What happens to the babies?

[SamanthaT]

I have been pro-life for as long as I can remember. I have always wondered what happens to the babies that are aborted? Are they allowed to be with God even though they were never baptized? I am new to learning about Catholicism and I hope that someone here might know the answer to my question.
God bless!

 

[White_Peony]

The Catholic Church teaches that a child can distinguish between right and wrong at 6 or 7, I can’t remember. So the little aborted babies go to heaven.

 

[Aleksa]

Of course they go to heaven!

 

[CountrySteve]

not trying too change the subject but my older brother who has mental chanlged passed away and wasn’t baptised and he had all kind of handicapped problems like he couldn’t walk, talk, and he was innocent like a child would he be in Heaven

 

[kimmielittle]

not trying too change the subject but my older brother who has mental chanlged passed away and wasn’t baptised and he had all kind of handicapped problems like he couldn’t walk, talk, and he was innocent like a child would he be in Heaven

I FIRMLY, think he would!

 

[Spencerian]

Hi.

I’ve heard this question asked and answered on Catholic Answers Live many times.

I believe that God’s mercy sends all innocents to heaven, babies included. With a baptism prior to this untimely end, this is a virtual certainty.

Catholic tradition, until recently, considered (but never doctrinally declared) that the souls of babies went into a comfortable limbo. In short, this thought was more a hypothesis than a teaching for many decades.

Cardinal Ratzinger–now Pope Benedict XVI–and several theologians reviewed the hypothesis and and made a broader and far more comforting interpretation on tradition and teachings on the subject that agrees with my opinion–that babies, through God’s mercy, do enter heaven.

Do we know for certain? No. But we also don’t know that every baptized Catholic (or otherwise) will enter heaven, so at least the babies have a greater certainty than us.

 

[JimG]

Baptism has always been thought necessary for salvation. But that was qualified by allowing for Baptism of Desire (e.g. catechumens or others who intended to be baptized upon completion of their studies but died first), and baptism of blood (e.g. catechumens or others who believed enough to die for the Faith but were not yet baptized.)

Theologians had a problem with baptism of desire for infants, since they did not have have sufficient use of reason to desire baptism.

Limbo was postulated as a place of perfect natural happiness for infants who through no fault of their own, lacked baptism and consequently died in a state of original sin.

It should be noted that Limbo (which is still acceptable as a theological theory, which is all it ever was) does not imply some dark and lonely gehenna. Imagine the happiest you have ever been in your life, surrounded by the love of family and friends, as naturally happy as you can possibly be. That would be limbo, lacking only sanctifying grace, which is direct contact with God.

The Church has chosen to simply say that we entrust unbaptized infants to the grace of God, who can certainly save them if he wishes. The sacraments bind us, not God.