4um: Catholic Church buries limbo after centuries

By Philip PullellaFri Apr 20, 2:21 PM ET

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.

In a long-awaited document, the Church's International Theological Commission said limbo reflected an "unduly restrictive view of salvation."

The 41-page document was published on Friday by Origins, the documentary service of the U.S.-based Catholic News Service, which is part of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Pope Benedict, himself a top theologian who before his election in 2005 expressed doubts about limbo, authorized the publication of the document, called "The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptised."

The verdict that limbo could now rest in peace had been expected for years. The document was seen as most likely the final word since limbo was never part of Church doctrine, even though it was taught to Catholics well into the 20th century.

"The conclusion of this study is that there are theological and liturgical reasons to hope that infants who die without baptism may be saved and brought into eternal happiness even if there is not an explicit teaching on this question found in revelation," it said.

"There are reasons to hope that God will save these infants precisely because it was not possible (to baptize them)."

The Church teaches that baptism removes original sin which stains all souls since the fall from grace in the Garden of Eden.

"NO NEGATION OF BAPTISM"

The document stressed that its conclusions should not be interpreted as questioning original sin or "used to negate the necessity of baptism or delay the conferral of the sacrament."

Limbo, which comes from the Latin word meaning "border" or "edge," was considered by medieval theologians to be a state or place reserved for the unbaptized dead, including good people who lived before the coming of Christ.

"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, whether they are Christian or non-Christian," the document said.

It said the study was made all the more pressing because "the number of nonbaptised infants has grown considerably, and therefore the reflection on the possibility of salvation for these infants has become urgent."

The commission's conclusions had been widely expected.

In writings before his election as Pope in 2005, the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger made it clear he believed the concept of limbo should be abandoned because it was "only a theological hypothesis" and "never a defined truth of faith."

In the Divine Comedy, Dante placed virtuous pagans and great classical philosophers, including Plato and Socrates, in limbo. The Catholic Church's official catechism, issued in 1992 after decades of work, dropped the mention of limbo.

This brings back memories of an incident that happened about 15 years ago to family friends who were Catholics and came from generations of Catholics.

One of the daughters married and within a couple of years she became pregnant. On a Saturday morning, just before the due date, she said she noticed the baby not moving. Called her doctor who sent her to ER, where after scans and whatever it was determined that the baby was dead.

It was determined by the doctor that they would wait til Monday to induce labor, which they did. R & D had a perfect little girl baby--that was not alive.

Grandparents and parents contacted the local parish to set up whatever services Catholics conduct and once the priest found out the baby was not baptized and was born dead, he refused to do anything.....and quit talking with them.

They contacted a couple of other Catholic churches and had the same result. In the meantime, the new mourning mother was about to lose it mentally.

They finally found an ol priest on one of the Indian reservations in Montana who when told the story exhibited more compassion in his little finger than all the other church leaders in their entire bodies! He told them to bring the baby to him and their family and friends and he would conduct a service for that baby both in the church building and I think it was bless the gravesite.

The Church lost that whole family over how that event came down. Needless to say, the Catholic Church slipped another notch in my book. I hadn't claimed Christ as my Saviour at that time but knew enough that God would not condemn an unborn or newborn baby to hell--and that would be multiplied by the zillions over time. I at least had early childhood scriptures read to me, and on my own, that said Jesus loved little children and wanted them to approach him without adult interference.

He also said anyone who misled little children should tie a rock around their necks and thow themselves in the sea.

That includes priest who won't baptist infants just because they didn't make it to full-term.

I would hate to be in the shoes of a child molester or pervert on judgment day. Jesus had little patience with money-changers, so image the disdain for those who would harm the most innocent among us.