Catholic Church Teaching Questions...

[emeraldcoast]

The Catholic Church was brought up this morning at our Sunday School. I have two quick questions that I would like answered. TIA!

1. What is the Catholic Church teaching on Limbo?
2. What does the Catholic Church teach that happens to
   unbaptized babies?

God Bless!

 

[Ross09]

Try searching “ask an apologist.”

Here’s a good answer from Michelle Arnold, with the apologist’s view along w/references to the Catechism.
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=88713

 

[Eucharisted]

In Catholic theology, the term “hell” is used for three different places of the dead, none of which is the same place. These include:

• Limbo of the fathers (where Jesus’ soul descended after He died, as we read in the creed: He descended into hell);
• Gehenna (eternal flames, lake of fire, place of darkness where the devil and his angels await Judgmen Day; it is where those who reject God (are damned) spend eternity in absolute torment)
• Purgatory (temporal punishment, prison of the deceased; it is where the souls who have died in God’s favor but still have sin go to be purged of their filth so they can enter Heaven; Purgatory is sometimes referred to as a pit-stop to Heaven, because those who are saved yet still need purification go there to be purged)

Limbo, Gehenna, and Purgatory are called “hell” because they all have one thing in common: loss of God. Those in Limbo were the righteous souls (“fathers”) who died before Christ’s death, and who could not enjoy Heaven because of original sin, but whom Christ descended to in order to preach the gospel to them and lead them into Heaven, which He had reopened for all mankind by His death (Limbo is now empty). Those in Gehenna are the unrepentant sinners, the damned who hate God and reject Him, and just as the angels who rebelled against God cannot repent of their sin, so too the damned cannot repent, for they have chosen not to repent; their wills are eternally set in evil and turned against the Lord (hence, they cannot be saved). Those in Purgatory are the holy souls who belong to the triune Church, and they belong to the Church because they among the saved, although they are still in need of purification before entering into the glory of Heaven; the Church on earth can help the holy souls by praying for them. Purgatory, while seen as a place of suffering, is actually a gift of God’s Mercy, just as Limbo was, for He has given to man a way of salvation which goes beyond our imaginations.

Those who die in mortal sin are spiritually dead, for mortal sin kills the soul; hence, those who die unrepentant suffer the second death (damnation). Those who die in venial sin are spiritually wounded, for venial sin weakens the soul; but the soul is not dead to Christ - as it would be in the state of mortal sin, that is, if it had but one mortal sin on itself - so, if it repents, God saves the soul, though it still needs to clensed of sin before going to Heaven, so it goes to Purgatory beforehand. Those who die in the state of grace - that is, with sanctifying grace - are living in Christ, and so, they accquire eternal life (salvation), going straight to Heaven to live and reign with the Lord for eternity. God’s Mercy is infinite, so even if a soul were black as sin, it could still hope for Heaven, if only it repents, begs for Mercy, and trusts in God. The living and the dead, who we read of in the creed, are those who are spirituall alive and dead in Christ at Judgment Day and those whom are physically alive and dead when Christ comes again in glory.

There is no infant limbo, that was just a popular legend that came from the Middle Ages.

As for those who die unbaptized, God will save if, having known baptism, they would have chosen to be baptized; in other words, by their desire for baptism, they will be baptized, washed clean of sin and made new creatures, and enter into the Kingdom of God. The Lord will see their desire for baptism, and since they cannot then be baptized (at the hour of death), He will supply for them what they lack by forgiving them their sins and making them new. For God is not bound by His sacraments: certainly baptism is the ordinary way of salvation, but that dosen’t mean there isn’t any extraordinary ways of salvation, known only to the Lord, who in His Mercy dose everything in His power to save poor sinners.

As for those who are die in their youth without baptism, they can be saved from hell if their parents desire the child’s baptism and pray for them to God. Whether the parent kills the child, and then after, repents and wishes the child to be baptized, or if someone else kills the child, or if by accident the child dies, and then the parent desires that the child should be baptism - whether at that very moment or when they believed it would be opportune, for example, when the child was a wee bit older - it dose not matter; for if only the parent desires baptism for the child - which in itself cannot desire baptism, so God accepts the parent’s desire for the child, since the parent is responsible for the child’s well-being - and prays for the child, then God will baptize the child, in the same manner as He would any unbaptized men who desires to be baptized: washing away of all sin (in a child’s case, Original Sin, since a child cannot do actual sins, having not reached the age of reason yet) and creating the child a new creature.

 

[1ke]

1. What is the Catholic Church teaching on Limbo?

The Chuch does not have, nor has it ever had, a teaching on limbo.

1. What does the Catholic Church teach that happens to unbaptized babies?

From the Catechism on the Sacrament of Baptism:

VI. THE NECESSITY OF BAPTISM

1257 The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation.59 He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them.60 Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament.61 The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are “reborn of water and the Spirit.” God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.

1258 The Church has always held the firm conviction that those who suffer death for the sake of the faith without having received Baptism are baptized by their death for and with Christ. This Baptism of blood, like the desire for Baptism, brings about the fruits of Baptism without being a sacrament.

1259 For catechumens who die before their Baptism, their explicit desire to receive it, together with repentance for their sins, and charity, assures them the salvation that they were not able to receive through the sacrament.

1260 "Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery."62 Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity.

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,"63 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.