Do the unbaptized newborns go to Purgatory?

[patrickdengland]

I grew up on the teachings, from who, I do not know. Do babies that are unbaptized that die stay in Purgatory? This was a Catholic legend I guess you would say that I picked up over the years and am not sure if it is truly a teaching. The reason why is that if we are all born with Natural Law in our hearts and never learned anything about Christ because of where I lived or died so abruptly, never had the chance to learn of him, but the religion I was in followed commandments very similar so I did not sin bad or gravely sin. Am I Purgatory bound for eternity, which I thought of course Purgatory is only a stop of until we are purified by the Holy Flame? This one is confusing. Help would be really appreciated.

Sincerely;

Damaged Man

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

There was a theological concept in the Church that unbaptized infants and righteous pagans who never heard of Christ would go to a place called Limbo when they died. The idea was that it was a place of natural happiness but it lacked the supernatural happiness of beholding the Beatific Vision. It was never formally defined or declared by the Church and thus remained simply a very popular theological proposal. In the 20th century this idea quickly lost popularity amongst the laity and theologians. While the idea has never been formally accepted by the Church it has also never been formally condemned and thus remains a valid, if unpopular, theory.

When it comes to those who never heard of Christ or had a proper opportunity to learn about Him, it is considered that they fall under invincible ignorance and that if they were righteous they would have been baptized had they been given a proper opportunity. Thus they are considered to fall under the concept of “baptism of desire.” As the Catechism states:

**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.” 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.

As for infants who die before baptism, the Catechism states:

**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.

And a recent theological opinion on the matter was given by the International Theological Commission in its address The hope of salvation for infants who die without being baptized:

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.