Posted on 04/20/2007 9:00:51 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – After several years of study, the Vatican's International Theological Commission said there are good reasons to hope that babies who die without being baptized go to heaven.
In a document published April 20, the commission said the traditional concept of limbo – as a place where unbaptized infants spend eternity but without communion with God – seemed to reflect an "unduly restrictive view of salvation."
The church continues to teach that, because of original sin, baptism is the ordinary way of salvation for all people and urges parents to baptize infants, the document said.
But there is greater theological awareness today that God is merciful and "wants all human beings to be saved," it said. Grace has priority over sin, and the exclusion of innocent babies from heaven does not seem to reflect Christ's special love for "the little ones," it said.
"Our conclusion is that the many factors that we have considered ... give serious theological and liturgical grounds for hope that unbaptized infants who die will be saved and enjoy the beatific vision," the document said.
"We emphasize that these are reasons for prayerful hope, rather than grounds for sure knowledge," it added.
The 30-member International Theological Commission acts as an advisory panel to the Vatican, in particular to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Its documents are not considered expressions of authoritative church teaching, but they sometimes set the stage for official Vatican pronouncements.
The commission's document said salvation for unbaptized babies who die was becoming an urgent pastoral question, in part because their number is greatly increasing. Many infants today are born to parents who are not practicing Catholics, and many others are the unborn victims of abortion, it said.
Limbo has never been defined as church dogma and is not mentioned in the current Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states simply that unbaptized infants are entrusted to God's mercy.
But limbo has long been regarded as the common teaching of the church. In the modern age, "people find it increasingly difficult to accept that God is just and merciful if he excludes infants, who have no personal sins, from eternal happiness," the new document said.
Parents in particular can experience grief and feelings of guilt when they doubt their unbaptized children are with God, it said.
The church's hope for these infants' salvation reflects a growing awareness of God's mercy, the commission said. But the issue is not simple, because appreciation for divine mercy must be reconciled with fundamental church teachings about original sin and about the necessity of baptism for salvation, it said.
The document traced the development of church thinking about the fate of unbaptized children, noting that there is "no explicit answer" from Scripture or tradition.
In the fifth century, St. Augustine concluded that infants who die without baptism were consigned to hell. By the 13th century, theologians referred to the "limbo of infants" as a place where unbaptized babies were deprived of the vision of God, but did not suffer because they did not know what they were deprived of.
Through the centuries, popes and church councils were careful not to define limbo as a doctrine of the faith and to leave the question open. That was important in allowing an evolution of the teaching, the theological commission said.
A key question taken up by the document was the church's teaching that baptism is necessary for salvation. That teaching needs interpretation, in view of the fact that "infants ... do not place any personal obstacle in the way of redemptive grace," it said.
In this and other situations, the need for the sacrament of baptism is not absolute and is secondary to God's desire for the salvation of every person, it said.
"God can therefore give the grace of baptism without the sacrament being conferred, and this fact should particularly be recalled when the conferring of baptism would be impossible," it said.
This does not deny that all salvation comes through Christ and in some way through the church, it said, but it requires a more careful understanding of how this may work.
The document outlined several ways by which unbaptized babies might be united to Christ:
- A "saving conformity to Christ in his own death" by infants who themselves suffer and die.
- A solidarity with Christ among infant victims of violence, born and unborn, who like the holy innocents killed by King Herod are endangered by the "fear or selfishness of others."
- God may simply give the gift of salvation to unbaptized infants, corresponding to his sacramental gift of salvation to the baptized.
The document said the standard teaching that there is "no salvation outside the church" calls for similar interpretation.
The church's magisterium has moved toward a more "nuanced understanding" of how a saving relationship with the church can be realized, it said. This does not mean that someone who has not received the sacrament of baptism cannot be saved, it said.
Rather, it means that "there is no salvation which is not from Christ and ecclesial by its very nature," it said.
The document quoted St. Paul's teaching that spouses of Christians may be "consecrated" through their wives or husbands. This indicates that the holiness of the church reaches people "outside the visible bounds of the church" through the bonds of human communion, it said.
The document said the church clearly teaches that people are born into a state of sinfulness – original sin – which requires an act of redemptive grace to be washed away.
But Scripture also proclaims the "superabundance" of grace over sin, it said. That seems to be missing in the idea of limbo, which identifies more with Adam's sinfulness than with Christ's redemption, it said.
"Christ's solidarity with all of humanity must have priority over the solidarity of human beings with Adam," it said.
Liturgically, the motive for hope was confirmed by the introduction in 1970 of a funeral rite for unbaptized infants whose parents intended to present them for baptism, it said.
The commission said the new theological approach to the question of unbaptized babies should not be used to "negate the necessity of baptism, nor to delay the conferral of the sacrament."
"Rather, there are reasons to hope that God will save these infants precisely because it was not possible to do for them that what would have been most desirable -- to baptize them in the faith of the church and incorporate them visibly into the body of Christ," it said.
The commission said hopefulness was not the same as certainty about the destiny of such infants.
"It must be clearly acknowledged that the church does not have sure knowledge about the salvation of unbaptized infants who die," it said.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, was president of the commission and head of the doctrinal congregation when the commission began studying the question of limbo in a systematic way in 2004.
U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada now heads the commission and the doctrinal congregation. Cardinal Levada met with the pope to discuss the document Jan. 19 and, with the pope's approval, authorized its publication.
I went to limbo once on a vacation—it was so-so...not to bad, not to good...
I imagine it’s a simple place, with just enough to get by.
"We emphasize that these are reasons for prayerful hope, rather than grounds for sure knowledge," it added.
I thank God I am not a Catholic...Imagine, after one thousand and seven hundred years, the earthly 'Holy Father' and his Spirit led magisterium do not know the doctrine of Jesus Christ concerning babies...
And even then, people accept the fact that they are saved, but saved from what??? Not one of 'em knows whether they will end up in heaven when they die...
Parents in particular can experience grief and feelings of guilt when they doubt their unbaptized children are with God, it said.
This is one of the hooks to keep people coming back...Guilt that their babies will go to hell if they die before they get sprinkled with some holy water...
This does not deny that all salvation comes through Christ and in some way through the church, it said, but it requires a more careful understanding of how this may work
Heresy at it's finest...Anyone that puts a church between a sinner and the saving grace of Jesus Christ is a heretic and a minister of Satan...
My advice, get out of that religion and accept Jesus as your savior and He will add you to His real church...After you have been saved...
Heresy at it's finest...Anyone that puts a church between a sinner and the saving grace of Jesus Christ is a heretic and a minister of Satan...
You sound like a Westboro Baptist wannabe.
Fine, then get your church of Iscool out of my way. It gets between me and the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
My advice
Who appointed you to give me advice? You rail against the Pope and then set yourself up as a rival authority to give advice to others?
Mr. Iscool: Ignorance is NOT cool. I am willing make you a substantial bet that you know nothing about what you are talking about. The 1700 years you refer to suggests that you think the Catholic Church began in 300 AD. Do you base this on a study of the history of the early Church? Have you read the writings of Christians of the second and third century. Evidently not, because if you had, you would know that the Catholic Church existed and was called the Catholic Church from the time of the apostles on. The first recorded reference to “the Catholic Church” is in the letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch, a bishop who had learned the faith from St. John himself, and who died as a martyr to the faith in the year 107 AD. St. Polycarp of Smyrna, another important early bishop who was martyred in 155 AD also writes of “the Catholic Church”. The great bishop St. Cyprian of Carthage
(who also died as a martyr, in 256 AD), wrote an entire theological treatise entitled “On the Unity of the Catholic Church”.
Please don’t blaspheme by thanking God for your ignorance. God did not make you ignorant, That was your own doing. Rather, ask God to give you the grace to seek the truth. You are sure you are going to heaven? That means that you don’t “work out your salvation in fear and trembling” as St. Paul told us to do?
Please, before you set yourself up as an authority, learn more.
Paul did not say, 'work FOR your salvation in fear and trembling"...
Work and out are two different words...You can easily tell that because they are not spelled the same...
Work For and out are two different words...You can easily tell that because they are not spelled the same...
actually, it’s been centuries of study.
Limbo never was official doctrine because it’s been debatable - and people debated and debated and debated.
It’s nice to see refreshing common sense here.
They probably had to answer the phone and make coffee, too.
OK, now explain to me two things. (1) What does “working out” mean here? Presumably he did not mean like weight loss program working out. (2) Why “the fear and trembling” if we know we are going to heaven without any doubt? If you knew anything about the history of Christianity, you would know that the idea that a Christian can know beyond any doubt that he is going to be in heaven irrespective of his future behavior and even possible loss of faith was never believed by any Christians for the first 15 centuries of Christianity. And even most Protestants did not believe that. Lutherans, for example, do not believe it. I notice that you did not answer the historical part of my post.
BTTT!
Limbo reflects 'unduly restrictive view of salvation,' Vatican theological commission says
Pope to announce limbo does not exist
Vatican City: Pope Keeps Limbo in Limbo, for Now
Concept of Limbo "no longer to explain the eternal fate of unbaptized babies"
**then set yourself up as a rival authority to give advice to others?**
So true.
At least we Catholics only have one Pope.
I was wondering where our very own “Johnny one-note” had gone. I was getting worried.
I have to admit, I know a lot more about the bible than I do history...
And even most Protestants did not believe that. Lutherans, for example, do not believe it.
And most Protestants are just protesting portions of the Catholic church...I agree with you on that; they are mostly Catholic anyway...So what does that prove??? Nothing...
When I read the bible, I can clearly see that it doesn't line up with your church...In fact, your church resembles nothing I read in the bible as far as Christianity goes...
Paul the Apostle knew he had a spot in heaven and that's what he taught everyone he preached to...And Paul knew and taught that there would be rewards in heaven...Some people will get crowns...Some on the other end of the spectrum will stand before God naked...
Paul tells us to run the race...You've got salvation, now work it out...Strive for those rewards...
And like I said, just because some of the Fathers of the church used the word Catholic, which means universal, doesn't mean they are representative of your church just because you use the same name...
Plus, there have been enough forgeries over the centuries, that no one can be certain that the writings of the Fathers are actually writings of the Fathers...
I find it interesting that you (all) hold the writings of the church Fathers as sacred but yet you seem to have very little respect for the authority of the word of God even tho God said he would preserve his word forever...
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