Are Cryogenic practices within the boundaries of Catholic ethics? A total of 600 bodies worldwide are estimated to be frozen.
Editorial (07/13/2025, Gaudium Press) – One of the most poignant situations we can face is a mother’s grief at losing a child. It is worse still if the child took his own life—and incomparably worse if the mother’s lack of faith leads her to view death as the absolute end.
Two months ago, an Australian actress began a crowdfunding campaign to raise $300,000 to cryogenically freeze her 13‑year‑old son’s body. According to the mother, the boy took his own life after suffering bullying at school.
In the fundraising appeal, she pleaded: “We only have one chance to preserve his body cryogenically in the next seven days. If we miss that window, we lose any chance of future reanimation science might offer.”
No news has emerged on the outcome, and likely the campaign failed—it reached only 2% of its goal by publication day.
Cryogenics
Cryopreservation after death—cryonics—involves storing human bodies at very low temperatures using liquid nitrogen. The goal is to prevent decomposition and preserve biological structures so someone could someday be “brought back to life” if science advances sufficiently. Bodies are frozen at –130 °C to –196 °C.
No current technology can resuscitate a human preserved this way. Inspired by embryo preservation, people—usually wealthy—pay for it in hope the future might offer revival. So far, 600 bodies worldwide are estimated to be frozen.
The Fate of the Soul
Faced with such a bizarre situation, I try to imagine the soul of someone whose body is frozen and who nonetheless goes to Heaven. Though it seems unlikely that someone so attached to life and seeking cryopreservation would ultimately be saved, let’s suppose they are.
Heaven, as Saint Paul says, is beyond what eyes have seen or ears have heard. How bitter it would be to see your pristine soul in that glory, knowing your body is locked in a tiny tube of nitrogen on Earth—suffering, awaiting artificial resurrection.
We should instead long to be holy and enter Heaven, not stay forever on Earth. Imagine being in an indescribable, magnificent place and seeing your frozen body in a pitiful, painful state.
What if God allowed the soul to feel cryonic pain? I once had nitrogen applied to a wart near a toenail—one of the worst pains I ever experienced. It was freezing yet burning. What if such burning cold was felt spiritually?
Longevity at Any Cost
The Psalms teach: “The days of our years are seventy, or by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble…” (Psalm 90:10). Earthly lifespan is God’s design, but many chase longevity at any cost—injecting toxins, having invasive cosmetic treatments, or even freezing themselves postmortem.
These efforts are pointless. Even if they succeed, they awaken in a distant world, without loved ones, with an artificial body growing old, diseased.
Earthly vs. Heavenly Resurrection
Jesus promised resurrection in glorious bodies—not mortal, aging ones frozen in icy tubes. That would be unbearable.
Monsignor João Clá, commenting on Palm Sunday, reminds us: “Deep down, they longed for and sought with such ardor a purely earthly happiness that, if possible, they would want to spend eternity in this world.” Today too, many fear death and cling desperately to life. Those who can pay try to buy it.
The Absence of God
This tragic fear of death stems from a lack of faith and rejection of God. How terrible to despise Heaven and choose to stay on Earth forever!
Consider that devastated Australian mother. If the child had known God, received catechesis, made First Communion, learned to pray and go to church, would bullying alone have led him to suicide?
If the mother had trusted God—handing Him her life and hopes—she might have faced her child’s loss differently, guiding him through faith and hope. Even after his death, she might have clung to Mary, the sorrowful Mother, for comfort.
Instead of crowdfunding for cryogenics, she could have reached out to help other families suffering similar tragedies.
Trusting God or Falling Into Despair
Lack of trust in God leads to extremes, senseless suffering, and rebellion. In grief, some blame God, then reject Him entirely.
Let us pray for those living such tragic circumstances—and always be grateful for the gift of faith, the “firm foundation of hope, assurance of things unseen” (Hebrews 11:1).
By Afonso Pessoa
Compiled by Gustavo Kralj
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