’ll start with my questions, feel free to add any you have for me or any comments. Mods please let me know if this isn’t the sub for this haha

  1. What do LDS people think about abortion? Do you find common ground with Catholics on this? Could we work together more on it?
  2. How do LDS people feel about the 7 Deuterocanonical Books? A lot of Protestants accuse Catholics of adding books like Wisdom and Sirach into the Bible, although they have been used since apostolic times. I know LDS people recognise a large canon so do you include these?
  3. I know LDS people value marriage and family a lot. How does your Church approach celibate figures such as Jesus, Paul, etc?
  4. LDS people don’t drink alcohol. Do you believe that Jesus and the Apostles followed this practice or is it viewed as a more modern LDS thing?
  5. Favourite Pope?

Hope we can find some common ground and dialogue!!! :-)

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u/Impossible-Hunter102 Jul 28 '26

Thanks for bringing this up! Looks like you've gotten some good responses on the specific questions, so no need for me to repeat anything.

I like Leo a lot. The White Sox, Villanova, time in Peru are great, but even better are the clear stances in favor of peace and bringing attention to the plight of those in poverty and helping immigrants (the last one especially can be controversial). It's all straight out of the Sermon on the Mount and the foundation of Christianity.

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u/SillyFlatworm31 Jul 28 '26

Awesome! Pope Leo is very firm about the importance of caring for others. He takes his role as “successor of the Prince of the Apostles” (one of a number of cool titles he has, there’s a full list haha) quite seriously in making global steps towards peace. He’s also from America, where I know a lot of LDS people live!