Who is part of the Mystical body

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How do un-baptised infants or late term aborted souls fit into the Mystical Body. No sarcasm this is something I ponder nightly in my prayers as I know I have such as a grandchild and a great-grandchild.
 
Hi Tajho, I assume you know the line that “those who die without benefit of baptism, who through no fault of their own have not known or accepted Christ, nor been baptized, are entrusted to the mercy and omnipotence of God.” There are theories about how this could be so. We could speculate, but in the end, that is the answer. We entrust them to God’s mercy. If they are in Heaven, they are Christian, and therefore in the Body of Christ more perfectly than you or I.

So don’t worry.
 
Non-Catholics are not members (ie those fully incorporated).

Pius XII, Mystici Corporis (which is all about the Catholic Church as the Mystical Body of Christ):
  1. Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed.
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Non-Catholic Christians have partial communion with the Church based on their Baptism.

Vatican II, Unitatis Redintegratio
For men who believe in Christ and have been truly baptized are in communion with the Catholic Church even though this communion is imperfect.
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Ott’s Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma has a nice, short explanation on this topic:
Although public apostates and heretics, schismatics and excommunicati vitandi are outside the legal organisation of the Church, still their relationship to the Church is essentially different from that of the unbaptised. As the baptismal character which effects incorporation in the Church is indestructible, the baptised person, in spite of his ceasing to be a member of the Church, cannot cut himself off so completely from the Church, that every bond with the Church is dissolved.
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Tajho said:
How do un-baptised infants or late term aborted souls fit into the Mystical Body. No sarcasm this is something I ponder nightly in my prayers as I know I have such as a grandchild and a great-grandchild.
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They are members of the Mystical Body in heaven, even though they never had the chance to become such on this earth.
 
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