Can you pray for a deceased atheist?

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If a person has died, and they were not religious, can I pray for them?

Can I ask god to have mercy on them?
 
Yes, you may. Never doubt the infinite mercies of the Lord. I like to read the story of the prodigal son to reaffirm God’s love for me and all his children.
 
You could also go to the thread entitled, “Prayer requests for the deceased and the Poor Souls in Purgatory”, and pray for them, or request people to pray for them. Just give their initials or first name and say if they were a friend, relative, etc.
 
While if someone perseveres until the end in atheism, they cannot be saved, you have no way to know if that was the case. While God offers all the means to know Him and place their faith in His Word, Jesus Christ, He does not necessarily do so for all at the same time as the parable of the laborers in the vineyard demonstrates. In fact, that parable demonstrates that some are even called at the “eleventh hour,” that is, close to death. As such, the person’s coming to God in faith and love may not be visible to others, but rather known only to God. Likewise if, God forbid, they have final impenitence, that can also not be known.

So yes, you can and should pray for any who have died. We do not know what may have happened in the final moments.
 
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There is a story I heard related to this. There was an atheist who emigrated from France to Brazil around 1870. He had a wife and two daughters. His wife wanted to take the children to church but he would not allow it. One day he went into his shop and he dropped dead. His wife sold the business, bought tickets and returned to France. There she took the children to church. One of the daughters entered the religious life as a nun. They sent her to America somewhere in New Jersey. One day, during the 1930s, this nun was at mass. She heard a voice. It said, “Rejoice and be glad. This is the day your father enters Heaven. Great is the mercy of God.”
 
Usually we pray for the souls of the faithful departed. That does not include those who are not faithful.
 
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We Catholics take no position that anyone in particular is in hell. That leaves all souls fair game it seems. You might have a reason to limit to faithful departed. I certainly join in a prayer so limited. Not of course as a statement of exclusion from prayer in general.
 
The standard prayer is

Fidelium animae, per misericordiam Dei, requiescant in pace. Amen.

May the souls of the faithful, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

We do not take position on who may, at the last moment, have found faith, because we don’t know. This may have happened with their last breath, or they may be offered a chance as when Christ preached to the dead at the harrowing of hell.

But those who have not turned to God and become faithful are assuredly damned.
 
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