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To: oh8eleven
Limbo was never a dogma in the Church. The teaching was in place, at least in part, when infant mortality rates were much higher, as a deterrent to people who would delay the Baptism of a baby. Limbo was considered akin to the Bosom of Abraham, a place of rest and peace. The babies had no sin other than that of Adam which Baptism takes away, thanks to Jesus' Death on the Cross. The children were believed to go to Heaven at the Last Judgement.

Consideration was given to the matter in light of our modern era where a child is legally murdered in its mother's womb, as were the Holy Innocents killed by Herod (The later had been proclaimed Saints by the Church, with a feast day). They die in the baptism of blood, as martyrs.
Those who have the chance to be born, but are stillborn and die without Baptism, are in Heaven by the Baptism of Desire "My Soul is thirsting for the Living God." Again, the Church does remain emphatic that children are Baptised as soon as possible after birth.

46 posted on 06/06/2015 5:07:18 PM PDT by Grateful2God (Because no word shall be impossible with God. And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord...)
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To: Grateful2God
Those who have the chance to be born, but are stillborn and die without Baptism, are in Heaven by the Baptism of Desire "My Soul is thirsting for the Living God."

It's not up to you declare that. And it contradicts traditional Catholic teaching.

[Fr]Harrison point outs, correctly, that there is no previous magisterial statement to the same effect as CCC §1261. He notes that the only previous “universal” Catholic catechism, that of the Council of Trent, “affirmed categorically” that “no means for attaining salvation remains for infant children other than baptism.” In support of the Tridentine teaching, Harrison cites one older magisterial statement (a letter of Pope Innocent I in 417), and three subsequent statements of magisterial import. The weightiest is from the Provincial Council of Cologne (1860), not because it was a local council, but because its acts were confirmed by the Holy See and contain the statement “faith teaches [ fides docet ]” that infants who die without baptism, “since they are not capable of this desire [for baptism], are excluded from the heavenly kingdom.”

51 posted on 06/06/2015 9:28:29 PM PDT by ebb tide
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To: Grateful2God
The children were believed to go to Heaven at the Last Judgement.
Thank you for a reasonable, informative explanation that I can live with.
62 posted on 06/07/2015 6:28:53 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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