Replies

Am I being too simple in thinking either limbo exits or it doesn't? I mean, what's it worth to have church leaders suddenly decide, nope, doesn't exist. What the heck? Where's their proof or lack thereof? And further, what else in Catholic/Christian teachings exists or doesn't based on opinion? This is all really weak.

There are various levels of Catholic teaching, varying from infallibly defined dogmas and Catholic truths (doctrines which follow with necessary logic from dogmatic teachings) which must be believed by all Catholics, to common teachings, down through pious belief and theological speculation.

The limbo of the infants dying without baptism has always been a theological speculation. The problem of the fate of these infants remains formally unresolved.

So, the Church may change a teaching, and THEREFORE the teaching was never infallible in the first place, even though it was a part of the sacred tradition, and taught by the Magesterium, for 7 centuries.

I could accept this logic if I could put my hand on a list, a real official list, in which the Church specifies which doctrines are infallible.

However, no such list exists.

So, query:
Is the prohibition on birth control infallible?
What about the doctrine of infallibility itself, of either the Pope or the magesterium?
Are the words "and from the Son" (the famous "filioque") in the Nicene Creed infallibly true?
Is the prohibition on priestly marriage in the Latin Church infallible?
Is the doctrine that masturbation is a mortal sin infallible?
Is the doctrine that whosoever takes communion in a state of mortal sin, without having first properly confessed to a priest, commits a further mortal sin, infallible?
Is the doctrine that the failure to attend mass on Sunday is a mortal sin infallible?
Is it infallibly true that people may NEVER divorce and remarry (even in the case of "pornea", to use the terms of the Gospels)?

Certainly all of these things are disciplinary matters, and binding, just as the doctrine of Limbo was binding in past history, but apparently is soon not to be binding; just as the doctrine of no meat on Friday was binding, and a sin to disobey, but now isn't.

My question is challenging, and important.
There is no official list of infallible doctrines.
But by any definition of infallibility I have ever read, Limbo is certainly within the scope. But now it's not.
I fear that this means that Infallibility really degenerates into a simple cudgel that can be wielded when convenient against those who disagree, but without the Church proper ever committing itself, infallibly and on paper for all to see forever, to ANYTHING being really, truly, infallible.

I'm also hoping you'll answer, because the issue is of crucial importance to me. It affects my view of the Church considerably.