Does the church still teach unbaptized babies go to "Limbo"?

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Back in the day, I remember that we were taught that if a baby was unbaptized, and he died, he went to “Limbo”.

Pope Gregory X: “the souls of those who depart this life in…original sin alone, go straightaway to hell.”

I almost believe that the very existence if limbo is in contradiction to that statement.
 
The Church never taught this.

You may have been taught this, but if it was presented as a doctrine of the Church that was in error.

It is not, and has never been, a doctrine of the Church. It is a theological speculation. Theologians do that, they speculate. Unfortunately, sometimes people absorb that and think something like that is an actual teaching of the Church when it isn’t.

p.s. The Church doesn’t teach that they go to Hell either. The Church teaches that we don’t know what happens to them.
 
Limbo is not a “place”; it is a state of being.

An unbaptized infant is in a state of Original Sin, so its soul cannot go to heaven. However, an infant is obviously unable to commit a venial or mortal sin, so Purgatory and Hell are not options either. So there became sort of an unwritten, unofficial doctrine that said these souls hung in a state of “Limbo” - that is, they are in neither Heaven, Purgatory, or Hell. They are somewhere, but not anywhere. (Does that make sense?)

If I’m not mistaken, and I do not know the details, but I heard that Benedict XVI commissioned a study to answer this age-old question: Where do the souls of unbaptized infants go?
 
joebillington1 said:
Back in the day, I remember that we were taught that if a baby was unbaptized, and he died, he went to “Limbo”.

Pope Gregory X: “the souls of those who depart this life in…original sin alone, go straightaway to hell.”

I almost believe that the very existence if limbo is in contradiction to that statement.
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Limbo is a theological speculation, not a dogma. It was found in some old Catechisms, but it’s never been “official Church teaching”.

Father William Jurgens, in The Faith of the Early Fathers, makes the interesting observation that the first theologians to come up with Limbo were the Pelagians - and that’s not a very great recommendation (I’m paraphrasing.)

However, he does have an interesting argument about the possible salvation of unbaptized infants:
  1. St. Thomas Aquinas taught that the Eucharist is essential for salvation (see John 6.)
  2. However, St. Thomas also clarified that if a baptized child died before receiving the Eucharist, the Church’s desire for the child to receive the Eucharist would suffice for it.
  3. By analogy, the Church’s “desire” for the baptism of an infant who dies unbaptized through no fault of his / her own could (if St. Thomas’ argument can be extended) suffice for an implicit baptism of desire.
  4. Therefore, we must have a sanguine hope for the salvation of unbaptized infants.
(I’m simplifying the argument; the whole text can be found in Volume 3 of the aforementioned book.) 👍
 
We leave those infants to the mercy of God, who is infinitely more just than anything we can speculate on.
 
1ke said:
p.s. The Church doesn’t teach that they go to Hell either. The Church teaches that we don’t know what happens to them.
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I am so thankful that the Church keeps this stance. There are some members of this forum who adamantly believe (and forcefully insist) that all unbaptized babies simply go to hell, including miscarried infants. I have a terribly hard time believing that God, maker of all things, would create one in every four pregnancies simply to further pad the masses of Hell with the unborn. Can’t compute. While I understand that the theologians can and only have speculated about this, it’s reassuring to see someone such as yourself - a poster who understands Canon law - reiterating that statement here on the forum. It is NOT Church teaching that they without a doubt go to Hell. 👍
 
Ophelia23 said:
I am so thankful that the Church keeps this stance. There are some members of this forum who adamantly believe (and forcefully insist) that all unbaptized babies simply go to hell, including miscarried infants.
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I’d go out on a limb and say that most of these are single males. I know, I once was a single male myself. 😃 Having a family (and knowing the realities and risks involved in pregnancy) drastically changes one’s view of these things.
I have a terribly hard time believing that God, maker of all things, would create one in every four pregnancies simply to further pad the masses of Hell with the unborn. Can’t compute. While I understand that the theologians can and only have speculated about this, it’s reassuring to see someone such as yourself - a poster who understands Canon law - reiterating that statement here on the forum. It is NOT Church teaching that they without a doubt go to Hell. 👍
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👍
 
RPRPsych said:
Limbo is a theological speculation, not a dogma. It was found in some old Catechisms, but it’s never been “official Church teaching”.
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Sorry but are you saying that the churchs own catechism offers teachings that are not really “official”? How can a person know which is which?
 
joebillington1 said:
Back in the day, I remember that we were taught that if a baby was unbaptized, and he died, he went to “Limbo”.

Pope Gregory X: “the souls of those who depart this life in…original sin alone, go straightaway to hell.”

I almost believe that the very existence if limbo is in contradiction to that statement.
Click to expand...
Would you please provide the source of this quote?
 
RPRPsych said:
  1. St. Thomas Aquinas taught that the Eucharist is essential for salvation (see John 6.)
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St Augustine († AD 430) taught the same:

“And what else do they say who call the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper life, than that which is written: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven;” and “The bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world;” and “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye shall have no life in you?” If, therefore, as so many and such divine witnesses agree, neither salvation nor eternal life can be hoped for by any man without baptism and the Lord’s body and blood, it is vain to promise these blessings to infants without them. Moreover, if it be only sins that separate man from salvation and eternal life, there is nothing else in infants which these sacraments can be the means of removing, but the guilt of sin…” - St Augustine of Hippo, On the Forgiveness of Sins and the Baptism of Infants, Book 1, Ch 33
 
Zekariya said:
St Augustine († AD 430) taught the same:

“And what else do they say who call the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper life, than that which is written: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven;” and “The bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world;” and “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye shall have no life in you?” If, therefore, as so many and such divine witnesses agree, neither salvation nor eternal life can be hoped for by any man without baptism and the Lord’s body and blood, it is vain to promise these blessings to infants without them. Moreover, if it be only sins that separate man from salvation and eternal life, there is nothing else in infants which these sacraments can be the means of removing, but the guilt of sin…” - St Augustine of Hippo, On the Forgiveness of Sins and the Baptism of Infants, Book 1, Ch 33
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Thanks for the information! (In fact, I think the Jurgens theory I mentioned to was in a footnote to one of St. Augustine’s writings…) 😉
 
joebillington1 said:
Back in the day, I remember that we were taught that if a baby was unbaptized, and he died, he went to “Limbo”.

Pope Gregory X: “the souls of those who depart this life in…original sin alone, go straightaway to hell.”

I almost believe that the very existence if limbo is in contradiction to that statement.
Click to expand...
I don’t see anything incorrect about Pope Gregory’s statement? An unbaptized baby may not necessarily still be in original sin. Baptism is what God gave us as a sacrament to normatively remove the stain of original sin. If a baby had no chance to be baptized prior to departing this world, it is not outside God’s mercy to remove that stain in ways known only to Him. This is still a teaching of the Catechism:
CCC#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.
 
adrift said:
Would you please provide the source of this quote?
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According to what I found this was a supposed quote from the Council of Lyons II. However, I could not find the quote.

I wonder if it is legitimate?
 
adrift said:
According to what I found this was a supposed quote from the Council of Lyons II. However, I could not find the quote.

I wonder if it is legitimate?
Click to expand...
‎"Also, the souls of those who have incurred no stain of sin whatsoever after baptism, as well as souls who after incurring the stain of sin have been cleansed whether in their bodies or outside their bodies, as was stated above, are straightaway received into heaven and clearly behold the triune God as he is, yet one person more perfectly than another according to the difference of their merits. But the souls of those who depart this life in actual mortal sin, or in original sin alone, go down straightaway to hell to be punished, but with unequal pains." - The Council of Florence, Session 6 (July 6, 1439)
Source: papalencyclicals.net/Councils/ecum17.htm
 
Does anyone get how extremely upsetting something like this is to a parent whose unborn baby died?

My babies who died without baptism are in Heaven, with God. No one (or church) will ever, ever, ever convince me otherwise…never. never. never. End of story. I don’t need a scripture, I don’t need some dead pope or saint. I cannot separate my belief that God exists with my belief that my little girls, who died without ever committing a sin, are anywhere else. I trust in God’s goodness, in His mercy, and I trust Him to be just, especially to the innocent. God’s love and mercy are not bound by “rules”.
 
Gwendolen said:
Does anyone get how extremely upsetting something like this is to a parent whose unborn baby died?

My babies who died without baptism are in Heaven, with God. No one (or church) will ever, ever, ever convince me otherwise…never. never. never. End of story. I don’t need a scripture, I don’t need some dead pope or saint. I cannot separate my belief that God exists with my belief that my little girls, who died without ever committing a sin, are anywhere else. I trust in God’s goodness, in His mercy, and I trust Him to be just, especially to the innocent. God’s love and mercy are not bound by “rules”.
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As has been pointed out, the Church does not in any way shape or form teach that all miscarried infants go to hell. The Church, however, does teach that God is capable of saving people without baptism by water, by granting them a spiritual form of Baptism, which still counts as baptism for those quotes about the necessity of baptism for salvation. Don’t let the way it is written upset you or turn you away from the Church because there is nothing in what they are saying which means all miscarried infants go to hell. That is just simply not a teaching of the Church.
 
Just to add a little bit of levity to this.

We had a miscarriage about 2 years ago. My husband was raised Oriental Orthodox and wasn’t sure what his church’s teaching on unbaptized babies was, so he asked what the RCC teaching was. I told him about Limbo. My mother was there with us and said

“No, no, no. The Catholic Church closed limbo years ago. It was too much for Moses with all the food allergies and electronic toys requiring batteries. God had to take over and move the babies to Heaven.” 😛
 
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