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An Excerpt from "The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized"

This Rock Volume 18, Number 8   October 2007     Reasons for Hope By Cherie Peacock   Letters   What Apologists Need to Know about Rhetoric: Lessons from Aristotle By Gregory R. Beabout   Saintly Rhetoric?   The Art of Rhetoric in the Acts of the Apostles   Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation: The Simpsons, the Boomers, and Religion By Robert P. Lockwood   Why Baby Boomers Left the Church . . .   Poster Boys for Perpetual Adolescence   Read All About It: Why Catholics Should Care About the News Media Crisis By Russell Shaw   Tips for the Informed News Consumer   Resources for the Media-Savvy   Let the Children Come to Me: The International Theological Commission Clarifies Limbo By Matthew A. C. Newsome   Hope for Our Simon   An Excerpt from "The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die without Being Baptized"   Damascus Road Why I Came Back to the Body of Christ By Chris A. DeVolld   By the Book Hell? Yes! (Part I) By Jim Blackburn   Eyes to See Time and Eternity in the Balance By Michael Schrauzer   Truth be Told Twenty-Six Crosses on a Hill By Matthew E. Bunson   Quick Questions   Last Writes By Karl Keating    Subscribe    Permissions

The idea of limbo, which the Church has used for many centuries to designate the destiny of infants who die without baptism, has no clear foundation in revelation even though it has long been used in traditional theological teaching. Moreover, the notion that infants who die without baptism are deprived of the beatific vision, which has for so long been regarded as the common doctrine of the Church, gives rise to numerous pastoral problems, so much so that many pastors of souls have asked for a deeper reflection on the ways of salvation.

The necessary reconsideration of the theological issues cannot ignore the tragic consequences of original sin. Original sin implies a state of separation from Christ, and that excludes the possibility of the vision of God for those who die in that state . . .

However, with regard to the salvation of those who die without baptism, the word of God says little or nothing. It is therefore necessary to interpret the reticence of Scripture on this issue in the light of texts concerning the universal plan of salvation and the ways of salvation. In short, the problem both for theology and for pastoral care is how to safeguard and reconcile two sets of biblical affirmations: those concerning God’s universal salvific will (cf. 1 Tim. 2:4) and those regarding the necessity of baptism as the way of being freed from sin and conformed to Christ (cf. Mark 16:16; Matt. 28:18-19).

. . . [W]hile knowing that the normal way to achieve salvation in Christ is by Baptism in re, the Church hopes that there may be other ways to achieve the same end. Because, by his Incarnation, the Son of God "in a certain way united himself" with every human being, and because Christ died for all and all are in fact "called to one and the same destiny, which is divine," the Church believes that "the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal mystery."

Read the complete document at: www.vatican.va