Catholic Church buries limbo after centuries.

Reuters ^ | August 9, 2007 | Philip Pullella

[kawhill]

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Roman Catholic Church has effectively buried the concept of limbo, the place where centuries of tradition and teaching held that babies who die without baptism went.

[ViLaLuz]

A very interesting topic.

What does the Bible say about Limbo?
https://www.gotquestions.org/Limbo-Bible.html

[ViLaLuz]

Is baptism necessary for salvation?
https://www.gotquestions.org/baptism-salvation.html

[DSH]

Aborted babies will never see God through no fault of their own.

Then the "God" you worship is no better than Allah of the Muslims.

Fortunately, your "God" doesn't exist. You need Jesus, not your false "Mother Church."

[Petrosius]

Limbo was always theological speculation, not doctrine. The same is true of the present letter. Perhaps the most honest answer is I do not know, only God knows.

[PeterPrinciple]

The Bible clearly states that if a man not be baptized he cannot be saved.

---

Yep, being baptized in the Spirit is a must. Being born again is a must.

[fidelis]

Limbo was never an official teaching of the Church, as The Catholic Encyclopedia, published in the early 1900s, makes clear. But it was a common theological opinion for a good number of years and found it's way into local catechisms. Limbo describes a place where unbaptized children and those unbaptized persons who had reached the age of reason but had not committed mortal sin would go upon their deaths. It is not heaven, yet it is supposed to be a state of complete natural happiness.

As stated above, it was thought to be a place of natural happiness but where one would not enjoy the Beatific vision. It was not imagined as a state of torment, like hell, or temporary suffering for those bound to heaven, but still needing to be purged of their unrepented venial sins and attachments to sinful habits, which is called Purgatory.

As for the fate of unbaptized babies, the 1994 Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

CCC 1261 As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus' tenderness toward children which caused him to say: "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them," allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church's call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism.

For a much more in-depth teaching on this, see the following:

The International Theological Commission: "The Hope of Salvation of Babies Who Die Without Baptism"

[HYPOCRACY]

I remember when Pope John Paul II proclaimed this. Always thought it was poor form to relegate the unborn to limbo.

[Montana_Sam]

According to Jesus in John 6, a person has to partake in the Eucharist to have life. Protestants and evangelicals have a big problem on that point, don’t they?

It seems to me that God alone judges who makes it into heaven. It isn’t for us to judge, so let’s work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and pray for one another.

[ealgeone]

According to Jesus in John 6, a person has to partake in the Eucharist to have life. Protestants and evangelicals have a big problem on that point, don’t they?

No...that's not correct.

Because if it were the thief on the cross wouldn't get into Heaven as he had no chance to participate in the Lord's Supper.

That would also rule out deathbed conversions, people mortally wounded professing faith in Christ, etc as they have no chance to participate in the Lord's Supper.

IF one reads the accounts of the Lord's Supper in the Gospel and 1 Corinthians, one quickly sees this is to "do this in remembrance of Me."....not to be saved.

[ealgeone]

The Bible clearly states that if a man not be baptized he cannot be saved.

What about the thief on the cross?

No baptism for him....saved or not?

[napscoordinator]

It beats evangelicals who curse their children to the fires of hell because they weren’t allowed to be baptized until they make their own mind up and died before that absurd date. Nice folks.

[Cold_Red_Steel]

If Protestants really believed in Sola Scriptura then they wouldn’t advocate for baptism after the age of reason. So many children died early in the ages before modern medicine, and since there is no Limbo, I guess they’re all burning in Hell.

---

If you believe baptism works “that way” shouldn’t you run around like a sociopath forcing people into water?

I suspect you don’t believe it works “that way” but you really are trying to “win the debate” and truth is irrelevant to your argument.

[stanne]

This is the terrible truth of abortion.

Aborted babies will never see God through no fault…”

That’s not what the Catholic Church teaches

[stanne]

“ Purgatory is a place of punishment and suffering”

Actually it’s a place of purification in preparation for heaven.

[metmom]

From the church that (allegedly) never changes.

[metmom]

Good link.

Thanks.

[chickenlips]

Ol’ Popes Pius IX and XII were the masters of the craft.

[MayflowerMadam]

I thought it said the church buried a bimbo.

My eyes are blurry after removing makeup.

[Old Yeller]

How low can you go.

[Pontiac]

Actually it’s a place of purification in preparation for heaven.

Through suffering.