Your nephew comes home from college with a small cross inked on his wrist. At Sunday dinner, Grandma quotes Leviticus 19:28 from memory. Someone laughs: "That's the Old Testament. We eat shrimp now." Nobody is sure who won.
Or maybe it is you. You want a verse that carried you through a hard season, or your late father's initials, and you want to know: Will this offend God? The Catholic Church's answer is neither "never" nor "whatever you like." It is more precise than both. And our counsel is clear: don't get one.
Short answer: Getting a tattoo is not a sin in itself: the Catholic Church has no law forbidding tattoos, and the Catechism does not mention them. But not a sin is not the same as wise, and we strongly recommend against getting one. Your body is "a temple of the holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:19), Baptism has already marked you as Christ's, and a tattoo is a permanent mark often chosen on impulse or to fit in. A tattoo becomes sinful through its content (blasphemous, obscene, occult, hateful), its motive (vanity, rebellion, a pagan rite), or its circumstances (serious risk to health, a minor defying his parents, giving scandal), because a good act requires "the goodness of the object, of the end, and of the circumstances together" (CCC 1755). Leviticus 19:28 does say "do not tattoo yourselves," but it belonged to Israel's ceremonial law against pagan mourning rites and cult marks, which Christ has fulfilled; the moral law behind it still binds.
Key verses on tattoos and the body
- "Do not lacerate your bodies for the dead, and do not tattoo yourselves. I am the LORD." (Leviticus 19:28)
- "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body." (1 Corinthians 6:19–20)
- "But the one who gives us security with you in Christ and who anointed us is God; he has also put his seal upon us and given the Spirit in our hearts as a first installment." (2 Corinthians 1:21–22)
- "'Everything is lawful,' but not everything is beneficial." (1 Corinthians 10:23)
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 Protestants, Critics, and Others Believe
"Leviticus 19:28 still forbids tattoos." Many Christians read the verse as a standing command. The King James Version renders it, "Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD" (Leviticus 19:28, KJV). It sits in the same chapter as "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18), which Jesus named the second great commandment (Matthew 22:37–39). If verse 18 still binds, they ask, why not verse 28? Many hold the classic division of the law: the ceremonial laws "are now abrogated, under the new testament," but "The moral law doth forever bind all" (Westminster Confession 19.3, 19.5). A law about the human body, they argue, is moral, not ceremonial.
"It's Christian liberty." Many evangelicals answer that Leviticus 19:28 binds no more than the ban on mixed fabrics in verse 19. "God alone is Lord of the conscience," the same confession says (20.2).
"My body, my canvas." Many secular people see no moral question at all: a tattoo is art, memory, and identity.
The Catholic Church agrees with the first group that the body is holy and the moral law never expires, with the second that Christ has freed us from the ceremonial law, and with the third that beauty and memory are good gifts. Her law leaves the choice to you; our counsel, below, is plain: don't.
What Catholics Actually Teach
There is no Church law against tattoos. No canon of the Code of Canon Law and no paragraph of the Catechism forbids them; the Catechism does not mention tattoos. Where the Catholic Church has not bound consciences, no Christian may bind them on his own authority: "let us no longer judge one another" (Romans 14:13).
Every act is judged three ways. "A morally good act requires the goodness of the object, of the end, and of the circumstances together" (CCC 1755).
- The object: what it shows. A blasphemous, obscene, hateful, or occult image is sinful in itself. "All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers ... are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion" (CCC 2117).
- The intention: why you want it. "An evil end corrupts the action, even if the object is good in itself" (CCC 1755). A cross tattooed out of devotion is one act; the same cross tattooed to mock the faith or to spite your parents is another.
- The circumstances: health, parents, neighbors. "Life and physical health are precious gifts entrusted to us by God. We must take reasonable care of them" (CCC 2288). A child living at home owes his parents obedience in what they ask for his good (CCC 2217). And "Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil" (CCC 2284), so an image that glamorizes sin is wrong even if the wearer meant no harm.
The body deserves honor, not worship. "The human body shares in the dignity of 'the image of God'" (CCC 364). "For this reason man may not despise his bodily life"; he must "hold it in honour" (CCC 364). At the same time, Christian morality "rejects a neo-pagan notion that tends to promote the cult of the body" (CCC 2289). A Christian may neither despise his body nor make an idol of it.
What Catholics do not teach:
- That every tattoo is a sin, or that tattooed Catholics are second-class Catholics.
- That Leviticus 19:28 binds Christians as written law, the way the Ten Commandments do.
- That Christians may put anything at all on their skin.
- That whatever is permitted is therefore wise (1 Corinthians 10:23).
- That an ordinary tattoo is the "mark of the beast" (see the FAQ).
It all points to Christ. Jesus fulfilled the Law, "declared all foods clean" (Mark 7:19), and by His death God nailed the bond against us "to the cross" (Colossians 2:14). He bought your body "at a price" (1 Corinthians 6:20) and will raise it on the last day. In Baptism He has already sealed you with "the indelible spiritual mark" of belonging to Him (CCC 1272). No ink can add to that mark, and no ink can erase it.
Why We Strongly Recommend Against Tattoos
The Catholic Church leaves this choice to your conscience, and we will not call sin what she has not. But a conscience must be formed, and "not a sin" is a low bar for a temple of God. Our counsel is simple: don't get a tattoo. Here is why.
1. You are a temple, not a canvas. You are "not your own," St. Paul says: "For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). A canvas belongs to the artist. A temple belongs to God. You are the caretaker of this body, not its owner, and a wise caretaker thinks long and hard before leaving his own permanent mark on a house that belongs to Someone else.
2. You are already marked as Christ's. "Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ" (CCC 1272). God "has also put his seal upon us" (2 Corinthians 1:22). A cross on your wrist can only announce, faintly and from the outside, what God has already done within.
3. Permanent choices demand prudence. Prudence is the virtue by which "the prudent man looks where he is going" (CCC 1806). The person you are at eighteen is not the person you will be at forty-five, and your future spouse and children will live with what you chose on one afternoon. Marriage and perpetual vows are permanent too, but they answer a call from God. A tattoo often fixes a passing preference in ink.
4. Check the motive. Ask why you want it. If the answer is to look a certain way, to fit in, or to provoke, that is the world talking: "Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind" (Romans 12:2). A tattoo chosen to idolize appearance falls under the Catechism's warning against "the cult of the body" (CCC 2289). St. Peter does not forbid every ornament, but he says where real beauty lives: "the hidden character of the heart, expressed in the imperishable beauty of a gentle and calm disposition, which is precious in the sight of God" (1 Peter 3:4).
5. The Fathers counseled restraint. St. Cyprian, the martyr bishop of Carthage, wrote of women who dyed their hair and painted their faces: "They are laying hands on God when they try to re-form that which He formed" (On the Dress of Virgins 15). He was writing about cosmetics, not tattoos, and the Catholic Church has never made the Fathers' strictness about adornment her law. But the instinct behind it is sound: receive the body as God made it, and do not reshape it for show.
6. Your life is the letter. St. Paul told the Corinthians that they were his letter, "written not in ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets that are hearts of flesh" (2 Corinthians 3:3). He was not writing about tattoos, but the point lands: the Holy Spirit writes a Christian's witness on the heart. A verse on your forearm is read in a glance; a life that keeps that verse is read for years.
A better way to keep the reminder. Have the design you wanted printed and framed where you pray, next to an icon, or wear a blessed crucifix, cross, or medal. Your body stays as God gave it.
The Biblical Case
1. Leviticus 19:28 targets pagan mourning rites and cult marks
Read the verse with its neighbors: "Do not recite charms or practice soothsaying. Do not clip your hair at the temples, nor spoil the edges of your beard. Do not lacerate your bodies for the dead, and do not tattoo yourselves. I am the LORD" (Leviticus 19:26–28). Three verses later: "Do not turn to ghosts or consult spirits, by which you will be defiled" (19:31). The whole passage concerns the religious customs of Israel's pagan neighbors. The NABRE note on verse 28 says the prohibition "probably refers only to the common ancient Near Eastern practice of branding a slave with its owner's name as well as branding the devotees of a god with its name" (note on Leviticus 19:28). St. Thomas Aquinas explains the parallel commands to Israel's priests (Leviticus 21:5) the same way: they were not to make incisions in their flesh "in order to exclude the rites of idolatry" (Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 102, a. 6, ad 11).
2. Leviticus 19 mixes permanent moral law with Israel's ceremonial law
The chapter holds a command Jesus repeats as permanent: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (19:18; Matthew 22:39). The very next verse says, "do not put on a garment woven with two different kinds of thread" (19:19). Verse 28's setting, between divination and ghosts, places it with the laws that walled Israel off from pagan worship.
3. The apostles lifted the ceremonial yoke
When Gentiles began entering the Church, the apostles and elders met in Jerusalem and ruled: "It is the decision of the holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities, namely, to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meats of strangled animals, and from unlawful marriage" (Acts 15:28–29). Leviticus 19:28 is not on the list.
The food laws and festivals "are shadows of things to come; the reality belongs to Christ" (Colossians 2:17). The Catechism calls the New Law "a law of freedom, because it sets us free from the ritual and juridical observances of the Old Law" (CCC 1972).
4. The moral law behind Leviticus 19:28 still binds
Jesus came not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). What was moral in Leviticus 19:26–31 belongs to the First Commandment, and it still binds: no idols, no divination, no consulting spirits. "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of demons" (1 Corinthians 10:21). So a tattoo dedicating you to a pagan god, an occult sign worn as a charm, or a mark made in a spiritist rite for the dead is still forbidden, not because Leviticus 19:28 survives as a legal code, but because the commandment beneath it never expired.
5. The mark God gives
Some cite Scripture's marks of belonging for Christian tattoos. Look closer. After Cain's crime, "the LORD put a mark on Cain" (Genesis 4:15), which the NABRE note calls "probably a tattoo," but it was God's own act of protection, not a pattern for us to copy. Isaiah foresees converts who will "write on his hand, 'The LORD's'" (Isaiah 44:5), "an allusion to the Babylonian custom of tattooing the owner's name on the hand of his slave," as the NABRE note explains. It is a prophetic image of belonging, not an instruction. When St. Paul writes, "I bear the marks of Jesus on my body" (Galatians 6:17), the note explains that his body "bears the scars of his apostolic labors." He means wounds, not ink. In the New Covenant, God's mark on His people is the seal of the Spirit: "In him you also ... were sealed with the promised holy Spirit" (Ephesians 1:13).
Objections Answered
(a) "Leviticus 19:28 clearly forbids tattoos."
At its strongest: It does, in plain words: "do not tattoo yourselves." God does not change, and no New Testament verse repeals this command by name. If Christians may set aside one command in Leviticus, what stops them from setting aside its sexual commands too?
Answer: We agree the verse forbade tattoos to Israel. But Christians do not decide by personal taste which Old Testament laws still bind; Christ gave that authority to His Church. The apostles exercised it in council: "It is the decision of the holy Spirit and of us" (Acts 15:28). Jesus told His disciples, "Whoever listens to you listens to me" (Luke 10:16), and St. Paul calls the Church "the pillar and foundation of truth" (1 Timothy 3:15; see Is the Church the Pillar and Foundation of Truth?). The slippery slope fails because the New Testament itself shows what stays. It repeats "Avoid immorality" (1 Corinthians 6:18). It never repeats the tattoo ban; it repeats the ban on idols behind it (1 Corinthians 10:21).
(b) "Your body is a temple. Every tattoo defiles it."
At its strongest: The body belongs to God (1 Corinthians 6:19–20), and the Fathers were strict about altering it (see above). Permanently marking God's handiwork looks like ingratitude, and ingratitude toward God is sin.
Answer: We agree that the body belongs to God and deserves reverence; that is why we strongly recommend against tattoos. But the Catholic Church has not called tattoos sinful, and neither will we. In Scripture, what profanes God's temple is idolatry and sin: "What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God" (2 Corinthians 6:16). Not every mark profanes it, or no church could hang a crucifix. An obscene or blasphemous image does profane it. Nor is a tattoo one of the "directly intended amputations, mutilations, and sterilizations" the Catechism condemns (CCC 2297); it removes no part of the body and destroys none of its functions. Not a sin, then; but our counsel stands: don't.
(c) "Christians have tattooed crosses for centuries."
At its strongest: The Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford notes that "in the medieval period, pilgrims and crusaders to the Holy Land had crosses tattooed on their arms and hands as souvenirs and evidence of their travels" (Pitt Rivers Museum, "Wooden tattooing stamp"). If devout pilgrims bore the cross on their skin and no Church law forbids it, why discourage it?
Answer: The history is real, and it confirms that a tattoo is not a sin in itself. But permitted is not the same as wise: "'Everything is lawful,' but not everything is beneficial" (1 Corinthians 10:23). A pilgrims' souvenir is a custom, not a teaching of the Catholic Church, and custom does not outrank prudence (CCC 1806) or the holiness of a body that is God's temple. The pilgrims wanted a lasting sign of where they had been. You already carry one of where you are going: the seal of your Baptism. If you go on pilgrimage, bring home a crucifix and hang it where you pray.
(d) "So anything goes?"
At its strongest: If the one verse that names tattoos does not bind, nothing does. The Catholic answer sounds like a loophole.
Answer: It is the opposite of a loophole: it judges every tattoo by the whole moral law, not one verse. Its content, its motive, and its circumstances must all be good (CCC 1755), as set out above. Even a harmless tattoo falls under temperance, which "disposes us to avoid every kind of excess" (CCC 2290). Knowingly choosing gravely sinful content is grave sin, ink or no ink.
The Early Church Agrees
- St. Ignatius of Antioch (Letter to the Philadelphians 7, written on the way to his martyrdom, AD 98–117): "keep your bodies as the temples of God" (newadvent.org). From the apostolic generation on, the body was God's temple.
- The Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles 3, c. AD 80–100): "My child, be not an observer of omens, since it leads the way to idolatry" (newadvent.org). The first Christians kept the moral core of Leviticus 19:26–31: no divination, no occult.
- Clement of Alexandria (The Instructor 3.11, c. AD 195): "And let our seals be either a dove, or a fish, or a ship scudding before the wind, or a musical lyre," but "we are not to delineate the faces of idols, we who are prohibited to cleave to them" (newadvent.org). He means signet rings, not tattoos, but the principle holds: a Christian wears the signs of Christ, never of idols.
There is no patristic consensus on tattoos, and we will not invent one. But the witnesses above share the principles the Catholic Church applies today: the body is God's temple, idols and the occult have no place on a Christian, and a Christian belongs to Christ before he wears any sign of Him.
Conclusion
Leviticus 19:28 really did forbid tattoos to Israel, as a guard against pagan cult marks. Christ fulfilled that ceremonial law, and the apostles refused to lay its yoke on Gentile believers. So a tattoo is not a sin in itself. But the moral law that remains is a higher standard, not a lower one, and it asks more than "Is this allowed?" That is why, as counsel, we strongly recommend against tattoos. You are a temple of the Holy Spirit, already sealed as Christ's; let the Spirit write on your heart, not a needle on your skin. Do not shame a Catholic who already has a reverent tattoo, and do not let anyone tell you anything goes. Your body was "purchased at a price" (1 Corinthians 6:20). Inked or not, "glorify God in your body."
Come home. The Church that has kept both the moral law of Leviticus 19 and the freedom of Acts 15 since the apostles first met in council is the Catholic Church. Christ did not found many churches. He founded one, on St. Peter and the apostles (Matthew 16:18), and that Church is the Catholic Church. "It is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help toward salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained" (CCC 816). If you are a baptized Christian, you already share "a certain, although imperfect, communion" with her (CCC 838). Every truth you already hold is a call to the rest of the way. If you are not yet a Christian, we invite you to come and see. Christ is calling you into the Catholic Church.
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
Can I get a religious tattoo, like a cross, a Scripture verse, or a saint? It is not forbidden, but we strongly recommend against it. Your body is already "a temple of the holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:19), and Baptism has already marked you as Christ's. If a cross, a verse, or a saint means that much to you, have that very design printed and framed, and hang it where you pray, next to an icon. Or wear a blessed crucifix, cross, or medal. You keep the reminder without a permanent mark. Take time to pray and discern, and talk with a priest you trust before deciding anything permanent. Our counsel is simple: don't get one.
Do I need my parents' permission? If you are a minor living at home, yes (CCC 2217; Ephesians 6:1–2), and if your parents say no, that settles it. Once you are grown, "Obedience toward parents ceases with the emancipation of the children; not so respect, which is always owed to them" (CCC 2217), so listen to their advice. Either way, our counsel is the same: honor your parents, honor the temple of the Holy Spirit, and don't get one.
Should I remove a tattoo I regret? You have no obligation to remove a tattoo simply because you regret it. If its content is sinful (obscene, occult, hateful, or blasphemous), keep it covered, and alter or remove it if you reasonably can, with your doctor's advice. If getting it was a sin, bring it to Confession; God's mercy reaches further than any ink.
Is a tattoo the "mark of the beast"? No. In Revelation the beast forces people "to be given a stamped image on their right hands or their foreheads" (Revelation 13:16), and the NABRE note explains the setting: "Christians had either to worship the emperor and his image or to suffer martyrdom." That mark is a pledge of worship, the opposite of the Lamb's followers, who bear "his name and his Father's name" (Revelation 14:1). An ordinary tattoo is not that mark, but a mark pledging allegiance to evil would contradict Christ.
Sources
Scripture (NABRE, bible.usccb.org): Genesis 4:15 and note; Leviticus 19:18; 19:19 and note; 19:26–28 and note on 19:28; 19:31; 21:5; Isaiah 44:5 and note; Matthew 5:17; 16:18; 22:37–39; Mark 7:19; Luke 10:16; Acts 15:28–29; Romans 12:2; 14:13; 1 Corinthians 6:18; 6:19–20; 10:21; 10:23; 2 Corinthians 1:21–22; 3:3; 6:16; Galatians 6:17 and note; Ephesians 1:13; 6:1–2; Colossians 2:14; 2:16–17; 1 Timothy 3:15; 1 Peter 3:3–4; Revelation 13:16 and note on 13:11–18; 14:1.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (vatican.va): 364; 816, 838; 1272; 1755; 1806; 1972; 2117; 2217; 2284, 2288, 2289, 2290, 2297.
Church documents: No universal Church law or Catechism paragraph addresses tattoos.
Church Fathers: St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Philadelphians 7; Didache 3; Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) 3.11; St. Cyprian of Carthage, On the Dress of Virgins 15 (ANF vol. 5).
Other sources: St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 102, a. 6, ad 11; Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, "Wooden tattooing stamp," Body Arts; Westminster Confession of Faith, 19.3, 19.5, 20.2; Leviticus 19:28, King James Version.