A child gets cancer. A flood wipes out a village. If God is all-good and all-powerful, why does He let this happen? If this question is personal for you right now, know this: your pain is real, and the Church does not ask you to pretend otherwise.
Short answer: God never causes moral evil, but He permits it, because He made creatures free, and freedom is what makes love possible. He permits evil only because He can bring good out of it. And in Jesus, God did not explain suffering from a distance. He entered it, died, and rose to defeat it.
Key verses on suffering and evil
- "Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good" (Genesis 50:20)
- "We know that all things work for good for those who love God" (Romans 8:28)
- "the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us" (Romans 8:18)
- "He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain" (Revelation 21:4)
Scripture quotations are from the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
What Catholics Actually Teach
The Catechism admits that "no quick answer will suffice." Instead, "Only Christian faith as a whole constitutes the answer to this question" (CCC 309).
On moral evil, the evil free creatures choose: "God is in no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil. He permits it, however, because he respects the freedom of his creatures and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good from it" (CCC 311). On physical evil, God willed a world "in a state of journeying" toward its final perfection (CCC 310). And "God would not permit an evil if he did not cause a good to come from that very evil" (CCC 324).
What Catholics do not teach:
- That evil is secretly good. "But for all that, evil never becomes a good" (CCC 312).
- That suffering is always punishment for your sins. Of a man born blind, Jesus said, "Neither he nor his parents sinned" (John 9:3).
- That you shouldn't grieve. At His friend's tomb, "Jesus wept" (John 11:35).
The Case: Reason and Revelation
1. God made the world good. Evil is a wound in it.
"God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good" (Genesis 1:31). But "through one person sin entered the world, and through sin, death" (Romans 5:12). Evil is not a thing God made. It is good gone wrong. St. Augustine saw this clearly: "For what is that which we call evil but the absence of good? In the bodies of animals, disease and wounds mean nothing but the absence of health" (Enchiridion 11). Blindness is not a thing; it is sight missing where sight should be.
2. Freedom makes love possible, and evil possible
"God in the beginning created human beings and made them subject to their own free choice" (Sirach 15:14). Through Moses, God pleads: "I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life" (Deuteronomy 30:19). On our journey to Him, God made our freedom able to refuse Him, so that our love could be truly ours: free creatures "can therefore go astray" (CCC 311). But freedom is not made for evil: "There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just" (CCC 1733). God wanted children who love Him, not machines. Could He not make free creatures who are forced to choose good? That is a contradiction, like a square circle, and omnipotence is the power to do anything, not the power to do nonsense. As St. Thomas Aquinas puts it, "whatever implies contradiction does not come within the scope of divine omnipotence"; "it is better to say that such things cannot be done, than that God cannot do them" (Summa Theologiae I, q. 25, a. 3).
3. God brings good out of evil
Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery. Later he told them, "Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good, to achieve this present end, the survival of many people" (Genesis 50:20). The greatest example is the Cross. From the murder of God's only Son, God "brought the greatest of goods: the glorification of Christ and our redemption" (CCC 312). So "all things work for good for those who love God" (Romans 8:28). The Catechism even asks the hardest version: "But why did God not prevent the first man from sinning?" Its answer, with St. Thomas: "God permits evil in order to draw forth some greater good" (CCC 412).
4. Suffering is not the end of the story
"I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us" (Romans 8:18). St. Paul calls even his hardships a "momentary light affliction" producing "an eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17).
5. God entered our suffering
Isaiah foretold "a man of suffering, knowing pain," and said, "it was our pain that he bore" (Isaiah 53:3–4).
On the Cross Jesus prayed the psalm of the abandoned: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46; Psalm 22:2). So "we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses" (Hebrews 4:15). Then He rose and conquered evil (CCC 272; see Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?).
Objections Answered
(a) "A good, all-powerful God would eliminate evil. Evil exists. So God doesn't."
At its strongest: This is the logical problem of evil, pressed in modern form by J. L. Mackie ("Evil and Omnipotence," 1955). A good being prevents evil as far as it can, and an all-powerful being can prevent all of it. St. Thomas stated it himself: "If, therefore, God existed, there would be no evil discoverable; but there is evil in the world. Therefore God does not exist" (Summa Theologiae I, q. 2, a. 3).
Answer: The argument assumes God could have no good reason to permit any evil. But if free love is a great good, God may rightly respect the freedom He gave rather than override it every time a creature misuses it (CCC 311). Permitting evil is not a failure of power. God "would not permit an evil if he did not cause a good to come from that very evil" (CCC 324). If God brings a greater good out of the evil He permits, permitting it fits perfect goodness. As St. Thomas replies, "This is part of the infinite goodness of God, that He should allow evil to exist, and out of it produce good."
This is not only a believer's view. After Alvin Plantinga's free will defense (God, Freedom, and Evil, 1977), philosophers widely regard the classic logical version as answered. One standard reference work states that "all parties admit that Plantinga’s Free Will Defense successfully rebuts the logical problem of evil as it was formulated by atheists during the mid-twentieth-century," and adds: "Even Mackie admits that Plantinga solved the problem of evil, if that problem is understood as one of inconsistency" (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "The Logical Problem of Evil"). The claim that God and evil are flatly incompatible has not survived scrutiny.
(b) "Fine, some evil. But this much? So much of it looks pointless."
At its strongest: This is the evidential problem of evil, the form most philosophers now debate. Free will may explain some evil, but what of childhood cancer, earthquakes, and animals suffering long before any human sinned? William Rowe's famous example is "a fawn who dies in lingering and terrible fashion as a result of a forest fire" (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "The Problem of Evil"). A world like this, the atheist argues, is more likely without God than with Him.
Answer: We often cannot see the reason. "The ways of his providence are often unknown to us" (CCC 314). But "I can't see a reason" is not the same as "there is no reason." If an infinitely wise God exists, we should expect to miss many of His reasons, the way a small child can't see why a surgeon cuts. Physical evil also belongs to a creation still on its way: "all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now" (Romans 8:22). And weigh the whole picture: the problem of evil is one piece of evidence, not the only one. If God exists on other grounds, then evil we cannot explain is a mystery to be trusted through, not a refutation. (On the case for God from reason, see Does God Exist? Five Arguments from Reason.)
(c) "If God cared, where was He when I needed Him?"
At its strongest: For many people this isn't a theory. It's a funeral or a diagnosis, and arguments feel cold. A God who could have stopped it and didn't feels like no friend at all.
Answer: Scripture doesn't silence that cry. It gives you words for it: "How long, LORD? Will you utterly forget me?" (Psalm 13:2). Jesus Himself cried, "why have you forsaken me?" God's answer was not a lecture but His presence: "The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, saves those whose spirit is crushed" (Psalm 34:19). Where was God? On a cross, in the dark, with you.
(d) "Without God, there is no problem. Evil is just nature."
At its strongest: On atheism, suffering is no puzzle. Nature is indifferent. Earthquakes and cancers happen because physics and biology are blind. Only the believer has to explain them.
Answer: Grant the premise, and see where it leads. If nature is all there is, then nothing is truly evil; things just happen, some of which we dislike. But almost no one who has stood at a child's grave believes that. The protest "this should not be" assumes a real standard of how things ought to be. As St. Augustine saw, evil is "the absence of good"; it is a lack measured against a good that should be there. So the outrage that drives the argument from evil is itself a witness to the Good it denies. The atheist can explain why suffering happens. He cannot explain why it is wrong. The Christian can, and he can tell you that it will not have the last word.
What the Great Thinkers Said
- St. Augustine of Hippo (Enchiridion, c. AD 420, date approximate): God, "being Himself supremely good, would never permit the existence of anything evil among His works, if He were not so omnipotent and good that He can bring good even out of evil" (ch. 11).
- St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologiae I, q. 2, a. 3, reply to objection 1, c. 1265–1274) quotes that passage: "Since God is the highest good, He would not allow any evil to exist in His works, unless His omnipotence and goodness were such as to bring good even out of evil" (newadvent.org). On what omnipotence means: "whatever implies contradiction does not come within the scope of divine omnipotence" (I, q. 25, a. 3).
Conclusion
The Christian answer to evil is not a formula. It's a story: a good creation, wounded by free creatures, healed by a Son who entered the worst of it and rose. "There is not a single aspect of the Christian message that is not in part an answer to the question of evil" (CCC 309).
If you're carrying pain right now, you don't have to have it figured out. Bring it to Him: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).
Come and see. The Son who entered our suffering, died, and rose to defeat evil is still met today in the sacraments of the Catholic Church. If God exists and Jesus rose from the dead, the next question is where He can be found today. He founded one Church on His apostles (Matthew 16:18) and sent her to "make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19). That Church is the Catholic Church. We invite you to come and see.
Your next step: Come to Mass this Sunday at your local Catholic church. You can find one near you at MassTimes.org. Everyone is welcome; if you're not yet Catholic, pray with us but don't receive Communion yet. When you're ready to become Catholic, call the parish office and ask about OCIA, the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. They will walk you through every step. Read our guide: How Do I Become Catholic? Not ready yet? Get our free pocket guide below and keep learning.
FAQ
Does God cause suffering? He never causes moral evil (CCC 311). Physical suffering belongs to a creation still on its way: "With physical good there exists also physical evil as long as creation has not reached perfection" (CCC 310). God permits evil only because He can bring good from it (CCC 324).
Is my suffering a punishment from God? Not necessarily. Jesus rejected that assumption about a man born blind (John 9:3).
Will it ever be made right? Yes. "He will wipe every tear from their eyes" (Revelation 21:4). We will fully understand only "when we see God 'face to face'" (CCC 314).
Sources
Scripture (NABRE, bible.usccb.org): Genesis 1:31; Genesis 50:20; Deuteronomy 30:19; Psalm 13:2; Psalm 22:2; Psalm 34:19; Sirach 15:14; Isaiah 53:3–4; Matthew 11:28; Matthew 16:18; Matthew 27:46; Matthew 28:19; John 9:3; John 11:35; Romans 5:12; Romans 8:18, 22, 28; 2 Corinthians 4:17; Hebrews 4:15; Revelation 21:4.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (vatican.va): 272; 309, 310, 311, 312, 314, 324; 412; 1733.
Great thinkers (newadvent.org): St. Augustine, Enchiridion 11 (NPNF1 vol. 3); St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I, q. 2, a. 3 and I, q. 25, a. 3 (English Dominican translation).
Philosophy reference works: James R. Beebe, "The Logical Problem of Evil," Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy; "The Problem of Evil," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.