Being a Catholic godparent is an important religious obligation, not just an honorary title. Godparents make promises to fulfill certain duties and responsibilities by word and example throughout the Christian life of their godchildren.
In the early Church, new Christians were sponsored by people who were already Christian. These men and women would profess their faith and accept the responsibility of teaching it to the newly baptized. This serves as a model for godparents today.
Today, godparents support faithful Catholic parents who give consent for their children to be baptized. In and through the grace received in their Baptism, these children receive the gift of faith.
Baptism is a Sacrament of Initiation into the Catholic Church. Instruction in the faith should continue after the sacrament is administered. Godparents have a duty to support and assist the parents in these responsibilities.
Godparents should be witnesses to the Catholic faith for their godchildren throughout their lives, helping them to learn and grow in their faith, and helping them to avoid falling away.
Because of the special role that godparents will play in the life of their children, parents have an obligation to select individuals who will help their children grow in their faith and who meet the requirements that have been set by the Church.
To be a Catholic godparent, a person must be at least 16 years of age and fully initiated into the Church, having received the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Holy Eucharist.
As an example to their godchild, godparents must believe and faithfully practice their Catholic faith. A person in an invalid marriage cannot be a godparent.
Only one godparent is necessary, but there can be no more than two. If there are two godparents, one must be male and one must be female.
“Godparent” is not merely an honorary title:
Being a godparent is a gift and a responsibility:
Godparents must know Christ and his Church:
To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience, as did my fathers, when I remember you constantly in my prayers. As I remember your tears, I long night and day to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lo′is and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you.
2 Timothy 1: 2-5
The strange wisdom of choosing godparents:
Choose godparents based on what is best for the child:
For the grace of Baptism to unfold, the parents’ help is important. So too is the role of the godfather and godmother, who must be firm believers, able and ready to help the newly baptized – child or adult on the road of Christian life. Their task is a truly ecclesial function (officium). The whole ecclesial community bears some responsibility for the development and safeguarding of the grace given at Baptism.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1255
Being a godparent is not a finish line:
Assisting the parents in their duties as Christian parents:
Dear godparents, it is your important duty to sustain and help the parents in their educational task, supporting them in the transmission of the truths of the faith and in their witness to the Gospel values and bringing up these children in an ever deeper friendship with the Lord. May you always be able to offer them your good example, through the practice of the Christian virtues. It is not easy to express what one believes in openly and without compromises. This is especially true in the context in which we live, in the face of a society that all too often considers those who live by faith in Jesus as out of fashion and out of time.
Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, 13 January 2013
Godparents must be confirmed Catholics in good standing:
Godparents should be practicing Catholics:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
Worship that is diverse without division:
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